We’ve always thought our support team was fantastic and now it seems that the rest of the world is noticing as well!   Over the past month, the Yola team has received 2 big honors.

First, SupportAwards.org recognized Yola for having the best customer support across all industries, beating out legendary brands like Zappos and Apple.  In addition, our own Monique Viljoen-Platts won the award for the most outstanding support agent.  Go Monique!

Second, Yola was the subject of a Forrester Research study about how we’ve leveraged the strength of our community in Get Satisfaction to scale our customer service as we’ve grown.  The study offers tips for other companies who are looking to improve their customer support though their communities.

Our support team is always working on improving their service and it’s great to see them get this kind of recognition.

I’m excited to announce that Yola’s been selected as one of Business Week’s Fifty Tech Startups You Should Know.

There are a lot of promising companies on the list.  We’re thrilled to be part of it.

I’m excited to let you know that our own Vinny Lingham, founder and CEO or SynthaSite, has been selected as a Young Global Leader for 2009 by the World Economic Forum.  He’s one of a select group of 230 movers and shakers under the age of 40 who will bring fresh thinking to some of the major problems facing our world.

Some of the other Young Global Leaders 2009 are:

• Chad Hurley, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, YouTube
• Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Facebook
• Tiger Woods, Golfer
• Michael Schumacher, F1 Driver, Ferrari
• Alexander Stubb, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland
• Karl-Theodor Zu Guttenberg, Minister of the Economy of Germany
• Chris Martin, Lead Singer, Coldplay
• Jessica Biel, Actress

That’s some rare air.  Congratulations Vinny!

For more details, read Vinny’s Blog post or see the press release from the World Economic Forum.

The word is getting out and we are getting featured regularly by the blogging community:

Founders and CEOs got a chance to pitch their companies directly to the TechCrunch audience and we had the opportunity to submit our 60 second elevator pitch. Watch our CEO in action and be sure to cast your vote!

SynthaSite has also gained some popularity with educators. SynthaSite was included in a reader’s choice poll in this article by Larry Ferlazzo on Best Web Applications for Educators. Poll closes on 1 February 2009, so vote today.

SynthaSite has won the Industry Standard 100 award in the Community & Social category, beating companies like Delicious and Meebo.

Thank you to everyone for their votes!

Voting closes tomorrow for the Industry Standard Innovation 100 Awards.  We’re proud to be a finalist and really want to win it all!  Voting closes this Friday, October 3rd and we need your vote!  Please visit: http://www.thestandard.com/awards/tis100/categories — click on the “community” category and vote for SynthaSite.

We’re excited to announce that our own Vinny Lingham (founder and CEO of SynthaSite) is in the running as a finalist for ITWeb’s IT Personality of the Year 2008 Awards. He is up against CEO’s and founders of top IT companies in South Africa such as Datacentrix, BSG and T-systems.  The competition is tough and he needs your vote.

Voting closes on Sunday, Oct 5th so vote now at: http://www.itweb.co.za/events/itpersonalityoftheyear/2008/

We are proud to announce that SynthaSite is a finalist in the Industry Standard Innovation 100 awards!

Thank you to everyone who voted for us.

There will be one “winner” per category based on the most community votes in each category, so you have another opportunity to show your love for SynthaSite. We need your help, so Vote Now!