By now, most should have heard of the still developing story about two sophomoric – to say the least – Domino’s Pizza employees.

In summary, two employees posted a video to YouTube of themselves “improperly handling” food at a North Carolina Domino’s Pizza. The video titled “Disgusting Dominos People” was viewed more than a million times before being removed by the author as suggested by the notice, “due to a copyright claim by Kristy Hammonds” which appears above the video.

Unfortunately for Domino’s, and as many other will attest, when something gets released to the web, it’s nearly impossible to remove all traces if it has grown in popularity. Much of the media and user comments have sided with Domino’s in their handling of the situation due to a fairly quick yet cautious response as well as a formal Domino's apology video on YouTube by president, Patrick Doyle.

The interesting thing to note here is that world of social media is quite finicky in what makes the front page… As can be seen with this case, only one video of unsanitary food preparation really made the headlines, but there are actually four other videos of the same gross and immature behavior that have since surfaced.

Some may say Digg played a role – as the story appears 3rd and 11th for most popular in the last 7 and 30 days respectively – even though the video was first released elsewhere. Others may point to the Consumerist Sleuths who tracked down and identified the individuals and notified Domino’s corporate. All we know is this will have a negative effect in the short term but will fade in the long run just like this guy.

That is why we are proud to announce that MassMutual, French’s Mustard, GoAhead Tours and BizUnite have been selected as finalists for the 13th Annual MITX Awards.

Held annually by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the MITX Awards recognize excellence in the creation of web innovations designed, produced or developed in New England.

Genuine Interactive will be recognized in various categories at a gala awards ceremony traditionally attended by over 1,000 of the region’s top internet business and marketing professionals.

Winners will be announced at the ceremony in the Boston Marriott Copley Place on Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

Tickets can be purchased at www.mitxawards.org.

After weeks of studying, and passing an extremely difficult exam, we are pleased to say that Genuine Interactive is a Google AdWords Certified Company! You may say “why would we need to be ‘officially’ qualified at something we were particularly good at already?” Luckily Chris Khoo has addressed this matter in a post on Search Engine News.

“Certifications add legitimacy and respectability to an occupation; they prove that you had to study, and help assure your clients that you know what you're doing…My positions is that this is just what the online advertising industry needs to establish a professional standard. After all, would you like Joe Bloggs off the street performing heart surgery on you, with no degree or qualifications? Or would you have your eyes checked by someone other than a qualified optometrist? Just like being a Microsoft, Novell, or Cisco professional, it’s good that there’s something now to certify the skills of a Google AdWords professional.”

 In a nutshell, we do not shy away from hard work, complicated tasks or difficult tests – we thrive on solving problems and are proud of all our accomplishments. And since we are very much a part of this relatively new (even though it has celebrated its 10th birthday), extremely dynamic and still evolving industry, we are now officially CERTIFIED!