Tosh.0 relies on social media for success

With the advancement of the social web, anyone with the proper equipment can post videos or start-up a blog.  This has proven to be an invaluable asset to the  news industry, where anyone can essentially contribute as a reporter.  Web 2.0 has provided television news with many great civilian videos and pictures, but the news industry is not the only one who has benefited.

Think of the comedic potential.  The web is overflowing with hilarious content  begging for exposure. The Comedy Central series, Tosh.0 has taken notice.

Tosh.0 is stand-up comedy meets user-generated content.  This weekly series consists of comedian Daniel Tosh poking fun at and commentating on all things humorous across the Internet.  His show is largely composed of viral YouTube videos, and digital photos submitted online by the viewers.

The most popular segment on Tosh.0 has become “Web Redemptions”.  For “Web Redemptions”, Tosh takes people who were humiliated by pranks that went viral on the web, and gives them a shot at redemption against the one who posted the clip.

Paired with the television series, Tosh.0 also maintains a daily blog.  On the blog, fans can post their original videos or images, as well as rate and comment on content submitted by others.  The favorite videos from each week are featured on the blog homepage.  In addition to content posted by fans, Tosh also posts his own videos, usually consisting of his original comedy skits and parodies of the most popular viral videos. The blog also houses archives of submitted clips that appeared on the show as well as every “Web Redemption” segment since its beginning.

The most recent interactive addition to the Tosh.0 blog was the “2010 Casual Bracket“, where Tosh laid out 16 outrageous clothing options and let his fans vote online to decide what he would wear during the first episode of the season.

Visitors to the blog can easily bookmark any of the blog videos using Google Bookmarks or Digg. Links are also available to the Tosh.0 Twitter and Facebook pages.

Tosh.0 is another quality example of a successful marriage between social media and television, and the series now has the third-season extension to prove it.

The current trend the more and more television programs are starting to realize is that viewers like building relationships with the programs that they love, and social media is a great way to build those relationships.

Pairing a television program with social media is still a young idea and may seem a bit risky to some. However, there are television networks that have made great gains by taking that risk.

Programs such as, Tosh.0 and SportsNation, which is mentioned in a previous post, have now opened the door for many other programs to begin using social media.  Who will be the next to make a move?

Season 2 of Glee Begins April 13th

The casting call is carried out one hundred percent online through the show’s MySpace page.  The show is looking for videos demonstrating skill in both singing and storytelling. Anyone between the ages of 16-26 is welcome to upload his or her original audition videos to the Glee MySpace page under the auditions section.  There, people who are Facebook ‘friends’ with the Glee page have the ability to share, comment and vote on their favorite audition videos.

This move by Glee is making a lot of noise across the country.   Needless to say, attempting to fill roles via online auditions is a bold move, however, this unique contest seems to be working out just fine.  To date, the Glee MySpace page has accumulated 1,249,741 friends and received over 10,000 audition videos.  This is a testament to the viral power that social media can generate.  Typically casting calls are geographically limiting and often times go unnoticed by many.  With the utilization of a social media casting call, it breaks down any geographic barriers because people have to ability to submit their audition video from anywhere in the country.  Also, the virility of all the online conversation has created tremendous buzz about Glee.  Everybody who is active on the social web has the opportunity to find out about this casting call; the only requirement for participation is that you fit within the age range.

Another element to this casting call that makes it very different from anything done before it is that the fans have a say in who gets selected.  The videos that gain the most popularity online with ratings, views and comments are the videos that get the greatest consideration for a callback.  Contestants can campaign for their videos on the show’s MySpace homepage.

The online casting call has definitely helped draw a lot of attention to both Glee and the FOX network, but lets not ignore the potential effect this could have on MySpace.

With the growing popularity of Facebook and Twitter, MySpace has become the figurative low man on the totem pole.  Once a very popular social networking site, MySpace has struggled of late. The amount of buzz surrounding Glee’s MySpace auditions could provide the site with a much-needed boost.  According to the blog post, MySpace Should Be Glee-ful About Hit Series Online Auditions, this event could truly benefit MySpace in its efforts to reinvent itself as an online environment where users can share their musical and entertainment talents.  While Twitter and Facebook are typically social in nature, they do not have the power of sharing multimedia.  MySpace could really benefit by promoting an atmosphere where aspiring singers and actors can share their original multimedia work with the online community.

