HuffPost Names Its First 20 ‘Game Changers’

Rolling out yet another great promotional gimmick, The Huffington Post today announced its 20 “Game Changers” in the areas of entertainment and the environment.

The liberal social news, opinion and celebrity coverage site is honoring “100 people in 10 categories who have used new media to reshape their fields and change the world.”

These are the first category winners to be announced. Other categories include Politics, Style, Business, Sports, Media, Philanthropy & Service, Health, and Technology.

The 10 Entertainment people chosen were:

Radiohead (British band, digital download pioneers)
Jimmy Fallon (late-night host, web videos, Twitter)
Reed Hastings (Netflix founder)
Ashton Kutcher (<a href="never heard of him)
Nikki Finke (DeadlineHollywood)
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (actor, write, co-founders of Funny or Die)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (actor, hitrecord.org founder)
Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island (viral video stars)
Taylor Swift (singer, social media marketing powerhouse)
will.i.am (singer, video maker)

HuffPost will announce more Game Changers in two categories each week for the next four weeks.

Now that’s how you milk a promotion! It’s textbook, really. Good job, HuffPost. But something’s still missing…I know, get the reader involved!

Go to the HuffPost slide shows for the entertainment and green categories to rate the 10 finalists in each category. The top-rated people in each category will be among those announced by HuffPost in November as the Ultimate 10 Game Changers.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.