Year In Review: Rookie Batter Beats Steve Jobs, Beyonc And Tsunami To Win 2011 Social Media World Series

by Brad Stewart, Dec 21, 2011, 2:13 PM

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A rookie hit the biggest ninth-inning grand slam of her fledgling career, single-handedly beating a team that included: Beyoncé; Steve Jobs (making two appearances at bat -- once when retiring, once while expiring); the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown; and Ashton Kutcher’s unfortunate mis-tweet.

The rookie goes by several names: free-raising, free-action, or -- as this reporter likes to call her (in reference to her famous father, mentor and predecessor, cause marketing) -- “Cause Media.”

That’s right, folks, Cause Media won the World Series of social media with a single at-bat, beating out a record number of paid, unpaid, human, and robo-tweeters. 2011 was the year that Twitter finally broke the 200 million tweets-per-day mark, so the competitive field was stiffer than ever.

In 2011 there were tweets about earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns, and Obama-led assassinations. One of the greatest entrepreneurs of the modern era died suddenly, and Beyoncé announced that she was pregnant. But, of the billion+ tweets per week, one young rising star supported by a Dublin, Ohio, hamburger chain rose above them all.

“I think I was successful because people basically care about stuff that matters. My coaches always told me to stick to the fundamentals, and that’s just what I did,” she explained humbly when asked how she beat 50 billion or so other tweets with her single 81-character message.

The fundamentals she downplays are enabling other Twitter users to make a small but tangible human difference, based on a simple action, which itself results in further promotion of the campaign. The ensuing ripple effect created the social velocity this young rookie needed to hit the ball over the green monster in the dying moments of the ninth inning.

Linguists and media analysts are studying every syllable, nuance and #hashtag of this now legendary blurb:

“RT for a good cause. Each retweet sends 50¢ to help kids in foster care. #TreatItFwd” @wendys

According to the Twitter representatives, it was a close race with Beyoncé’s sudden pregnancy announcement. The singer won top honors for most-tweets-per-second on the social micro-blogging site, giving her automatic title to 2011 league MVP. Though Cause Media didn’t get league MVP this year, her steady, passionate, and focused efforts did win her a place in the coveted historic spotlight with this year’s top honor: the golden tweet award.

“Next year I’m determined to do better,” Cause Media exclaimed in a typically determined fashion.

Cause Media added that her cousin was a major influence.

“Last year my cousin [Green Media] was so close, but they gave the award to Humor instead,” in reference to the controversial 2010 Golden Tweet award going to comedian Stephen Colbert, who himself claims that his award-clinching tweet was actually not a joke.

in honor of oil-soaked birds, 'tweets' are now 'gurgles’ @StephenAtHome

Humor was not available for comment, according to his representatives, as he was apparently filming a sequel to his extraordinarily successful “he bit me” franchise, with child-star “Charlie.”

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