The Tendo View

As always, end-of-the-year “best of” lists were everywhere as 2009 drew to a close—some expected (Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Songs of the Decade; Roger Ebert’s Top 10 Movies of 2009) and others decidedly less so (Top 10 Bad Messages from Good Movies).

We can’t help but get in on the list action, too, in part because 7 of our top 10 blog posts in 2009 also included lists. What is it about lists? The scannability? The fact that someone prioritized information for us? Our inherent need to weigh in, disagree, and state our own opinion?

As we move ahead in 2010, we’ll be thinking about why some of our posts sparked more interest than others—lists are not the whole story, as promotion, headlines, relevance, and other factors always play a role—and we’ll use that analysis to refine our own best practices for successful Web content and share the results with you. But for now, we bring you the 10 most popular Tendo blog posts of 2009.

10. Learning from success: 4 social media triumphs

9. Twitter click-through percentages: Fool’s Gold

8. 6 good infographics sources–and how USA Today fooled everyone

7. 10 killer iPhone apps for marketers

6. Shock marketing: rolling out the red asphalt carpet

5. 26 jargon words to avoid (like the plague)

4. 9 video highlights from the O’Melveny & Myers social media panel

3. 26 killer jargon words for writing sassier copy

2. 2009’s 10 most embarrassing marketing & PR blunders

1. Martin Eberhard: How blogs helped build the Tesla Roadster