Commentary

Who Put Social Media In My Television?

by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, April 25, 2013

There’s no doubt that TV and social media have become hot companions. In fact, there’s a whole sub-category of media hype that’s been coined to describe it: “Second screens.” Needless to say, TV has been the first screen, while PCs, tablets and handhelds are all deemed, well, No. 2. Now, Madison Square Garden Co.’s Fuse network wants to flip the model, launching what it claims is the first TV shows inspired by social media content vs. the other way around. The new show, dubbed “Trending 10,” not surprisingly, is being done in collaboration with Twitter, and will be produced based on real-time spokes emanating from the Twittersphere.

But maybe it’s not fair to utilize a screens hierarchy in this case, because it’s more like a the ultimate blending of the two. Or to paraphrase the old Reese’s peanut butter cup ads, “You got social media in my TV show.” “You got TV in my social media feeds.”

Actually, Joe Marchese says that was intentional. “What we’re doing is closing the loop between traditional television and digital media,” says Marchese, who is senior vice president-marketing and digital at Fuse Networks, and was a key player in the development of the new show, as well as other digital loop-closers, such as Fuse’s channel on YouTube. In all those cases, Marchese says, the goal isn’t simply to extend TV into digital -- or vice versa -- but to find ways of using each medium and platform to complement what Fuse represents to its viewers/users: You know, context. Specifically, context about music.

And while Reese’s will not be sponsoring the new countdown show, which airs weeknights at 7:30, another confection will: Trident gum.

social media, tv

4 comments about "Who Put Social Media In My Television?".

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Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, April 25, 2013 at 6:05 p.m.
But here's the question: when will they stop hurting the viewing experience in a desperate need to drive social action? The Grammy's were miserable ("Remember to tweet your thoughts...". The Oscars were horrible. Reality shows put in gawdawful bumpers hoping to drive their social traffic. But studies indicate that this can't affect more than about 2% of viewers. How hard SHOULD networks try to connect on the "second screen" or whatever we want to call it? Most people I know use their second screen to play Angry Birds... :-)
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Don Mitchell from Freelance Media Professional, April 25, 2013 at 8:07 p.m.

The television is on as I write this on "my" second screen. Unfortunately for advertisers, I'm only paying full attention to one screen right now, and it's not their's.

Kate Berg from Collective Bias, April 26, 2013 at 7:26 a.m.

These stabs at integration (re Doug Garnett's comment above) are clunky to be sure and I've thought about this quite a bit. Fuse's move is a smart one and a pioneering one. This is what much of TV in the future will look like as the ability to tap "the wisdom of crowds" via social tools takes the guesswork out of tapping the Zeigeist for unscripted television.

Robert Romano from Axxess Solutions, April 27, 2013 at 6:44 p.m.

It is not second screen that will be impactful with Broadcasting but first screen. It ( second xcredn tweets) is not innovative nor impactful in most any way except an occasional tweet carved out in a live broadcast that gets noticed. What the culture and broadcasting shift is to phone or web browser registered live " vote" or a live ( first screen ) action to the broadcast answer impacting true opinion polling on something watched live. Second screen tweets are an annoyance, only trumped by second screen advertising.