On the occasion of Mediaite’s year anniversary earlier this week, some of our staff members and contributors look back on what kind of crazy, weirdo year it was. There are two versions of the story about the last months of the life and times of Eldrick “Tiger” Woods. There’s the sports story, of course, but [...]

Happy anniversary, Mediaite! It seems like just yesterday we were sweating together in the conference room over last July 4th weekend as we got ready to launch after just ten weeks of prep, straight into the first summer of the recession. Good times! Actually, they were good times – though strange, so strange that even Paul the Octopus could not have predicted them.

This week marks the one year anniversary of the launch of Mediaite, and what a year it has been. As Dan Abrams notes, predictions of Mediaite’s doom were greatly exaggerated, and as Mediaite columnist and White House reporter from Day One, I have viewed the site’s successful first year from a unique perch. When Rachel Sklar pitched the site to me, I have to confess I was a little bit skeptical, but it didn’t take long for me to see that she and Dan were on to something.

So. Mediaite is a year old. Or, rather, a year and six days old. Or 1.02 years. As the site’s self-appointed data geek, I thought that this first birthday deserved a special data-oriented tribute.

In the year that Mediaite has been around, it’s certainly been an interesting time for the media world. As Mediaite quickly established itself as one of the go-to sites covering the media industry, legacy media outlets finally began to come to terms with social media — particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post, two of the most storied newspapers in America. In the past year, these news organizations and others began to incorporate social media into their plans – but with varying objectives.

Perhaps the biggest, most pervasive, most important shift in media during the last year has been the rise of location-based services, particularly those used when mobile. New companies with names like FourSquare, Gowalla, and Loopt are letting everyone know where you are, where you aren’t, where you’ve been, and maybe even where you’re going.

It is hard to believe it’s been a full year since our newbie website with the awkward-sounding name was welcomed to the blogosphere with accolades such as “sounds…like something you’d give to a toddler suffering diarrhea,” or “no one really cares about the business and personalities behind the media,” or my personal favorite, “Mediaite feels a bit doomed.” Ah, yes — that honeymoon period was so sweet. We all love to curl up with the scrapbook and reminisce about the early days.