As you may have heard, CNN.com was recently nominated for a Webby Award in the broadband category. Obviously, this is a huge honor of which we’re very proud — and we hope you feel the same! With that, we are humbly asking for your support by voting for us in the Webby People’s Voice Awards, voted on by the general public. Now through April 30th, you can register and vote for your favorite Web sites at http://pv.webbyawards.com … And if you want to make sure you vote for CNN.com, click the Web site’s icon and select “Broadband” in the dropdown menu, then cast your vote for CNN.com Video!

Last year certainly was a banner year for video at CNN.com in a number of ways, as the first several months of 2009 also have been. On the technology front, we moved to a Flash player so we could give you the best user experience possible. We also heard you loud and clear when you asked for the ability to share video with your friends, so we created an embeddable player for your blogs and Web sites. On the programming side, we had an amazingly busy and challenging year covering one of the most fascinating and historic elections of all time, providing you hours and hours of special coverage across four live streams!

Your dedicated usage — from on-demand, live streaming and podcasts — and honors such as the Webby nomination are a testament to the hard working and talented team at CNN.com. So, thank you!

And as you might expect, we’re always looking for ways to make your experience and our product better. Drop us a line and tell us what you’d like to see. And again, thank you for making CNN.com the No. 1 video site for news and information!

First of all, kudos to Ashton and all those in the @aplusk camp. Now more than ever, the consumer is in the driver’s seat and we couldn’t be more gratified than to be part of this historic social media milestone. We’d like to thank every one of our followers for helping CNN reach the one million mark, and we are delighted to raise our donation to 10,000 bed nets for World Malaria Day in recognition of them.

Many of you have been @cnnbrk followers for a long time – thank you for your support! But some of you are new, so we wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you to the account and give you a little background.

@cnnbrk is CNN’s breaking news account on Twitter. It was originally created by a friend of ours who wanted CNN breaking news email alerts delivered to his mobile phone. The alerts are intended to inform you about major news events, wherever you are. We don’t send a lot of alerts – in fact, you may go days without receiving an alert from us. But when we send one, it’s something we think you need to know.

We also have many other CNN accounts on Twitter you can follow. Some of our accounts deliver stories, others are for interaction with our shows and personalities, and others have general updates. Here are a few of the CNN accounts on Twitter:

• @cnn
• @andersoncooper
• @ricksanchezcnn
• @kingsthings
• @cnnireport
• @politicalticker
• @CNN_Newsroom

At CNN, we use Twitter to engage with our audience and help inform each other about the news of the world. So welcome to CNN on Twitter. Leave a comment or send us an @reply… we’re listening.

Where were you when history was made? Nearly 2 million people crowded onto the National Mall and along the parade route to see the inauguration of our 44th President; but millions of you who weren’t in the nation’s capital – or got there and wanted to share the experience online – came to CNN.com. Thanks to you, we made a little history, too.

On Tuesday, CNN.com Live set the record for the largest live video event ever on the Internet when it served a record-breaking 1.3 million concurrent live streams as the new President took his oath and prepared to deliver his inauguration address. Across the whole day, CNN.com Live served nearly 27 million live video streams, breaking our own personal best record of 5.3 million live streams. Incredible!

What made the CNN.com experience extra special was it became a social event—a virtual viewing party for the CNN and Facebook communities. Our special CNN.com Live player enabled users to interact with their friends and other Facebook users as they watched. Thousands of you connected, sharing your opinions and emotions with your personal communities. I personally heard from friends as far away as Hong Kong and India. One messaged: “This was a great way to watch with friends if we could not be in the same room together.” Another friend, bummed out about being at work, posted this status update: “This makes me feel like I’m with a crowd, instead of a small office with just a handful of people.”

How about you? Did you and your Facebook friends connect on the CNN.com Live player to watch history-in-the-making?

We’ve had a few people report getting an error message when trying to access our “Your view of history” map, that tracks personal accounts from the inauguration in Washington. If you receive an error message that reads something like “the Google Maps API server rejected your request”… just click the OK button. You should still be able to view the map without any issues. And if you do continue to experience any problems, you can click on the “show monuments & streets” link on the right hand side of the page. That will bring up the landmarks and streets on the map so you’ll still be able to view the personal accounts.

We’re working with Google to ensure that you do not experience any problems with the maps. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the day, as we continue to update the map.

UPDATE:
You should no longer be seeing the error message popup when you attempt to access the “your view of history” map.