After all, this was the reason that FOX chose MySpace for this endeavor.   Don’t you think people will take notice?

Starling

A new social media network that is both similar and completely different from today’s most popular social sites has been launched.  The name of this social network is Starling.  Starling, which will be made available for use in September 2010, will serve as both an online social network and a social media mobile app. Its goal being to connect television viewing audiences through the web by giving viewers a structured forum to discuss their favorite shows.

The trend of “co-viewing”, which is defined in the Mobile Entertainment blog post, Starling Unveils ‘Co-Viewing’ Social TV Platform, as people gathering online to discuss television shows with fellow fans as they watch television, continues to rise.  According to the Contagious Magazine article, Starling Launch, the Nielson data from December 2009 reported that 59% of television viewers are watching television and using the Internet simultaneously.  Starling felt that this statistic could not be ignored.  Television is a major topic in social media and Starling hopes to channel its potential.

This new social network hopes to build off of the inclusion of characteristics that have made Facebook and Twitter so successful.  If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, and these social networks are definitely thriving.  Starling will adopt a series of features from both Facebook and Twitter, such as live chat, group forums, and news feeds. However, it will be completely different from the two in that it is strictly a social forum for discussion about television content.

Starling Mobile App

People are discussing television programs everywhere on the social web.  What Starling hopes to do is centralize the social media conversations into one place and create a less stratified world of feedback.  Not only do the creators of Starling feel that this will create an easier to navigate social environment where fans can easily find other fans of similar interests, but it will also benefit the television networks. Starling will help television networks by allowing them to monitor the online buzz surrounding each television program with relative ease.  Instead of sporadically searching various social mediums for valuable feedback and discussion from fans about their shows, networks will now be able to focus their attention primarily on this one social network.

The Starling social network will allow fans to post comments to friends, engage in live chats, vote on topics, and rate comments.  The network will be organized based on television show sections that contain their own individual forums, making it easy to navigate and create an organized central place for discussion. Also, members’ homepages will stream comments from friends, show the most popularly rated comments, and stream posts related to their individual interests.

With the release date set for this coming September, it is too early to accurately judge how successful this effort will be.  Typically, it takes some time for new social networks to gain notoriety.  The determining factor for Starling will likely be the effectiveness of its structure.  To sell a product, it is vital that the consumers understand what makes it stand out from the rest.  For Starling, the bottom line is that their structured conversations will help to promote stronger online involvement and richer connections between television viewers.  Keep an eye out for this social network.  Who knows, come September we may all be starting up our own Starling accounts.

Google TV has set no release date

In previous posts, I have discussed the efforts of many television networks to extend their reach online.  Now, having seen the success and promise of these TV/Web hybrid projects Google and Intel, partnered with Sony have made plans to advance their online dominance into the television world.

How do they plan on achieving this?  Google TV is an Android-based television software that will allow viewers to access the web on their televisions.  Google TV is expected to include a version of the Google Chrome web browser that would give users the ability to search the web, access social sites such as Twitter, YouTube, and the Picasa photo site.  It also appears the Google TV will have to capability to download web applications such as different social networks and online games.

Logitech was recently introduced as part of this venture due to the company’s success with universal remotes.  Their assignment is to construct a universal television remote with working QWERTY keypad.

Google TV is anticipated to be released in two-formats.  The first is a set-top box, which is a device that connects to a television and an external source of signal. This signal is manipulated into digital content, which can then be displayed on the television screen.  The second format, which is projected for a later release than the first, are HDTVs with built-in Google TV capabilities, created by Sony.

No release date has been set for any of the Google TV products, but they are sure to make a huge splash in both the television and online worlds.  It will be interesting to see how successful Google TV will be and what its effect will be on the computer industry.  If Google TV turns out to be a hit, it may be time to answer the question proposed by Gadget Lab’s, Charlie Sorrell; “If you have the internet in your television, and a tablet appliance like the iPad to carry around, who needs a desktop or even a laptop computer?”

We could be on the brink of a major shake-up in the industry.

Summit on the Summit Celebrity Team

When looking to gain awareness in younger audiences, it is important that you go to where they are.  Often times people do not seek out information, so it can be an effective strategy to seek out the mediums where your audiences are already engaged, and start there.  In effort to raise awareness in younger generations of Americans about the clean water crisis in Africa, Summit on the Summit launched a campaign that could not be ignored.

