3rd Shorty Awards
The nomination period for the third annual Shorty Awards opened in January, 2011, and ran through February 11, 2011, except for new categories that had extended nomination deadlines. There were 30 official categories, and five special categories. In addition to Real-Time Photo of the Year, for the first time the awards accepted nominations for Foursquare Mayor of the Year, Foursquare Location of the Year, Microblog of the Year on Tumblr, and a Connecting People award. The awards also introduced new Shorty Industry Awards to recognize the best uses of social media by brands and agencies. A Marketing Jury within the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences judges the Shorty Industry Awards and determines the winners from among the paid entries. Winners were announced at a ceremony on March 28, 2011, hosted by Aasif Mandvi in the Times Center. Other Shorty Awards presenters were scheduled to include Kiefer Sutherland, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Stephen Wallem, Miss USA Rima Fakih, and Miss Teen USA Kamie Crawford.
Winners
The third annual winners by category:| Category | Winner |
| Best Actor | Neil Patrick Harris, @ActuallyNPH |
| Best Actress | Stana Katic, @Stana_Katic |
| Best in Apps | COLOURlovers, @colourlovers |
| Best in Art | One Stop Poetry, @Onestoppoetry |
| Best Author | Shawn Stewart, @treatwomenright & John Green, @realjohngreen |
| Best Celebrity | Kim Jae-joong, @mjjeje |
| Best Charity | The Trevor Project, @trevorproject |
| Best Comedian | Harrison Greenbaum, @harrisoncomedy |
| Best Cultural Institution | Tyneside Cinema, @tynesidecinema & Science Gallery, @ScienceGallery |
| Best in Customer Service | Research In Motion, @BlackBerryHelp |
| Best in Design | Codeorama, @Codeorama |
| Best in Entertainment | Barney Stinson, @Broslife |
| Best in Fashion | Ann Li, @AnnLouieLi |
| Best Fan Page | Ke$ha Time, @keshastime & Hey Britney, @heybritney |
| Best in Finance | Slow Money, @SlowMoney |
| Best in Food | Epic Meal Time, @epicmealtime |
| Best in Gaming | Adam Montoya, @SeaNanners |
| Best in Government | Cory Booker, @CoryBooker |
| Best in Green | Mud Baron, @Cocoxochitl |
| Best in Humor | The Dark Lord, @Lord_Voldemort7 |
| Best in Innovation | Rene Silva Santos, @Rene_Silva_RJ |
| Best Journalist | West Wing Report, @westwingreport |
| Best in Music | Jonas Brothers, @JonasBrothers |
| Best in News | Lei Seca RJ, @LeiSecaRJ & The Young Turks, @TheYoungTurks |
| Best Nurse | Ronivin Pagtakhan, @ronnievinn & Matthew Browning, @MatthewBrowning |
| Best in Politics | Marina Silva, @silva_marina & The Bloggess, @TheBloggess |
| Best in Science | MythBusters, @MythBusters |
| Best Social Media Expert | Facts About Boys, @FactsAboutBoys |
| Best in Sports | New Orleans Saints, @Official_Saints |
| Best in Tech | Soldier Knows Best, @SoldierKnowBest |
| Best in Television | Attack of the Show, @aots & Sesame Street, @sesamestreet |
| Best in Travel | JD Andrews, @earthXplorer |
| Best in Weird | Alli Trippy @AlliTrippy & OMG I do this, too, @omgidothistoo |