Last month there was a splash in the agency world when the Boston-based agency Modernista launched its new Web site. But this wasn’t your typical agency Web site. Modernista’s new site looks like this:

What? That’s right—Modernista’s homepage looks like a Wikipedia entry. Your eye is guided to the red area at the top where you read:

“Do not be alarmed. You are viewing Modernista through the eyes of the Web. The menu on the left is our homepage. Everything behind it is beyond our control.”

I applaud the bold statement Modernista is making with this approach. By structuring their site in such a creative, extreme way, the agency is illustrating not only that they “get” social media, but that it’s the right choice for anyone looking for an interactive, dynamic, cutting-edge ad agency.

Modernista and Hammock share a similar philosophy that embraces social media, and while Modernista exploits the medium a little more radically, their site and ours have a lot in common. We both post examples of our work on an easy to update, easy to view Flickr account. They post their digital work on del.icio.us, a social media bookmarking site; Hammock.com’s Industry News is fed from our del.icio.us account, too. Like Hammock.com, Modernista also utilizes the features of YouTube and Google Maps.

At Hammock, we believe that social media should become an integral part of corporate and association communications today. Like Modernista, we often demonstrate ways a site can take advantage of the benefits of online communities, such as Facebook, del.icio.us, YouTube and Twitter. We invest our time and energy into learning and utilizing these platforms because we’re convinced the old static Web site model is not only a thing of the past, but will prevent organizations from accomplishing their communications goals. To engage with your members or clients, you must utilize these new tools to connect with your audience online.