Social Media and Entertainment

This page was created by the Social Media and Entertainment Group. Contributors to this collection include: [names]

Overview of Social Media Use

"Social collaboration and social networking—they're here to stay," says Eric Johnson, Vice President of Sales Force Effectiveness NBC.

First of all, it’s important to define “entertainment.” It can be defined as “something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a performance of some kind.”

In regards to the Entertainment industry’s use of Social Media we can say that companies are using this SoMe resources to discover and maintain their targeted audience.The conventional entertainment becomes extinct, the media that we know nowadays is evolving and increasingly influenced by the phenomenon of "social media", where the opinions of the spectators receive a great importance. It is evident that a technological explosion is taking place; the user wants to interact.

The entertainment industry has to captivate the audience. That is to say, it does not treat itself that the media issues only corporate information but it has to offer an added value, to create value for the user. The aim is to create communities.

One of the big changes technology brings to the entertaiment industry is what is calle the “second screen”. Second screen, sometimes also referred to as "companion device" (or "companion apps" when referring to a software applications), is a term that refers to an additional electronic device (e.g. tablet, smartphone) that allows a television audience to interact with the content they are consuming, such as TV shows, movies, music, or video games. Extra data is displayed on a portable device synchronized with the content being viewed on television.

More and more brands are pushing toward the second screen. According to Nielsen, roughly 40 percent of people who own tablets and smartphones watch TV with them every day.

The Hollywood Reporter recently published an exclusive poll about social media led by market research firm Penn Schoen Berland. As the report opens, THR notes, “There’s a sea change afoot in how Americans discover and consume entertainment.”

According to the study, 88% of respondents view social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook as a new form of entertainment.

The report found that 79% of connected television viewers visit Facebook while watching TV.

Additionally, 83% surf the web while viewing TV and 41% tweet about the show they’re watching.

But it also affects on movies. According to the study one out of three connected consumers saw a movie in a theater because of something they read on a social network.

Social networking is not limited to at-home movie watching. 55% of moviegoers have texted during a movie. An overwhelming majority of 18-to-34-year-olds believe using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter while watching a movie in a theater would actually add to their experience.

On the other hand consumers though as 75% of respondents said that using a mobile phone would take away from the experience. Additionally 24% and 21% have posted about what they’re watching in theaters on Facebook and Twitter respectively.

The study found that 72% of respondents post about movies on social networks after watching a film. We can assume that those expressions are rooted in opinion and we can also hypothesis that these shared opinions in some way affect the impression of those who see them. At the same time, 20% post before and 8% post during a viewing.

But, what about music? It’s not just TV shows or movies that benefit from social media. All forms of entertainment lend to peer-to-peer behavioral influence. THR found that musicians also benefit from social media with 70% of respondents listening to music by an artist based on what a friend posted on a social networking site. The THR study surfaced that more than half of respondents (56%) believe that social networks play an important role in making entertainment-related decisions.

We are before a key moment of the development of the entertainment industry of the future.

See: Social Influence Infographic.

Best Practices

GetGlue is cross-media entertainment check-ins, smartly using Facebook and Twitter (a check-in auto-generates a topic hashtag) to amplify the promotion.

Suits: This past summer, USA Network launched Suits Recruits, a multi-platform interactive social game which took fans on a journey through a power struggle erupting between Pearson and Hardman, the two founding partners of the firm featured in USA’s number one original scripted program Suits. The unparalleled five-week immersive experience engaged fans with their favorite Suits characters by assigning them their first case in a digital story that coincided with the on-air plot lines and office intrigue when the show returned in June. ()

Don't Trust The B---- in Apt.23, ABC launched a UGC contest asking users to submit a video, photo or description of their funniest roommate story. The strategy paid off, with ABC improving engagement and generating significant hype before the show's launch.

Save The Music Foursquare Partnership Enticing fans to check in and earn the badge, VH1 decided to do something extra special. For the first 35,000 users that unlock the badge, VH1 donated $1 per badge to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. -Election 2012: CNN Worldwide Won the Social Media BattleIn early 2012,CNN’s social media team began planning how the network would incorporate social media into its coverage of the 2012 election. Part of CNN’s mission was to provide its viewers and users the most engaging coverage of the 2012 election season.Through CNN’s unparalleled political reporting combined with social connectivity, the network hoped to empower more American voters in this critical election season.

CNN’s Election 2012 performance proved to be stellar from television, to mobile, to social media platforms – CNN edged out its competitors and had record breaking ratings, page views and social media mentions. Throughout the election year, CNN took the top spot for all Social Media mentions for 2012 political events (including the RNC/DNC, primary & presidential debates and Election night.) (Source: Trendrr.)

