As social media begins to find its feet, so the major players in it stand out – Michael Arrington is one such player. Widely recognized as one of the more “vocal” inhabitants of the social media world, Michael Arrington is undoubtedly one of the more successful proponents of it as well.

He is the founder of TechCrunch, one of the leading weblogs dedicated to profiling new Internet companies and products as well as those that are making a cultural impact on the Internet. From a small beginning as just another blog, TechCrunch has been built by Arrington and his team into a site that is consistently featured in online Top 100 lists.

As well as TechCrunch, Michael Arrington has also been involved in numerous other social media start-ups. These include OmniDrive, Dogster and Seesmic amongst others. This has led to Arrington being named as one of the most influential people on the Web.

As much as he is respected for his role in online and social media development, Michael Arrington also draws his fair share of criticism as well – most notably, that he often uses TechCrunch as nothing more than a soap box for his Silicon Valley friends. He’s also been criticised for posting stories on TechCrunch and lambasting people without knowing all the facts, as the debate about a recent story regarding a dying ex-corporate lawyer attests to.

Whether you’re a fan of Arrington or feel he’s been overhyped by both the mainstream and specialist media, there’s no denying the part played by both him and his companies in the rise of social media as a viable medium. For that alone, he deserves his part in the A-Z of social media.

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