The Best Is Back: AOL Launches City’s Best 2010, Selects Austin as Program’s Featured City

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) today announced the launch of the 2010 City’s Best program, providing a guide to the best local food, entertainment and lifestyle options in 25 major U.S. cities. Austin has been selected as one of the featured cities. With a commitment to providing the highest quality and most relevant information at the local level, City’s Best editors and writers in Austin have visited and selected the best food, entertainment and lifestyle venues, creating a high-quality local directory of listings. Now, AOL will engage Austin residents to vote for – and ultimately determine – the "best of the best” that Austin has to offer.

Beginning today, Austin residents are invited to join the quest for its "City’s Best” by visiting www.citysbest.com or downloading City’s Best applications for iPhone and Android to vote for their favorite businesses within a variety of food, entertainment and lifestyle categories. Joining Austin, the other markets selected for AOL’s 2010 City’s Best launch include: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Twin Cities and Washington, DC.

LET THE VOTING BEGIN FOR YOUR CITY’S BEST…!:

Voting Period (October 13 – November 30): City’s Best voting kicks-off today, October 13, and will run through November 30. Individuals will "vote” for their favorite spots from a list of top businesses in specific categories. A winner will be determined for each of the categories in Austin and announced on December 14. Categories were selected based on local popularity and general public interest to ensure participation from the greatest number of people. Categories include:

"City’s Best is a unique opportunity for Austin residents to engage in their community and be a part of recognizing outstanding local businesses for the exceptional services they provide,” said Lauren Zinn, AOL Southwest Regional Editor. "City’s Best is where neighbors and experts find and share what is best in their city. And who else would be better suited to decide Austin’s best food, entertainment and lifestyle venues than Austin residents and local experts who experience the quality of these businesses every day.”

Resources & Tools for the Businesses Selected in Each Category

Throughout the voting program, the businesses selected in each category will be featured on www.citysbest.com. AOL has developed a number of resources and tools for the businesses to use to promote their business, generate voting and garner visibility. Tools include a downloadable City’s Best logo, and tips and ideas to help businesses encourage their fans and customers to vote online or via their mobile phone. Additionally, the ubiquitous City’s Best window stickers are back. Throughout its history, City’s Best has distributed over 50,000 window stickers to local businesses across the country. The 2010 stickers include QR codes which will allow people to use their smart phones to scan the sticker and then easily vote for the business in real time.

Local businesses* in Austin were chosen based on overall reputation. City’s Best editors and writers selected the businesses based on editorial insight and local opinion of Austin residents. The selection process is fueled by the mission of City’s Best, which is to bring experts and neighbors together to find and share the best in Austin.

"Simply put, City’s Best is the easiest way to find and engage with what’s best in our cities,” said Jon Brod, President of AOL Ventures, Local and Mapping. "Launching City’s Best is an important step in AOL Local’s goal of providing the highest quality, most relevant and most accessible local information, from hyper-local to major-metro markets. We are tapping into professional editors and writers, in addition to community members through their participation in the voting process to find and share the best in Austin.”

*A list of local businesses nominated within each category is available upon request.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL's business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL's owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL's consumer offerings.

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