Forget about the age of must-see television, 2012 will be the year of must-tweet TV.
Networks large and small are using social media to engage second-screen viewers like never before. A few of the most high-profile recent examples include:
>> Monday, Fox News used Twitter to measure viewer reaction to its GOP debate and encourage online interaction based on the candidates’ answers.
>>NBC partnered with Facebook for its “Meet the Press” debate Jan. 8.
>>VH1 offered a four-hour live stream of analysis during its Critics’ Choice Movie Awards broadcast last week.
“Particularly over the last year, we’ve seen social media grow from just being the latest shiny new toy to being a really powerful tool that is integral to gathering news and telling stories,” Ryan Osborn, senior director of digital media for NBC News, told TheWrap.
Also read: Rupert Murdoch on MySpace: 'We Screwed Up in Every Way Possible'
Integrating social media from viewers following along with computers and smartphones fosters greater engagement while also broadening the audience for programming. Best of all, it provides consumer data.
With that, networks can better target advertisers.
The question now is not whether networks should utilize social media but how they can use it most effectively and monetize it.
Osborn cited Twitter reaction to the 2009 U.S. Airways crash into New York's Hudson River as one of the first times the social media service influenced NBC News coverage. Osborn, then a “junior official,” told his bosses about a tweeted photo. The network news team quickly determined the story was legitimate and got a jump on what became a major story.
Fox has used Twitter to measure popular sentiment on issues and candidates, with the metrics finding their way onto Fox’s website and into its on-screen post-debate analysis.
Other networks, like Bravo and VH1, have encouraged stars to tweet during their shows, hoping to build buzz at key moments. Still more have show-specific hash tags that can become trending topics and convince those not viewing to tune in.
Also read: Charlie Sheen's Comedy Central Roast Goes Twitter-Crazy
Frank Radice, managing partner of consulting firm VIDA F.R., and and former president of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, said that even more methods of using social media will emerge.
“It’s only going to come through experimentation,” Radice told TheWrap. “You need to try everything. I don’t want to say it’s a guy throwing spaghetti against the side of a refrigerator, but it sort of is. You want to know if something will work, and if people will engage.”
Facebook pages promoting shows and their stars are a given at this point. But using Comcast’s Xfinity, a viewer can access program guides based on Facebook trending topics, and networks are also integrating Facebook into their shows. During NBC’s “Meet the Press” debate earlier this month, viewers were able to see Facebook comments and queries on screen.
