Cute idea, but Google's attempt to find the top "eCity" for each U.S. state really turns out to be a measure of the top smaller city with the businesses that do the most to have a presence online. The methodology favors smaller cities over big ones, as you can see by reading the results. (Zionsville, Indiana? Really? Bainbridge Island, Washington? Puh-leeze.) Plus it captures only one small fraction of a business's digital presence, namely whether it has a website and has registered in various directories.
Thus, a city with lots of doughnut shops with websites would outscore a city with a large and massively important business that had failed to get into directories or use social media. In California, for instance, the home towns of Google, Apple and Oracle failed to make the grade, but the surfer's paradise of Carlsbad was at the top. Uh huh. Right.
I hope Google's search algorithms are more accurate than its eCity algorithms. -- Jesse Berst
Google says the awards recognize the strongest online business community in each state. "These cities’ businesses are using the web to find new customers, connect with existing customers and fuel their local economies," a Google website says. "Across the country, businesses that are online expect to grow 40% faster."
So which cities did they choose? Here are the 2013 winners:
AL - Madison
AK - Homer
AZ - Scottsdale
AR - Bella Vista
CA - Carlsbad
CO - Boulder
CT - Glastonbury
DE - Bear
FL - Santa Rosa Beach
GA - Atlanta
HI - Kailua Kona
ID - Sandpoint
IL - Oak Brook
IN - Zionsville
IA - West Des Moines
KS - Lenexa
KY - Lexington
LA - Mandeville
ME - Scarborough
MD - Ocean City
MA - Westborough
MI - Walled Lake
MN - Minnetonka
MS - Ridgeland
MO - Maryland Heights
MT - Whitefish
NE - Lincoln
NV - Carson City
NH - Amherst
NJ - Princeton
NM - Albuquerque
NY - New York
NC - Cary
ND - Fargo
OH - Solon
OK - Edmond
OR - Ashland
PA - Exton
RI - Middletown
SC - N. Myrtle Beach
SD - Sioux Falls
TN - Hendersonville
TX - Austin
UT - Park City
VT - South Burlington
VA - Chantilly
WA - Bainbridge Island
WV - Charleston
WI - Pewaukee
WY - Casper
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Jesse Berst is the founding Chairman of the Smart Cities Council. Click to subscribe to SmartCitiesNow, the weekly newsletter highlighting smart city trends, technologies and techniques.
