• Red Herring, Tuesday, July 31, 2007 10:48 AM

Online video sharing is an important part of social networks like Facebook, while social-media tools have become an integral part of YouTube and other major online video sites. But is there a way to integrate the two? A new online video series called "KateModern," just a week old, is doing it.

Brought to us by the folks who produced the popular video series "LonelyGirl," KateModern has caught fire with users of the British social network Bebo, in which its fictional main characters interact with its audience through public profiles, comments, chat, polls, quizzes, even plot suggestions. The result is a richly drawn world where real and fake become difficult to decipher. Indeed, the social network has become the natural home of an interactive Web 2.0 soap opera.

Bebo President Joanna Shields says that YouTube is a place for "linear" or non-interactive video: "I think there's a potential to build a new form of entertainment here." Absolutely. This could be an important next step for social networks, entertainment providers and advertisers, which could create branded campaigns or promotions/sweepstakes played out through a social network.

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