Ladies and Gentlemen the votes have been counted the judges have been arguing, the Collective Thoughts ethics committee was called. Smoke was seen rising, had a new Ninja been selected?
The standard was very high and the participants came from all walks and backgrounds, some were well known already on the social media stage others were coming to the fore. Some were desperate for the title others more laid back.

Finally it was down to two, one had the most votes through aggressive marketing (social begging) the other a smaller voice but still impressive. What were we to do but choose both!

I present you with not one but two Social Media Ninjas for 2008 each ninja wins a unique prize suited to them as well as the right to call themselves social media ninja and to show of their new found status with the Social Media Ninja badge.

BartTheBear (aka Leonard)

love him or hate him, Leonard garnered the most votes. Leonard now holds the title of Social Media Ninja 2008

Leonard’s Bio: Why I chose “BartTheBear” – My real last name is Bartholomew. One of my favorite animal movie stars is Bart The Bear from “The Edge” with Anthony Hopkins. I am 6 foot 6 inches tall and built like a bear. I am told that I snore like one too. That is if bear actually snore when they hibernate. The last time I checked I about got my face tore off. I don’t necessarily like the conotation of “being a bear”, but it sure draws a lot of attention and is a lot of fun when it comes to blogging and representing myself in the social media sites.

SEOSmarty (aka Ann)

Ann also received a good amount of votes and definitely seemed to be a crowd favourite. Ann will share the title of Social Media Ninja with Leonard

Ann’s Bio: Well, I am 24, coming from Russia or Ukraine (as you prefer ). I started as an affiliate manager for a celebrity poster e-shop, and that’s where I learned the basics of Internet marketing. I was then hired as a freelance SEO consultant. I started my own business about a year ago once I came to US. My company is really small (only 6 employees) but that’s great to be independent though! I started blogging and marketing at SM about a month ago, and got really excited about that. This resulted in a number of posts on my blog dedicated to social media rather than SEO – just because I can’t stop writing about that!

Congratulations to our winners we hope you enjoyed it and those who didn’t win will come back next year to challenge for the title Social Media Ninja 2009!

Wow, everyone! Thanks so much for your great entries to the Social Media Ninja Contest!

Although we said last time that we would only be advancing the top 10 to the next round, we felt that all 13 that participated should move on.

Edit:  Here are the contest rules:

1 – Please only vote for one candidate.
2 – Votes must be received by Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at midnight GMT.
3 – Candidates cannot vote for themselves.
4 – The decision of the Collective Thoughts team is final.

So here they are, folks. Which of the following should go on to become a Social Media Ninja?

TheGypsy (aka Dave)
Best Known at: Sphinn
Ninja Entry

In honor of the Annual Day of the Ninja, we here at Collective Thoughts wonder if you, the reader, have what it takes to be a social media ninja.

So, don’t just sit there. Tell us. Comment in 250 words or less why you think that you’ve got the stuff. Mind you, this is not for the easily intimidated or faint of heart.

We’ll keep comments open for a week, giving time for all our friends as PubCon Las Vegas and SES Chicago a chance to recover and get back into the swing of things.

The Collective Thoughts team will select the 10 most worthy, and will open it up for democratic voting for the 2 finalists. Rest assured, the winners of this contest will have something worthy of social media ninja awesomeness at the end of the day. Details to follow.