To give a little background information, Summit on the Summit consisted of a group of celebrities and experienced climbers attempting to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania hoping to bring over 2.5 million liters of water to those who need it and to further raise awareness of the lack of clean water in African countries.  In order to get their message out, Summit on the Summit (SOTS) turned to television and social media.

During the entire climb, the participating team was filmed for a documentary series scheduled to air on MTV.  Accompanying the television exposure, SOTS took to the web via social media sites.  Throughout the climb, the celebrities blogged and tweeted about their journey as well as uploaded pictures and video to the interactive SOTS website.

The SOTS interactive webpage includes a dashboard linking to the SOTS  Facebook and MySpace pages as well as a realtime scroll of post on the SOTS Kilimanjaro twitter page.  There is also a link to the SOTS “Climber Blog” on Tumblr where the climbers post pictures,videos and write about everything from their climbing progress to facts about the water crisis.

SOTS seems to have taken all the right steps to put their cause right in front of their target publics.  This campaign seems to have the potential to generate a lot of buzz in both the online and television worlds.

The company, Wiredset, may have engineered the answer.  Wiredset’s Trendrr is a data tracking platform that was created primarily for the television and film industries.  The Trendrr dashboard collects data from over 50 social media venues, including all the major sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and eBay.  The collected data gives television networks an inside look at their audience demographics as well as provides a real-time feed of what’s being discussed.

In the Mashable post, The Entertainment Industry Get its Own Dashboard , it discussing that the information provided by Trendrr could be invaluable for networks in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their programs. The platform gives insight into who is watching their shows, what people are saying about them, and who they have to work harder to reach.  One of the best characteristics of Trendrr, is that it isn’t the least bit complicated.  The dashboard lays everything out in easily understandable charts, graphs and a self-updating Twitter panel.  With social media chatter carrying the amount of weight that it does, having all the information right in front of their faces makes it easy for the networks to monitor and adjust their programs accordingly in order to maximize ratings.

The richness of information that a television network can obtain through a data-tracking program, such as Trendrr, is much more valuable than simple demographic data, ratings and shares.  It is not simply how many people are watching a television program or how frequently a person tunes into a show, but it is the feedback that networks can gain from the people who are active in online social media that can really make a difference.

So, to all the major television networks that have yet to purchase Trendrr’s services, I urge you to please reconsider.

NBC Universal has really taken the opportunity to extend the games into social media and run with it.

Just prior to the opening ceremony, NBC, in partnership with Apple, released the “NBC Olympics Mobile App”. This application can be downloaded to any iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch and allows subscribers to view updated medal tallies, results and even video highlights from the events one may have missed on TV.  With the games being held on the West Coast, much of the Olympic activity occurs during odd hours for East Coast sports fans.  Lots of events fall during the workday or take place late at night, when many people aren’t able to tune into the television broadcasts.  Having results and video updates sent directly to your mobile phone makes up for what is missed on TV, and also allows NBC to make events that they did not air available to would-be viewers.

Host country, Canada, has joined the social media frenzy as well.  In a similar fashion to NBC, CTV, the Canadian Television Network is offering  live streams of Olympic game coverage on its website.

For an event of this magnitude, NBC could not ignore the possible benefits of utilizing Twitter and Facebook to connect with fans.  On nbcolympics.com, a page has been designated for “Olympic tweets”. This page includes a continuous list of tweets made by USA Olympic athletes, keeping fans up-to-date on their experiences throughout the games.

Fans are also encouraged to voice their opinions online on NBC’s “Get in the Games” page.  “Get in the Games” is a segment of NBC’s website that serves as a forum for fan blog posts and mediated discussion regarding the Vancouver games.  This is a great addition to the involvement of social media in the Olympic games.  Although being given the ability to read about the athletes’ experiences through their personal Twitter account and blogs is great, fans want to have their voices heard as well.  These social media sites serve as an excellent forum for people from all over to connect and share their thoughts and opinions about everything dealing with the Olympic games.

Now, more than ever, fans are able to constantly remain in the loop regarding Olympic activity.  Social media has proven to be an invaluable compliment to the NBC television network.  Television, itself, is incapable of showing every event but with the advent of social media updates, fans are more aware of happenings at the winter games than ever before.  Not only that, but social media has also helped the fans feel more connected to the 21st Winter Olympiad than any other games that have preceded it.

