OREANDA-NEWS. August 24, 2015. Social media has helped to protect and sustain event televisions, driving audiences back to scheduled events, according to Chris Lawrence. “Social buzz is helping to promote the scheduled watching of high-end dramas such as Game of Thrones, as well as voting-based programs that are more naturally suited for live broadcasting.  For example, Netflix has been experimenting with moving away from binge watching—for example, the whole House of Cards series three was published at once—to more event-driven broadcast, like releasing new episodes on Netflix every Tuesday over a period of a few months.”

He says for voting-based shows, broadcasters have the opportunity to monitor audience opinions as the content is being watched and make editorial decisions to make the experience more engaged and immersive than before.

Lawrence continues, “Social media is part of a general shift online, which has changed the role, purpose and significance of some content forms, particularly news, where the details are broken as it happens and where the scheduled news programs have a greater role in providing commentary and insight, beyond what is reported immediately online.  Social media monitoring is key here to identify new opportunities, and we have run a pilot to evaluate the value of social media as a news source for a global news organization.”

According to Lawrence, live streaming apps will make it possible through tools such as Periscope and Meerkat to see greater integration of citizen journalism into news. “This also allows professional journalists to be more mobile, flexible and effective and for non-broadcast organizations to make better use of video as a medium. What is more, social media will have an impact on whether and how broadcasters and other program makers approach going to market and make decisions.”   

Regarding social media within broadcasting, Lawrence states, “Tweeting from a corporate rather than a personal account is one of the biggest oversights individuals make. However, many organizations are still looking at social media as one medium rather than a range of different platforms, each with a different value, point of view, purpose and audience type. For example, Facebook is an engagement platform used extensively by all.”