One to Watch for 2012: The Social TV Convergence

There was a time, a long long time ago before the internet, The X Factor and Pringles existed, when the phase ‘water-cooler moment’ was coined. This was a moment of community and shared experience, where the tele-visual event of last night was watched by the majority so they could be involved in the conversation. Then, as time passed, the number of channels grew and digital recorders such as Sky Plus and online catch-up sites like 4oD and iPlayer evolved, and the relevance of the event diminished to a point where advertisers withdrew and ratings dropped.

Now, however, an online revolution is changing all that, it’s no longer the water cooler but the social media moment, and it happens live, as the programme is broadcast. Suddenly a two screen revolution is under-way as internet access and multi-platform applications such as Twitter and Facebook are used in unison with the television to analyse, discuss and ridicule the exploits of soap characters, reality ‘stars’ and world events. No longer does it take any great effort to access the social media platforms for the average viewer, of a certain demographic, has mobile phones, tablets and laptops at their sides while they watch TV. There are even services like Zeebox springing up that embrace this trend and give users a one stop social media stop.

This is a sign of the future where all forms of media channel (YouTube, ITVPlayer and Sky TV) are viewed within a web environment that is not confined to the window of that company. So what does this mean? Well, for the consumer it means more feedback which could lead to better programming but also more power to those who air their views. For the businesses involved, the broadcasters lose control over image but have more metrics by which to show value to advertisers and these advertisers will no doubt be the target of the social media platforms collecting opinions.

Leveson Inquiry: Tabloid Witch-Hunt or Hunt for Media Standards?

As the first seminar of the Leveson Inquiry into media standards and ethics began yesterday morning, it saw the start of what would be a lengthy debate into the controversial matter of the phone hacking scandal. This inquiry has brought forth many key issues: The treatment of individuals as a mere ‘story’ rather than as people in their own right; the constriction of free speech and sharing of information; or can the ‘pressures’ journalists are facing justify their illegal actions?

I agree that journalists are constantly under pressure to get a story published quickly, especially as they are up against such competitive social media platforms and a decline in circulation. However, this ‘pressure’ has seemingly led certain journalists to take shortcuts in their practice which is, in effect, damaging to the institution of journalism, especially in the public eye.

I have to admit I was hooked reading the live feed of the seminar as it happened. Although, the battle between the tabloids and broadsheets as to ‘who said what’, and the fear that Leveson was out to get the tabloids, did seem to steer away from the objective of the inquiry. They understood that what happened was illegal, but I am not sure that the defence was strong enough; especially as one line of defence was “good journalism at times breaks all these [moral] codes, and breaks the law maybe in a small way.”

Leveson concluded that the seminar had “achieved what I hoped it would achieve”, giving the viewpoints needed to help shape its direction further. I know that there was an array of perspectives, but I am not sure that the focus on the point of ethics was made clear enough. I am looking forward to the next instalment which will take place on Wednesday 12th October 2011, but I do hope the fundamental value of genuine journalism is remembered in order to ‘shape’ the future of media standards.

82 percent of people who have worked in a restaurant or bar own iPods/iPads, compared with 66 percent of people in general.

These figures have been put together by a website called www.correlated.org  Everyday Correlated.org, ask a new question, for example: are you left handed? Then with a clever bit of coding and maths, they work out which set of previous questions can give the biggest discrepancy from people in general and forward you an email with the results.

At this stage the sample groups are only reaching just over 300 so these correlations should be taken as interesting rather than factual and short of combining with a massive social network like Facebook, twitter or LinkedIn, we as communication professionals will not really be able to utilise them.  However, with stats like:

“71 percent of perfume/cologne wearers prefer debit cards over credit cards, compared with 53 percent of people in general” 

you can begin to see the beauty of this site.

Who is Rebecca Black?

In weeks where world events have been grabbing headlines, an unlikely target/social media sensation has also been born in the form of Rebecca Black. 

 While many of us were blissfully unaware of this unknown tween’s “music video” it appears to have gone viral, attracting all kinds of attention and receiving nearly 70,000,000 views on YouTube.  I, myself, wondered what on earth Rebecca Black was as I checked the trending topics du jour and found it every day.  Ordinarily something like this would be a good thing, especially if you remember overnight tween sensation Justin Bieber. But poor old Rebecca appears to have become a victim of some serious cyber bullying (though I must add that there is something good that came of it in the end). 

 So how did a $2,000 parentally funded video made by using a boutique studio come to be such a “hit”?  Apparently it was considered so bad that people forwarded it to their friends for a laugh and the video has gone viral, culminating in a TV appearance and earning $1m (donated to Japan).   Some may think that it was some cynical marketing ploy, but the saddest thing about Rebecca Black’s video and Twitter trending is that it attracted an incredible volume of excessively negative comments. 

In a day and age when people are entitled to widely share their thinking that something is rubbish and also post comments directly to the individual in cyberspace, is it really necessary to threaten their lives?  Does some sort of filter need to be put in place to prevent such comments or is it just part of normal life?  As creatively ‘interesting’ as the single is, catchy through its limited vocabulary and interesting style of rapping, why the need to be so incredibly barbaric and hateful? It’s a thirteen year old girl at the end of the day.   Rebecca Black’s case has managed to highlight a vicious tendency that is quite worrying in young and old alike.  Lots of people seem to be commenting on it, but perhaps it will take a brand or a NGO to campaign the issue before ‘normal’ people realize that in this case they are the bullies…

Video below, for those who are yet to see it. *Warning* May not be to everyone’s taste and is very catchy.

Social media revolution! So what’s next?

Social networking websites have seen unprecedented growth with communications professionals quick to adopt social media as a new platform for conversations about their brands. However, initiating online conversations with target audiences is often not enough when it comes to raising brand awareness. Identifying social media influencers among these audiences and encouraging them to talk about the brand is as important as participating in online discussions and putting up corporate messages on social networking websites.

The US baseball team Cleveland Indians has successfully used this strategy to build a strong relationship with their fans by becoming the first sports team to have a social media suite in their stadium. The idea encourages social media savvy fans to tweet and blog about their experiences from watching the games and to help raise brand awareness.

Another interesting example of emerging trends in social media use comes from the finance sector. Hedge funds and other investors are considering embracing sites like Twitter and Facebook to rally support for their industry and reach out to small shareholders and potential allies. Small investors are already using social networks to increase their influence versus big shareholders on boards. Websites such as MoxyVote.com allow small shareholders to vote on corporate issues independently or as part of a broader group and strengthen their role in corporate decision making.

As online activism becomes increasingly important for NGOs and private organisations, its potential to move groups of shareholders from passive administrators to active participants should not be underestimated. Engaging audiences as brand ambassadors or cause advocates is a great way of strengthening brand loyalty and encouraging a two-way model of communication. However, this area still has to be explored. As different industries adopt social media at different pace, there is plenty of space for experiment and innovation.