Voting is over, and the winners have been announced! Check out the About Web Search Readers' Choice Awards: The Final Results, and congratulations to all the winners!
There were literally hundreds of nominations that came pouring in for the About Web Search Readers' Choice Awards, and five lucky Web sites in each of ten different categories made it through. Voting is now closed. You can still give us your opinion of the best Web sites.
About Web Search Readers' Choice Categories
- Search Engines
- Reference Sites
- Multimedia Sites
- Family/Kids Sites
- Shopping Sites
- Productivity Sites
- Humor/Games Sites
- News Sites
- Music Sites
- Social Media Sites
Search Engines: The nominees for the Best Search Engine are as follows:
- Google: Google is consistently the most popular search engine on the Web, and with good reason: it delivers quality results in record time.
- Bing: Although Bing is a relative newcomer to the search engine scene, it has gained a mass following with its innovative search strategies.
- DuckDuckGo: An incredibly useful search engine with a somewhat silly name, DuckDuckGo has gained loyal followers with its many special search features.
- Dogpile: Dogpile has been around for a long time, and continues to deliver quality search results with useful, convenient features.
- Yahoo: Yahoo's been around for a long time in Web years, and is consistently one of the highest-trafficked sites on the Web.
Best Reference Sites: The nominees for the Best Reference Site are as follows:
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia is one of the best all around reference sites on the Web, with literally hundreds of thousands of entries covering an astonishing array of topics.
- JustAnswer: JustAnswer is a useful question and answer site that connects experts with Web searchers.
- TheFreeDictionary: TheFreeDictionary.com is a really useful Web site that collates all sorts of useful reference content into one convenient place.
- About.com: About.com is one of the oldest and widely used reference sites on the Web, offering expertly guided topic sites in a wide range of categories.
- Wolfram Alpha: Wolfram Alpha has gained many loyal followers with its quick answers to extremely complicated questions.
Multimedia Sites: The nominees for the Best Multimedia Site are as follows:
- YouTube: YouTube was one of the first video sites on the Web, and it's still going strong with millions of new videos added every month.
- Hulu: Hulu is a fantastically useful site with hundreds of high quality videos, TV channels, and full length movies to choose from.
- IMDB: The Internet Movie Database is the largest database of movie information on the Web. Actor information, movie trailers, movie quotes, etc. can all be found here.
- Clicker: Clicker aims to collect all the multitudes of online multimedia into one convenient place, making it easy for Web searchers to find what they're looking for, fast.
- Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten Tomatoes offers a wealth of information related to movies, including an extensive movie review database.
Family/Kids Sites: The nominees for the Best Family and Kids Sites are as follows:
- Disney: Beloved characters, movie and parks information, interactive games, what's not to love?
- Nick Jr: Games and activities for the preschool set.
- PBS Kids: Curious George, Sesame Street, and Dr.Seuss offer a wide array of games and activities for kids.
- National Geographic Kids: The venerable magazine offers a solid selection of high quality content for children.
- The Hub: A video site created just for kids, with cartoons, games, polls, and puzzles.
Shopping Sites: The nominees for the Best Shopping Site are as follows:
- eBay: eBay is one of the oldest and most popular auction sites on the Web.
- Amazon: Amazon is the largest retail site online, offering millions of products in thousands of categories.
- Groupon: Groupon offers daily deals in your local area for restaurants, clothing stores, spas, etc.
- Zappos: Need shoes? You'll want to check out Zappos, which has extended its reach recently to clothing as well.
- Etsy: Etsy is a fantastic marketplace of homemade goods from all over the globe.
Productivity Sites: The nominees for the best productivity site are as follows:
- Conduit: Conduit gives Web publishers the ability to create useful applications their readers/users can use to access their content more readily on the Web or on a mobile device.
- Lifehacker: Lifehacker publishes dozens of "lifehacks", tips and tricks to make life more streamlined, every day.
- Google Docs: Google Docs is an incredibly useful suite of spreadsheet tools offered for free online from Google.
- Genieo: Genieo is a free personalized Web homepage you can customize with your own content.
- Mint: Mint is a free online financial management site that helps users budget, invest, and plan where their money is going.
Humor/Games Sites: The nominees for the Best Humor and Games Site are as follows:
- Games.com: The name says it all; games, puzzles, word games, and lots more.
- Joe-ks: One of the oldest sources of humor on the Web. Includes trivia, riddles, and a section just for kids.
- The Onion: Satire of popular events, political happenings, people in the news.
- College Humor: Videos, funny photos, jokes, and humorous articles.
- I Can Has Cheezburger: Pictures of cats with community-submitted captions.
News Sites: The nominees for the Best News Site are as follows:
- Fox: Popular pundits, background information, and more; Fox News offers up to the minute coverage of breaking news events.
- CNN: Worldwide news, deep coverage of political happenings, and live streaming news available here.
- Yahoo News: Collated news from many different sources on a wide range of topics.
- BBC News: The venerated news outlet is a trusted source for thoughtful coverage of global events.
- The Drudge Report: Hundreds of daily news sources and daily "scoops" that other news outlets don't always catch.
Music Sites: The nominees for the Best Music Site are as follows:
- YouTube: YouTube is a great place to find music videos, independent artists, and soundtracks.
