This year’s third annual Shorty Awards, which honor short-form social media contributions on sites like Twitter, drew a star-studded crowd Monday night, including Kiefer Sutherland, Cory Booker and Jerry Stiller.
The event, hosted by comedian Aasif Mandvi, also drew entrepreneurs and creative types behind enterprises like Foursquare.
The Times Center auditorium was so packed for the awards event that an overflow room was set up downstairs.
Kristin Bolton-Keys, a digital marketing manager who lives in the Financial District, attended the event so she can learn more about expanding her followers on her blog, kaybenaye.com, and two Twitter feeds.
“I think it’s important to understand more about social media and the tech space, and then you can put your message out there even further or find more followers,” said the self-proclaimed fashionista who Tweets about clothing and accessories.
While Bolton-Keys learned about the awards through the tech blog www.garysguide.org, nominees for the more than 40 categories flew in from across the world for the event.
Sharath Cherian, founder of the hip-hop site, hiphopdx.com, came from California because his was nominated for the “Best News Site” slot.
Cherian said things change drastically each year at the “Shorty Awards.”
“One year it’s getting music on your site -- in 1999, 2000 -- or Flash,” he said. “And then it’s like trying to get social media together. Now, it’s real time, or Foursquare. Every year you have to adapt, if you’re going to be 10, 15 years old in this space.”
