To celebrate 2009 drawing to a close, the EchoDitto team huddled 'round the fire and reminisced about the most memorable campaigns we've seen this year.

Just as we were about to start, Cristen noticed that our fire wasn't up to par, because someone (eh hem, Nicco . . .) had forgotten how to build a proper fire. As Cristen got up and reached into the fireplace, rearranging the logs into a perfect tipi, she told us about her favorite campaign this year, The Big Wild Challenge. The Big Wild is a Canadian outfitter that sets wilderness challenges (treks, spelunking trips & the like) and tracks donations to help the adventure happen. They've created a great forum for getting people outside and enjoying the big wilds. In all the jostling around, an ember shot out of the fire and landed on Bonnie's sleeve; a tendril of smoke curled up from her sweater. "Smokescreen!" she shouted. "There's this great campaign" she explained, "called Smokescreen." She patted the ember out and told us about how the game/campaign teaches people about privacy on social networking sites. Most people don't have an intrinsic knowledge about how to have a smart, safe online life; Smokescreen is an innovative way to learn about it.

All that talk about social networking reminded Michael that he hadn't tweeted yet that day, so he pulled out his phone to tell the world about Bonnie's burning sleeve. As he was tapping away, he remembered the Microsoft Outlook twitter campaign. It's great when a huge corporation launches a campaign all about listening and user feedback. Plus the little pictures are cool. JP asked about Michael's mobile coverage and went on to rave about one of the successful campaigns he's seen this year, the Verizon 3G Network.

Meanwhile, the subject of huge organizations and social media got Alan to thinking. He rocked in his chair, stared into the blazing fire, and pondered. We all got up for eggnog and gingerbread cookies, and when we returned Alan was standing on the coffee table with his arms akimbo -- "I've been thinking," he said. "And, you know what, Facebook did a great job updating their terms of service." He explained his appreciation for the way they turned it into an open forum discussion, and shared the information in terms we could all understand. Then Alan leapt from the table and got himself some eggnog. But, to our surprise, the force of his bound split the wood coffee table in two!

We decided that the most environmentally friendly thing to do was to burn the splintered table in the fireplace (instead of putting it in a landfill, you know) so we all took out our phones, complete with the highly sought-after chainsaw app, and fed the table to the fire piece by piece. It crackled and popped, filling the room with the sharp smell of hardwood. Matt stepped back, "Guys, was this really a good idea? How much CO2 does burning wood release into the atmosphere?" He went on to tell us about The 350 Campaign. As in 350 parts per million, the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. Scott quickly began to remove the table pieces from the fire and recommended his choice for notable 2009 campaign, Kickstarter -- a new funding platform for creative ideas and ambitious endeavors -- as a way to raise money for finding alternative uses for old tables.

JP, Joshua, Dan and Mark helped extricate the table from the fireplace while Brian, Madeleine, Bryn, Travis and Ethan supervised from their chairs. "Good work guys" yelled Madeleine, hi-fiving Bryn to her right and Travis to her left, re-injuring her shoulder in the process. Brian and Ethan tried to keep the conversation going, and asked about everyone's favorite find on the web this year. We all shouted out our favorites at once: WNYC's Radiolab--Pandora--Very Short List--Two Sentences--Brevity! Ethan raised his hands in the air, "Whoa guys, slow down," and he asked, one by one, about our favorite new technology or app of the year. Among our answers were QR code, Google goggles, the NPR iphone app, Augmented Reality, and MIT's "Sixth Sense" Digital Interface.

Now, what about the biggest fails of the year you ask? Those came up too. First, of course, there was our table burning escapade . . . but there were a few disappointing campaigns as well. Here are some that we had high hopes for, that just fell flat: GoogleWave, Windows 7 House Parties, Palm Pre, and the rockyou.com password breach. Next year guys, next year.

Happy 2010 from the smolderingly spirited EchoDitto team.

Note: The preceding was a fictional account. No tables were harmed during the writing of this post.