We’re very excited about something we’re planning to offer you on the day of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, so we wanted to give you a sneak peek. Naturally, you’ll be able to watch the Inauguration on CNN.com Live… but you’ll also be able share the experience with your friends!

During the 2008 Election, we noticed a lot of people kept up with race results online or on TV while also posting on Facebook. It was fun to watch our friends’ status updates and see the full range of emotions within our own personal communities. So, we thought why not combine the best of both worlds and bring all of your Facebook friends into the CNN.com Live player?

For the last couple of months we’ve worked closely with Facebook on this idea, and on Jan. 20, will debut a special Inauguration Day version of the CNN.com Live player that offers users the ability to update their Facebook status directly from the player.

Whether you’re planning to watch the Inauguration on TV or online, and regardless of whether or not you are an Obama supporter, go to Facebook now and RSVP for the event. We’ve already got more than a million RSVPs! And then on Tuesday, Jan. 20, go to CNN.com Live beginning at 8am ET to watch any and all of the day’s events, ranging from the parade to the speech to all the parties! Don’t forget to RSVP?

We’ve learned that a spam message alleging to be from CNN and containing a link to a fake news page began circulating on the Internet yesterday. We decided to blog about this to alert those of you who hadn’t yet received it to be on the lookout for it; and also to assure those of you who did receive it that the message is NOT, in fact, from CNN.

The message, claiming to contain information about the current conflict in Gaza, is fraudulent and did not originate from CNN. If you have received it, we suggest that you delete it from your mailbox. Further, we recommend you delete any email message from your mailbox that you believe may be illegitimate.

Spammers often disguise or forge the source of their e-mail to give recipients the impression that the message derived from another system, especially one tied to a recognizable brand. In this instance, the spammer chose to use the CNN brand.

Election Day is here! After months of planning and preparation, we here at CNN.com are excited to provide you with your election news and information on this historic day. We will be providing you with a lot of information, and we know that you may have questions about how some of the election processes work, where to find certain information or why we do things in certain ways. Below we have put together some of the more common questions and answers we expect. Got more questions? Send them to us through comments on this blog and we’ll do our best to respond!

How deep is CNN.com’s Elections Result Coverage?
CNN.com’s Elections Results coverage includes extensive data on the presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and Governor races. This information is available at national, state and county levels.

Need a starting point? All of the coverage is easily accessible from the CNN.com home page. You can also go to our Election Results area to start diving in to our comprehensive Election Results coverage.

CNN.com also covers several key ballot measures, exit poll results and special coverage on key battleground states. In addition, every state has its own full results page so you can see all of the races, key ballot measures and latest projections in your state.

When do results start coming in?
Election results start coming in at approximately 6 p.m. ET as CNN begins receiving vote counts from the state precincts with the earliest poll closing times. Statewide poll closings start at 7 p.m. ET, with polls remaining open in some states until 1 a.m. ET. If there are multiple poll closing times in a state, CNN will not project a winner and only release select exit poll information for that state until the last poll closing time, even though vote counts may start appearing sooner. View the full list of last poll closing times. How do I read Exit Polls?

How does CNN make its projections?
CNN receives data from two key sources – AP and Edison Media Research – and uses a sample of precinct data from these sources. In races where results do not appear to be close, projections are made on exit poll data alone. In races that are close, CNN will wait for votes to be counted and reported. Read more about this process

How can I make my own projections?
You can calculate the likelihood of particular voting scenarios using CNN.com’s Electoral Map Calculator. This calculator allows you to create different scenarios and project the winner. On Election Night, the calculator will lock down CNN projections on a state-by-state basis while allowing you to choose winners for the remaining states and predict an outcome. Want information on what the latest polls are saying to help you make your pick? See the Election Tracker: Candidate Polls.

How can I keep track of races that I care about in one place?
You can track up to 35 races using the Your Races feature. Your Races allows you to select by race, state or location. You can start by entering your ZIP code, or you can customize Your Races by including different races and states you are interested in. Want to keep track of the battleground states? Simply select “battleground states” from the race menu, add them to Your Races and keep track of them throughout the night. Once you have made your selections, you will be asked to select your top three races, which will “follow” you in a module throughout the Election Results pages as you navigate the site.

Where can I find all the latest analysis from the CNN Political Unit?
The Best Political Team will offer reporting, analysis and live blogging on the Political Ticker, where you will also find the latest information on voter problems, key congressional races, voter turnout and the latest information on the campaign trail.