In the eight seasons prior to the current one, contestants’ use of social media during the show had been banned.    These pages will presumably be monitored by FOX for appropriate content, but Idol‘s change of heart regarding social networking sites will be interesting to monitor.

Top 24 use social media

In the article, American Idol Top 24 Season 9: Official Twitter, Facebook & MySpace, found on bumpshack.com, it discusses FOX’s  hope to create greater access to Idol contestants, allowing the contestants to share their experiences with their fans.  This will also allow contestants to bolster their individual campaigns and solicit votes.

It is questionable whether or not a move such as this one, will alter the integrity of the show.  Seeing as Idol is already the most popular show on network television, it has little to gain by attempting to increase awareness and publicity.  However, the access to the contestants on a personal level may be something that really resonates well with fans.

As the Top 24 dwindle down to the final two, it will be interesting to see whether the amount of online traffic (Twitter followers/Facebook friends) translates to the amount of votes received by the contestants.

One reservation I have about FOX’s  implementation of social media, is that it could contribute to transforming American Idol from a talent show into more of a self-marketing competition.

Will social media change how the game is won?  Will it lead to using social media sites for voting in the future?

With 10 episodes and 24 contestants remaining, time will tell how FOX’s move will impact the show.

SportsNation is social media heavy

The first program I want to draw your attention to is SportsNation.  If you have not yet seen this show, I highly recommend it.  SportsNation is an absolute  innovator for the integration of social media and television.  This show is generated almost 100% off of viewer input.  ESPN.com offers an interactive page for the show that is riddled with poll questions where you can vote and the resultant fan opinions dictate the flow of that day’s television show, influencing what issues are most talked about on SportsNation.

Not only does SportsNation’s website offer a series of daily polls, but it also includes an inbox to post your own sporting YouTube clips and provides space for fans to “post their own blog entries and go toe-to-toe with commentators.

ESPN’s flagship news program, SportsCenter, has also begun the transition to intertwining online media with  television broadcasts.  Twitter has become a vital resource for obtaining information.  Tweets by athletes, coaches and the like have all appeared on SportsCenter newscasts.  Twitter has proven to be a great avenue for gaining information and insight in an instantaneous fashion. ESPN has done a great job utilizing Twitter as an information source for their broadcasts.  SportCenter has recently created feeds for their top stories and breaking news available to the public via Twitter and RSS.

Since its beginning, ESPN has been a one-way distributor of news and “expert” opinions.  Now, with the integration of online social media and television broadcasts, the power has shifted to us, everyday viewers and sports fans.  ESPN has empowered its target audience, an experiment that in my opinion, has worked brilliantly.

These programs are the first major step a sports-oriented network has taken to intertwine the two mediums, and so far ESPN and social media have proven to be nothing short of a match made in heaven.  Job well done.

Think about recent trending stories such as Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Movie Awards, or the buzz surrounding the Super Bowl and its commercials.  Chances are many of you may have  learned of these occurrences from tweets, Facebook status update, or blog chatter.  It may have even led you to tune in to the television program itself.  A lot can be learned from instances such as these, as live television programs are beginning to get a first-hand look at the power of social media buzz.

In the online magazine, Advertising Age, the article, Live TV’s Alive as Ever, Boosted by Social Media, discusses how Twitter’s trending topics and Facebook’s status updates have to ability to create buzz surrounding television programs, which can lead to increased viewership. Over the past year, many live television programs that have been heavily discussed online have watched their viewership numbers skyrocket.  With social media activity growing by the second, it’s hard to ignore the possible correlation between the two mediums.

Social media tactics are now being practiced by primetime network broadcasts, as well.  FOX is one network pioneering the social media effort.   Beginning last September, FOX introduced “Tweet-peat” a Twitter-based event that allowed followers of the FOX network shows, Fringe and Glee to watch re-runs of the latest episodes online while participating in a live tweet with  the show’s writers and actors.

Currently, the Nielson group is in the process of developing metrics to measure the impacts of social media on the viewership of different network’s television programs. Presumably, these metrics will be made available to clients in the near future. If the current trends are any indication, we may be on the verge of a drastic shift in how television networks place their advertising.