Felicia Day’s quiet campaign to take over the Internet proceeds. The actress will officially host the 5th Annual Shorty Awards next month, a partnership that successfully raises awareness of both parties with subtle aplomb.
For those unfamiliar with the Shorty Awards, they’re a collection of plaudits given out to “the best in social media,” or what’s defined as “the people and organizations producing real-time short content across Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Foursquare and the rest of the social web.” The awards, backed by New York-based startup Sawhorse Media (they’re also the guys behind Muck Rack, a network that links journalists and potential sources on social media), will select winners based on votes from the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences. These academy members will choose from group of nominees suggested by Twitter users earlier in the year.
Nominees for this year’s awards are an interesting mix of high and low-cultures; Foursquare Mayor of the Year is a race between NASA (for the Mars Curiosity Rover social media outreach project) and Steve Wozniak. Other familiar names up for gongs include Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, and former Reuters social media maven Matthew Keys. Don’t worry, they’re not all up for the same awards. The show isn’t quite that mixed… not yet anyways.
Day described her new position as awards host as a culmination of an existing obsession, saying that she is “thrilled to be hosting the Shorty Awards [because] it is a validating justification for my insane addiction to Twitter.” Spoken like a true Twitter celebrity, with more than two million followers to date.
The role is yet another outlet for Day to reach the Web-friendly audience she has already conquered. From her early beginnings in the final season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Day gained attention with a pair of increasingly-high profile Web series. She’s been in Joss Whedon’s Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, written and starred in The Guild, and has recurring roles in geek-friendly television series like Supernatural and Eureka. Day even has her own online book club and YouTube channel called Geek and Sundry, to top it all off. The girl is just one step away from Internet Oprah-ism.
Day will be far from the only familiar face at the New York Times Tower ceremony on April 8; James Urbaniak (Cartoon Network’s The Venture Bros.) will also be presenting at the event, as will the current Miss Teen USA Logan West.
