social media

The New York Times is the most social company in the U.S., and local TV is the top industry on Twitter, finds a report by NetProspex. The report measures the number of employees with social media accounts (using a company email address) and their total connections — which by definition, favors larger companies.

NBC O&O WCAU Philadelphia (DMA 4) has hired Lou Dubois as its social media editor and strategist. Dubois will oversee the use of social media tools by reporters, producers and […]

Google has apparently disabled the Google+ account belonging to NBC affiliate KOMU Columbia, Mo., says one of the station’s most prolific Google+ users, anchor Sarah Hill, in a public post in her personal account.

Roku, the streaming video player, is adding the ability to see Facebook videos and pictures right on your TV. There are already several channels you can see on Roku, and Facebook Photos has been one of them. Now the channel is getting a big upgrade and it’s another example of internet video coming to the living room.

Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton: “[Engagement is] using Twitter and Facebook to build a tribe or family of followers, even disciples, who will keep reading you. The potential downside here is a diminution of quality. If reporters are setting aside a portion of their days for social media, that leaves less time for thinking and traditional reporting. And if the chase in journalism becomes one for the greatest number of page views, Twitter followers and Facebook friends, instead of the great story, we all lose.”

Facebook has a message for the television world: social TV is coming. Andy Mitchell, SVP of strategic partner development at Facebook, pitched a crowd of media and branding honchos at the PromaxBDA conference on the various ways in which he thinks his company can help the broadcast media embrace the social world.

A TVGuide.com study found that more viewers chatted and tweeted while watching live TV during the past season and the top 10 most popular “social shows” are all aired on broadcast networks. Such social viewing is giving rise to a new metric, social impressions, that bolsters the gross ratings points. Stations are also discovering the value of tying local programming in with the Facebook and Twitter.

Nielsen Co., the longstanding arbiter of popularity in the television industry, calculates ratings by observing the TV-viewing habits of a cross section of the American public. SocialGuide.com, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based start-up, is taking a different approach: It analyzes what’s being said about TV on Twitter and Facebook. That’s about 90 million comments made by 13 million people about 4,500 shows on 160 networks.

Comcast will announce at the Cable Show later this week a “next generation TV experience” that it’s currently testing in Augusta, Ga. The system will include interactive apps that are easy to access and enhanced for TV, such as traffic and weather, and social apps such as Facebook that let users share and discover what to watch with their friends.

The relationship between the two, which Twitter has been actively trying to promote in the last nine months or so, is a funky one. On Twitter, The Real Housewives Of New Jersey trumps Modern Family. Why?

The relationship between the two, which Twitter has been actively trying to promote in the last nine months or so, is a funky one. On Twitter, The Real Housewives Of New Jersey trumps Modern Family. Why?

Top media execs predict that 75% of all TV shows will be on the Web in two years. And since the Web is seamlessly migrating to TV (via Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, connected TV sets, Xbox, etc.), that leaves TV stations with a new challenge: everything TV stations produce and distribute now goes head-to-head with everything else. That means social media is more important than ever for local TV content to be discovered, shared and consumed.

Speaking at the EG8 technology forum in Paris, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that TV, music and books are the next “media experiences” that will be revolutionized by social media. “I hope we can play a part in enabling those new companies to get built, and companies that are out there producing this great content to become more social,” he said.

Semantic technology start-up Bluefin Labs has begun testing tools for marketers to monitor and measure TV’s influence via social media. Initial partners from the worlds of marketing and media include Best Buy Co., Inc., Mars, Humana, Razorfish, SS+K, Hill Holliday, Dentsu and Fox Sports.

With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, some journalists are elevating multitasking to a new art form. WSPA Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. anchor Amy Wood is hard to beat, amassing one of local TV’s largest social followings (@TVAmy | Facebook) in part by interacting with her audience while she’s live on the air.

Just watching WDFT-WJSU Tuscaloosa, Ala., meteorologist James Spann in action on TV is impressive by itself. When a rash of tornadoes crisscrossed the state last week, he tracked them all in real-time, calling on dozens of communities to take cover — sometimes more than once as tornadoes reformed or double-backed. What’s even more amazing is how Spann’s social media accounts exploded during and after the story.

A Web start-up named Storify, which opens to the public today, aims to help journalists and others collect and filter the citizen journalism that appears on social media sites, YouTube and Flickr.

TV viewers continue to increase their usage of social media when it comes to TV programs.  A new survey says two in five online U.S. adults — 43% — have gone to the Web to comment, post, or read something about a TV show.

The news page for Cordillera-owned NBC affiliate in Lexington, Ky. (DMA 63), is third in the U.S. in number of Facebook fans — almost 57,000 with more coming daily to check out the news department’s weather alerts, story teasers, polls and interactive features. Bruce Carter, the station’s news director, expects to have 100,000 by year’s end: “That’s bigger than our audience for our noon newscast.”

As more and more people chat on Facebook and Twitter while watching TV, networks are trying to figure out how to capitalize. It’s as if people are gathered around the online water cooler — and the television executives are nervously hovering nearby, hoping viewers keep talking and, by extension, watching their shows.

If you’re dropping $2 million to $3 million on a Super Bowl commercial to generate buzz for your company, you might want to throw in a social media campaign to capitalize on the conversation. That’s what an estimated one-half of Super Bowl advertisers plan to do this coming weekend.

Raycom’s ABC affiliate KAIT Jonesboro, Ark., has found ways to gain about the same number of social media fans and followers as some of the country’s top newspapers.

The National Hockey League and NBC Sports unveiled a campaign today that integrates Facebook, Twitter and national television on the New Year’s Day broadcast of the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic. The campaign is a “watch and win” promotion that gives viewers a chance to win either a Honda CR-Z, or trips for four to both Universal Orlando Studios and the 2011 NHL All-Star Game.

Pete Snyder is tapped to be president of the new group that will contain Meredith Integrated Marketing’s current social marketing (New Media Strategies) and mobile marketing (The Hyperfactory) capabilities. Going forward, it will also represent the newly evolving marketing agencies associated most closely with engagement marketing.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s pride in  his office’s ability to bypass traditional media to get his message out via social media is just one point of contention putting Deal and the local media at odds. “There’s no group of editors or news directors who can prevent me from communicating directly with a mass audience,” Deal reportedly said at a recent gala.

The social news service today announced the launch of its own video division to create original content. One of its first projects will be turning the brand’s Ask Me Anything interviews into video, the company says.

Barack Obama has been called the first social media president. Well Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, is fed up with Obama’s constant tweeting, checking in and, most of all, his emails asking for donations.