- iTunes: iTunes offers free streaming radio stations, podcasts, a music store, videos, and lots more.
- Pandora: Create your own radio stations with Pandora, a free streaming music application you can listen to anywhere.
- Grooveshark: Grooveshark helps you find music you want to listen to, create and share playlists, and find background information on your favorite artists.
- Last.FM: Last.FM creates personalized music stations for you based on your unique preferences.
Social Media Sites: The nominees for the Best Social Media Site are as follows:
- Facebook: Facebook is the most popular social networking site on the Web today.
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn brings a professional twist to social networking.
- Twitter: Twitter is a massively popular micro-blogging site that you can use to update your status, connect with family and friends, and stay updated on news and events.
- Reddit: Reddit is a lively community-driven site wherein users submit content and then discussions arise about that content.
- Multiply: You can use Multiply to network with friends and family, shop, and even sell your expertise and/or products.
Are you a fan? Join the conversation, ask questions, or just chat about the Web: About Web Search on Facebook.
What is Fox doing on the list! Murdoch? Murdoch? I’m from England and Fox is known as being right wing, the only station that never says anything nice about your fab President Obama. I don’t think Obama is appreciated in the U.S, but he is hugely admired in England. The internet is supposed to be trendy and cool and modern, please don’t vote for yukee horrid Fox!
Simon…if he is admired in England then you guys can have him
Many Americans are right-wing. We like it that way. Joe’s right. Take Obama. He’s not doing us much good.
Wow. I know its good to balance of right and left wing people in a country but I think people need to judge people based on their actions, not based on their political ideologies. Obama came in when the US economy and popularity was in shambles and he is still trying to pick up the pieces after Bush broke the country. I don’t think Obama has done anything too great, but at least he hasn’t made things worse.
What the heck is DuckDuckGo and how did it get into first place? Yeah right.
I cannot believe that Dictionary.com is not mentioned as a nominee for best reference site!! They are amazing!
Obviously “Auntie” (BBC) is the best news site but I’m surprised Huffy isn’t on the list.
Go to http://www.CouponCocktail.com , they are available in over 50 cities. Deal are better and you are not limited to one deal a day as groupon does. there you can download all deals and coupons as you want, better yet from your local businesses. Talking about supporting our local economy. That’s the place.
i hope this time i did actually casted my vote in Web Search Readers’ Choice Awards! not2be so late as last time but i did not nominee my writings through Readers’ Choice Awards2011 if any thing goes wrong about me at about.com ny times please call me at 020100154687 vodafone egypt.
good luck……
Hey everyone, just a quick note to tell you that all of these sites were nominated by readers, not by the Editor of this site. Thanks!
that’s all at last i finished web search final choises awards2011 and it lasts with guide search about.com NY.if any one sees me telling me thank u good luck.
what about The Guardian? stupid alternatives.
Although Simon has made himself sound like a complete idiot, I emplore you, America, can we PLEASE swap Obama for David Cameron? He’s right wing, I’m sure you two will get along great.
HEY….Not all USA is ‘right’wing’ !! Moderate Liberal here and proud of it and WE need President Obama!! I love him and will vote for him AGAIN!
What the f*** is DuckDuckGo and how is it tied with Google?
Agreed. Fox News has no business being listed as a “news” site. It’s over the top propaganda, pure and simple. Now if there were a category for a media outlet that is best at promoting lies and hatred, then Fox would get my vote.
Fox News? Seriously? Fox News is the Al Jazeera of the West.
The station, and its on-air personalities, are an embarassment to conservatism.
there to minding games on facebook ,I dont play those games like other do ,I like to talk to my people .Multiply the best .web
site I have both account and they are better at multiply .com .
there no horse playing there ..
beside facebook ,some time stick ,are hang up ..
the only time I us facebook to see if any my family lift me a message .or friends ,thats all
Again, folks, these are all READER-NOMINATED WEBSITES.
I’m surprised that zoho dot com did not make it on the productivity site vote.
I don’t like facebook’s new profile. The new facebook became a clutter and confusing to look at.
Multiply is still the best site for me.
You can change your site the way you want it to look like.
http://www.myallsearch.com
is a meta search engine and uses all 5 of those search engines.
To save some of you from doing a Google search, DuckDuckGo is an awesome alternative you can read about here!
Aaaaaand, now it appears it’s no longer second =)
Where’s Myspace? Why are CollegeHumor and DRUDGE REPORT so behind? On search engines: Where is ixquick in the search engines?
They fixed myspace…but now noone even gives it a chance….
this is the fourth time that i did cast my vote in the final choices awards 2011 i hope that i did nominee there i hope not i won or have a price but i can continue at about.com not2leave or even ran away…good luck.
this is another time i enter their final choices awards 2011, 1hope that i did cast my vote,but i think Final Choices Awards 2010 was the best,n my opinion no nominees n this final choice awards 2011,as i think.
Where are the results?
I haven’t seen any reference site that can beat TheDictionary.com. I’m sure my opinion is the public perception of Dictionary.com.
Hey guys, winners will be announced officially March 15. You can still give us your opinion as to who should win, who should have been nominated. etc.