social media

The “Facecast” will usually be posted in the early afternoon, and was set to start today. ABC said Facebook users will see the report in their news stream if they have “liked” World News Tonight, or else will be able to find it on the newscast’s Facebook page. ABC said it was the first newscast created specifically for social media by an evening news anchor.

Scandal star Kerry Washington made a suggestion to creator Shonda Rhimes when Scandal debuted in 2012: Get the cast to religiously use Twitter to generate buzz. Rhimes quickly sent out an email to her tightknit crew to crank up the social media. A phenomenon was born that got the attention of the network’s top brass and Hollywood’s television industry.

Social media has proved an invaluable tool to Buffalo, N.Y., TV news operations throughout the week-long ordeal that started last Tuesday when early-season storms dumped seven feet of snow in some areas. As the snow piled up, the stations went wall-to-wall with their coverage, but were short-staffed and sometimes unable to put ENG vehicles on snow-clogged streets. Reports from viewers started pouring in as soon as the storm hit, providing a bounty of user-generated content.

Before social media, if you missed a live episode of the latest hit show, you’d feel left out of the conversation at the water cooler. In today’s instantaneous world of social media, however, you’re more likely to feel left out on Twitter. And that fear of missing out seems to be pushing people to catch up: New research from Nielsen found that social media “reminds” people to watch an episode after the live airing.

Sarah Glover moves from WCAU Philadelphia to work with NBC Owned Stations to build and engage social audiences at the 11 stations.

The daytime talk show host announced Thursday the launch of Ellentube, an online video portal and iOS app that features exclusive clips from The Ellen DeGeneres Show and gives fans the opportunity to upload user-generated content. Ellentube —  which was created by DeGeneres and Ellen show executive producers Mary Connelly, Ed Galvin and Andy Lassner — will be organized around video playlists based on popular Ellen video categories.

The steady increase indicates that Facebook has succeeded in steering advertisers to its mobile platform at a time when most of its users are using Facebook on phones and tablets. Investors were initially worried about the desktop Web era-born company’s ability to succeed in mobile advertising, but those concerns are long gone.

In a bid to expand its own audience, the social media and blogging site is reaching out to fans of certain shows through deals with the shows’ creators.

Trip Chowdhry, a co-founder and analyst at Global Equities Research, has been interviewing developers ahead of an Apple announcement set for Oct. 16. ”All these developers strongly believe that Apple has opened its Apple TV APIs to some big developers including Facebook, Twitter, CNBC and Disney” Chowdhry says. “These developers feel that Facebook and Twitter APIs may be built into [the] Apple TV Platform API, which if true, could jump-start a completely new TV experience called ‘Social TV.’ ”

Media outlets can post company pages that amplify their content, while employee and fan pages can add to the web of influence and brand building, said Yumi Wilson, who coached newspaper executives at the Local Media Association Innovation Conference in Philadelphia.

“We’re much more dependent on Facebook than we thought,” says Alexis Madrigal, deputy editor of TheAtlantic.com, who joined Facebook’s Liz Heron, Facebook’s news partnership lead, at the Online News Association’s annual conference to unpack some of the more urgent dynamics of social media and its intersection with mobile. They emphasized that both phenomena are already having a completely transformative effect on the news industry.

Less than a year after launching its small news division, Twitter is reenforcing early signs that its endgame is to be a tool, not a competitor, to other news sources. In that spirit, Vivian Schiller, Twitter’s head of news, led a panel at the Online News Association’s annual conference on Thursday aiming to highlight the latest in an ever-evolving set of best practices for newsrooms using the social platform.

Assigning a job description to the “social media editor” positions is difficult. In a larger market, the gig may be 100% social media. In a smaller market, social may be one of many duties, which could also include Web production, reporting and editing, and perhaps some marketing. Same for the staffer demographic, which may be a fresh college graduate or seasoned reporter of several years. 

Small and medium-sized businesses — more than any other category of media — reported using social media to promote their businesses, BIA/Kelsey’s “Local Commerce Monitor” for July found in its ongoing study of advertising behaviors. Facebook dominates SMB use, with 55% of SMBs reporting they have a Facebook page for business use, and 20% reporting they have run a Facebook ad or promoted post. Strong showings by other platforms, including LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter’s promoted tweets, indicate the social space is highly robust for SMB marketing.

When it comes to delivering a Twitter audience, the NFL beats the rest of the primetime schedule and it’s pretty much a blowout. Last Thursday’s premiere NFL game of the 2014 season, between the Green Bay Packers and Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, generated close to 950,000 tweets. And those tweets were seen by over 8 million fans, according to the latest Nielsen Twitter TV Rankings report.

They continue to target Baby Boomers with traditional media, when this group is extremely active on new media. Influence Central’s Stacy DeBroff talks about why this group loves technology, how they differ from Millennials, and what advertisers should be doing to target them.

While it’s often said that engagement is the oxygen of social media, for most TV broadcasters, only one thing matters: tune-in. Social TV folks frequently debate how far out from air time to post broadcast teases on Facebook (the platform with the largest potential audience). It’s a choice between teasing further out and reaching more people vs. closer to air and getting fewer people but being at the top of their minds.

Although the actual dollar value that social media brings to TV programming may still be in dispute, one thing is seemingly true: people are increasingly aware of TV shows because of social media. Perhaps more important for traditional TV advertisers is that as a result of social media, 11% said they watched more live TV in 2013, versus 8% in 2012.

The line between news and advertising has been blurring for years. Infomercials, advertorials, “native” ads online. Now, there’s a new option: social media ads, like the ones newbie WWAY Wilmington, N.C., reporter Sara Hopkins gets paid to post on Instagram to supplement her “starter market” salary.

The case, Elonis v. United States, will be argued before the Supreme Court this fall and will require the court to consider how the First Amendment applies to social media. Adam Liptak looks at how the court has ruled in other cases that involved “emerging technology before its role in society has become clear.”

His career in shepherding live, high-octane events began decades ago and has survived the downturn in popularity of such fare. Now, live is back in style and, Mischer says, is being driven to new heights by social media that are boosting the ratings as they make viewing an even more powerful shared experience. He explains why we love these big live-event shows, what it’s like to produce them, how that has changed and what he sees ahead.

Findings from the latest YouView study census into United Kingdom national television habits for 2014 suggest that social media interaction with Facebook and Twitter are influencing TV viewing habits but risk ruining shows. The survey found that social media has had a huge impact on TV tastes with around one in seven viewers now getting TV recommendations directly.

While some critics argue the second screen experience of looking at a device while a show is on serves to distract viewers, networks see nothing but an upside. Here are some insight into hashtags and while watching TV:

As part of a broader effort to help users, brands and publishers to connect more closely, Twitter has agreed to buy SnappyTV, which powers a popular platform for the live-clipping, editing and distribution of video across the Web.

Gannett President David Lougee says his group’s new partnership with Debmar-Mercury will develop syndicated shows that leverage America’s obsession with social media. “There’s an opportunity for us and other broadcasters to take advantage of the organic relationship between social media and television,” he says. “The majority of our viewers have an Internet-enabled device within three feet of them when they are watching television.”