Today is the first day of fall, which leads me to only one question: Where did the summer go?

While it may seem like you blinked and summer was gone, there was actually a whole heap of stuff that happened this summer.

Here at BLASTmedia we heated things up with our Public Relations and social media clients over the past four months! We secured coverage in publications like Business Week and PC World, and delivered hot hits from YouTube reviewers like Chris Pirrillo and SoldierKnowsBest.

A lot also happened in the world of technology, PR and social media. To recap what happened this summer, I polled the BLASTmedia office with the following question: In your opinion, what was the coolest/most exciting thing that happened this summer in tech/PR/social media?

Here are the answers:

Blake Fife, Video Development Specialist: “For me, one of the most exciting summer highlights is the new video editing tool on YouTube. While not as robust as many other non-linear editing programs, it does allow users to quickly add Instagram-like filters to their flip cam / mobile videos before posting online. Only time will tell if people take advantage of this new tool.”

Sabrina Cook, Vice President: “The launch of Google+. It was surreal to see people begging for invites and touting it as the replacement for Facebook, yet just a month later, those same people had abandoned it and gone back to Facebook.”

Anna Julow, Social Media Account Executive: “I have a confession to make: As devil-may-care as I might come off, I’m a rule-follower. I’ve never downloaded music illegally (even back in the Napster days). So when Spotify was introduced in US this July, I was really excited to have a way to listen to entire albums for free online. I’m not sure how Facebook’s new music platform will affect the free version of Spotify I’ve come to love, but I’m excited to see what’s next for music online.”

Ryan Cox, Audience Development Specialist: “The most interesting thing that happened kind of flew under the radar: Google buying Zagat. Google is clearly interested in the “people power” approach to local recommendations. It failed to acquire Yelp in 2009, it failed to acquire Groupon earlier this year. But the most interesting part of this is that Google is making Zagat the cornerstone of its local push. Google is now getting into the content-creation business, not just the content-linking business. And that has conflict-of-interest written all over it.”

Emily Trimble (that’s me!), Social Media Account Executive: “I’m obsessed with music and the ability to easily share it with my friends. When Turntable.Fm was released this summer, I couldn’t have been more excited. Then, on the last day of summer Marky Z. announces a slew of new, outstanding, features coming to Facebook. The ability to easily share music is awesome—however what’s really incredible is the way that Facebook is planning to become the only social site you’ll ever need to visit. I can’t wait to see what happens.”

Ryan Greives, Vice President: “By far the biggest news was Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple CEO. The man who built and then rebuilt Apple, founded Pixar, and changed the tech industry forever, could possibly be the biggest tech news of the year as well.”

Jacqueline Simard, Social Media Account Executive: “The addition of “tweet” and “social media” to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, as well as “retweet” to The Oxford English dictionary, were two of my summer highlights. Nerd, much? The additions, albeit small, are just a further confirmation of social media’s penetration into the language. Plus, it serves as a small validation to my parents that my job is, in fact, legitimate.”

Lindsey Groepper, Senior Vice President: “The guy in Pakistan unknowingly live-Tweeting the Osama Bin Laden raid and execution.”

So now I ask you: In your opinion, what was the coolest/most exciting thing that happened this summer in tech/PR/social media?

Incoming search terms:

• emily trimble student at sf
• emily trimblw