Open The Dialogue

Did you watch the 61st Annual Emmy Awards on Sunday night? Or were you one of the 24.8 million people who turned on Week 2 on Sunday Night Football? I tuned into the game (I live with a Giants fan) but thanks to the power of social media I was easily able to follow along. But how effective was the social media integration for this year’s Emmys?

Pros:

• On the front page of Emmys.com was a live-updating widget that allowed me to read both tweets and Emmy related status updates. But the best part was easily the Celebrity twitter tab that allowed me to check out only tweets from different celebs around the room.
• Over on Facebook a lively amount of conversation was happening on the Emmy’s Fan Page. At the same time one person was live-tweeting results and performances on the Emmy Twitter feed.
• While there was no live video, it was nice to see Dr. Horrible’s “web video” interception.  It was a good laugh but watch it for yourself (below). Some of those jokes might become true…

Cons:

• No live video. Unlike the President’s Inauguration, this was meant to be a complement to the broadcast not a replacement.
• While I enjoyed the live action widget, I wish it lived on a separate page.  With the amount of things it was pulling in, it was a little hard to follow. Plus when I went to see it again, it was gone!  The Emmy’s threw away a wealth of reaction.
• The YouTube channel that Emmys.com links to didn’t have a whole lot to do with the broadcast.  Considering how much work goes into these productions, couldn’t some exclusive video be shared,

Judgement:

• The social media integration for this year’s Emmy’s may have won a supporting actor award but certainly not a lead.  While the ideas were in the right place, the extra effort didn’t seem to be there on any of their social media properties.  Still it was great to see events like this embrace social media and I hope they do even more with it next year.

What was your favorite part of the Emmy’s?  Did you participate online at all?

FCC To Unclog the Internet: Social Media to Act as Plunger

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski launched the website OpenInternet.gov to build support for legislation that maintains equal access to content over the net.  The use of social media channels on this site is impressive with the integration of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms.  The goals are widely supported in the social media community with Mashable outlining why they support this measure.  Video of address is below:

MySpace and Twitter in Complete Harmony on Status Updates

According to RWW, MySpace announced that it will offer greater sync capability with Twitter.  It will keep MySpace more relevant in light of Facebook’s popularity. In addition, it will facilitate building branded assets on MySpace by allowing Twitter to send out messages across all platforms.

GEICO Hosts Fastest Growing Online Biker Community

By way of The Blog Council, GEICO’s MyGreatRides.com is a great example of creating an online community for your target publics.

What Small Businesses Should Do Today Online

Chris Brogan outlines some of the basic things small businesses should do online.  While they are quite obvious to us in the space, it is still important to understand that small businesses may be averse to using the medium based on fears and misunderstandings.  Brogan’s recommendations are simple and he also provides justification for why small businesses should use/implement them.  Hit the link to find out what they are.

Brands and Facebook Lite

Facebook’s new Lite version does away with apps and pages and many other features that are so essential to brands.  This may spell doom for brands but David Berkowitz provides two reasons why it shouldn’t.

1. Over 90% of home internet users connect over broadband.  Because of this, they can afford the feature-rich regular Facebook site.
2. Users who try the Lite version will miss key Facebook features such as instant messaging and apps.

The Effects of Twitter’s New TOS

The new Twitter TOS is already having an effect on the experience resulting in fewer bots, squatters and imposters.  These are just a few of the ten profile types that will go missing.  Some of these are important to keep in mind in how client profiles can interact with the public on the system without being booted.

Is Social Media a Fad or Revolution?

(by way of Econsultancy)

5 Ways Banks are Using Social Media

This article shows how different financial institutions are using social media to achieve one of the five goals listed below.

1. Community Building
2. Product Research
3. Customer Service
4. Marketing & Promotion
5. Transparency

Facebook Introduces @ Tagging in Updates

Facebook finally adds the ability to tag your friends in your updates a feature that is common to Twitter.  While it has allowed this feature in photos, the addition of this feature will certainly bring Twitter’s appeal to Facebook.  The roll out of Facebook Lite is another step in that direction.

Twitter + Mixx = Tweetmixx

How do you find great content without having to follow thousands of people on Twitter? Tweetmixx helps search what is important such as links that are being shared the most or messages that are being retweeted the most all while filtering out the irrelevant babble in between.

That’s the question being asked in this mornings Baltimore Sun, which looks at the ability for this real-time broadcasting tool to influence public perception of a film within minutes.  While WOM having a major impact on movie-going is nothing new, the emergence of Twitter- even more so than review sites like Rotten Tomatoes – makes it extremely easy and fast to share opinions with a wide audience.

While in some ways I understand the fear associated with this rapid-speed networking, of which Twitter is really only one one channel in many (we all saw how Bruno’s numbers dropped quickly after opening night).  I also think this presents a huge opportunity, especially for smaller movies with smaller marketing budgets.

This morning, I tweeted about the documentary, Art&Copy about the advertising industry, which I’m excited to see when it gets to NYC.  Looking just at Twitter, over 700 people have already linked to the film’s site, and there is a fairly steady stream of commentary coming in about the trailer.  We’ll have to wait and see how this affects sales.

If District 9 is any indicator, though.  This type of buzz can translate to real sales.  The movie has been one of the top trending topics on Twitter, with commentary being overwhelmingly positive.  And the sales numbers have been higher than expected.  Not to say at all that Twitter is the only factor here.  District 9 had a smart marketing campaign, and seems to actually be a good movie.  But it does look like this fast-tracked buzz is a major force that will continue to grow in importance for Hollywood.