Over the years I have watched and participated in the growth of Social Media, especially Twitter.

While Indiana is not often thought of as a hot bed of social media, we have a pretty good representation, both professionals and non-pros.

Fort Wayne native Amy Stark decided a few years ago to promote our state’s social media status and launched what has become an annual tradition, the Indiana Social Media Summit and the competition known as the Indiana Social Media Smackdown.

Amy now lives in the Indianapolis area and that’s where she held the 1st Smackdown in 2009.

In 2010, 2011, and 2012 there were also simultaneous events in other Indiana cities.

This year, the main event is coming to Fort Wayne and you are invited to attend at lunchtime on December 27th.

Attending or not, we need you to vote.

There are several categories and the rules are pretty simple at: http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1349505-VxEkVN6Z2v

Here’s some of the folks I know personally from Fort Wayne that you can vote for:

Most Influential Dame:

Amber Recker @amrecker

Anita Homco @aHomco

Most INfluential Dude:

Andrew Hoffman @bethelink

Scott Howard @ScLoHo (That’s me)

Dave Goode @davebgoode

Most INfluential Up & Comer:

Mark Carboni @CarboCooks

Nicest Social Media Peep:

Aaron Brown @impact52

Ashley Motia @ajmotia

Most Ethical Social Media Peep or Company:

Joe Noorthoek @JoeNoorth

Ken Bugajski @drkensf

Grooviest Campaign or Presence:

Sheryl Brown @BionicSocialite

Bravas Food Trucks @BravasFood

Downtown Improvement District @fwdid

Visit Fort Wayne @VisitFortWayne

Fort Wayne Speaks @FortWayneSpeaks

These are just the Fort Wayne folks that I know.  There are lots of other friends who have been honored with a nomination who are not from Fort Wayne.

Voting ends soon.

Here’a a video recap from the 1st 4 years: