(PS: As I was writing this post, I couldn't even count the amount of times "#OSCARS" popped up on the bottom of the TV screen!)
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Everybody Tweets
I've been beginning to realize lately how much social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have infiltrated television media! I can't count the amount of times I see a Twitter hash tag pop up on the bottom of the screen during a television show (what actually made me think of writing a post about this was because I saw one pop up during the red carpet show for the Academy Awards--and the host made a verbal reference as well!). On top of it all, the local news is now using Facebook to boost ratings by posting new updates on breaking news and asking for viewers opinions on issues (they even do a segment of what's going on on Facebook, including viewers who've written interesting comments on the network's FB updates). To be honest, I'm surprised it's even taken this long for the local news channels to pick up on the trend of social media sites when they can be used so easily to the network's benefit! (Perhaps local news networks have had Facebook or Twitter pages all along, but it was quite smart of them to include a segment about it during the actual newscastings.)
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As a diehard fan of all singing-related reality TV (and most of reality TV in general), I was very surprised to see that The Voice has hired a "social media correspondent"! She basically talks about what's "trending" on Twitter, and reads a few choice tweets and Facebook status updates. Also, tweets from the judges pop up intermittently at the bottom of the screen, but that happened last year too. As for news programs and Twitter, I must say I find it a little hilarious that The Weather Channel does a top-five trending Twitter issues countdown every few hours. When I first saw that, my reaction was, "...Really? The Weather Channel?" Adding to the strangeness, the anchors reading the countdown seem to have little to no idea what they're talking about, so that's pretty funny as well.
ReplyDeleteI just joined Twitter for the first time and I can't believe the amount of tweets that many media outlets post in an hour. It really is incredible the amount of information that is flying through twitter!
DeleteI can't believe I forgot to mention The Voice in my post, Maria! I absolutely love that show, too, and it's one of the first shows I noticed that is really taking full advantage of social media sites. Although I really like the fact that the judge's tweets pop up on the bottom of the screen, I sometimes find the "social media correspondent" to be a bit much... but it's still a genius idea--other viewers might really like it!
DeleteI also love that show "The Voice", but I always wonder ... are the judges really doing their own tweets, or is it their assistant posing as them?? I think some of the draw for people is the idea that they are conversing with celebrities ... but are they really?
DeleteIn terms of the local news channels using Facebook, I know Channel 10 has been on it for a while, but I wasn't a follower until the started the if they 50,000 fans they will donate 5,000 dollars to the Ocean State Animal Coalition and since I "like" so many other things on Facebook I figured this was the least I could do.
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