I am unsure how electoral votes work or what “balance of power” really means. Is there a place that explains these terms at a basic level?
The Electoral College process along with information on where and how to vote can be found in our Elections 101 section. In addition, a comprehensive glossary of elections terms takes the mystery out of some of our commonly used terms throughout the election site.

How can I find information about where candidates stand on a particular issue?
Simply go to our Issues section within the Election Center for information on how the presidential and vice presidential candidates would tackle the big issues currently facing our nation.

How can I find out more about the campaigns and how their strategies – campaign visits, ad spending, etc. – affected the Election?
Our comprehensive Election Tracker includes information on candidate polling, fundraising, ad spending, candidate visits and past results. You can also try the Power Play feature that lets you “mash up,” or compare, two categories to see the correlations.

Does CNN.com cover third party candidates?
CNN.com covers third party candidates throughout our results pages as they affect specific state races. At the national level, users will be able to track every vote for president on one page, at cnn.com/thirdparties.

Where can I share my views on this election?
CNN.com has several places where you can discuss the issues that matter to you. The Forum offers lively debate and discussion and allows you to build a badge that reflect your political beliefs, compare your views to others and — for Facebook users — connect and share with your friends. iReport.com is an entirely user-generated online destination that provides a place for you share the experiences you have had during this election. Here you can upload photos and videos to help tell your story, and you may even find that your coverage gets included on CNN! Finally, CNN.com selects several stories a day where users can “sound off” by submitting comments about a particular article or video.

Can I view election results on my mobile device?
CNN offers election results on your phone so you can get the latest numbers in the presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and Governor races and also find races by your ZIP code. Just type cnn.com into your phone’s browser to get started.

What can I expect to see on CNN.com LIVE?
Expect to see all the excitement of the day and night on our live, multi-stream video news service. CNN.com Live will stream live reports from polling stations across the country, along with the analysis from guests, contributors and members of the Best Political Team on Television. As polls close, the CNN.com LIVE team will bring you real-time election results and analysis. We’ll also be streaming all the major acceptance and concession speeches. Catch highlights on VOD later if you missed anything.

At CNN.com, we’re always working to enhance and improve the video experience for YOU, our consumers. We are very happy to announce our latest move in that effort with the introduction of the CNN.com embeddable video player, a stand-alone video player that can be virally distributed by using a code snippet to embed on almost any site or blog that you choose. For the time being, the player is limited to a single clip and available in the player size, 384×216. We’ve also added a share feature to allow you to share videos on your favorite social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

See something you like and want to share it with others? Just click on the button on the video player that says “embed this video”. Then, you will see a message allowing you to copy the embed code to place on your site. And, just like that, you’ve embedded CNN.com video! Or click on the share button and select a site from the list on which you’d like to share a video link .We hope you enjoy these latest features – let us know what you think!

We’ve just launched BackStory, our latest new feature on CNN.com, to give you a quick way to catch up on how a story has developed over time.

Now, when we want to give history, context and background to a developing story, we go back through our archives to find “milestone” events and then link those together in an interactive window.

Our BackStory on the investigation into the anthrax attacks takes us back to that first death from anthrax exposure and the spread of the scare to the U.S. Senate offices in those uneasy weeks after the 9/11 attacks. We highlight how the FBI issued a profile of their suspect and then honed in on a scientist — the wrong one — before finally saying this month that they believe they’ve solved the case.

In this and all other BackStories, readers can click through events to get a quick recap of how the story has evolved and how it has been covered on CNN. And we link to full stories of the time to give more details of what we knew then as well as to pages on key players.

So watch out for more BackStories and let us know if they’re giving you the understanding of a story you want.

Earlier this week, a spam message purporting to be from CNN began circulating the Internet. We decided to blog about this to alert those of you who hadn’t yet received it to be on the lookout for it; and also to assure those of you who did receive it that the message was NOT, in fact, from CNN.

As you may know, spammers often disguise or forge the source of their e-mail to give recipients the impression that the message derived from another system, especially one tied to a recognizable brand. In this instance, the spammer chose to use the CNN brand.

The message, claiming to contain CNN’s Top 10 news stories and videos of the day, is fraudulent and did not originate from CNN. If you have received it, we suggest that you delete it from your mailbox. Further, we recommend you delete any e-mail message from your mailbox that you believe may be illegitimate.

Thanks to all of you out there who alerted us to the existence of this spam purporting to be from CNN.