Electrified Vice: David Blaine’s ELECTRIFIED VICE brought Intel together with illusionist David Blaine to create a one-of-a-kind performance piece controlled by the Ultrabook. Blaine chose New York, the city that never sleeps, as the stage for ELECTRIFIED, his first endurance challenge in more than four years, which took place on October 5th through the 8th on Pier 54. Blaine was awake for three days and three nights with no food in a massive interactive globe, surrounded by 1,000,000 volts of electricity emitted by seven Tesla coils. Fans in New York and all over the world tuned in to our livestream, and manipulated the coils to create dazzling arrays through Ultrabook controllers on site, in select cities worldwide and online.

Pretty Little Liars #TheBetrAyal campaign Pretty Little Liars is known for generating a lot of social media buzz but we needed to take it to the next level when promoting the summer finale of Pretty Little Liars in August 2012. We announced that someone on the show was going to be revealed as being “guilty of the ultimate betrayal.” To drive excitement for this episode, we created an integrated on-air/online campaign called #TheBetrAyal to get fans talking about who would be revealed as the betrayer in the summer finale. The center piece of this campaign was #TheBetrAyal Suspect Tracker” App.

TED the movie: The social strategy for the motion picture “Ted” was an integrated and immersive campaign spanning across multiple platforms and digital avenues. Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the official film website.

Music Apps Hack Weekend We partnered with Spotify to create a Music Apps Hack Weekend that would build new opportunities for brands to play in the music space. Out of 300 applicants we invited 150 hackers from all over the world to come to New York City’s SPIN Ping Pong club for one weekend in February to build breakthrough music apps alongside six major brands: CW, Doritos, McDonald’s, Mountain Dew, Showtime and State Farm. Participants demoed over 47 apps, competing for the grand prize of $10,000 and awards from each of the individual brands. Each of the featured brands ran campaigns on Spotify leading up to, during and after the Hacks to get a handle on the existing ad platform in addition to coming up with ways to integrate the newly-created apps into their marketing.

Intel Presents The Music Experiment Powered By MTV Iggy the Music Experiment” was a series of social media-driven, free, live shows held at secret locations in four select cities nationwide. The experience began at musicexperiment.com, where fans engaged with high-altitude, interactive maps hinting at the ticket pick-up location of 4 hidden shows. Fan tweets using #musicexperiment incrementally zoomed in the maps, geo-targeting the location of the tickets and venue. Engagement continued as fans entered trivia contests on Facebook, attended shows and participated in videos featured on MTV’s on-air, online and social media platforms. Each event featured uniquely themed musical performances in unusual, visually stunning venues. An installation featuring Ultrabooks, powered by Intel and loaded with a custom Instagram app, allowed attendees to instantly print event photos, share them to Instagram, and project them on the walls of the venue. The video content generated from each show included performance highlights and audience participation.

Play Live on Watch What Happens Live: BRAVO is more than TV. BRAVO is known for innovation and surrounding our fans with layers of engagement giving them the BRAVO experience when and where they want it. Play Live delivers on a new promise of real time interactivity bringing Participation TV to a new level during one of Bravo’s most engaging shows Watch What Happens Live, the only LIVE, late night talk show on TV. Play Live is part of the broadcast stream so it reaches the entire audience, AND it’s accessible and easy to use on any device (mobile, tablet, desktop) with instant on-air results. Play Live is a new way for Watch What Happens Live fans to enjoy the show with other fans, encourages live viewing and provides a deeper level of engagement. Source: http://industry.shortyawards.com/

The HBO “Game of Thrones” app: It allows viewers to understand who each character is when they appear on screen, what their relationship is to the other characters and where exactly in the mythical kingdom of Westeros their home is located. It’s a great application for a show with such a large cast and helps draw viewers deeper into the programming.

Verizon / The X Factor: The U.S. version of The X Factor, which airs on Fox, added a synchronized Xtra Factor mobile app last September that’s “presented by” Verizon. Fans can rate performances, interact with other viewers and access bonus content such as song lyrics. Consumers with a Verizon Android handset can vote for their favorite contestants as often as they want, see backstage goings-on via Verizon Live View and watch episode highlights.

Lexus / Shazam for TV / NBCUniversal shows Earlier this year, Lexus sponsored second-screen content for episodes of several NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment shows,accessible to viewers who opened the Shazam for TV app (which recognizes which show and episode are airing). Along with interactive features and exclusive content tied to the shows, users saw video and photo galleries showcasing Lexus’ new GS sports sedan and could enter to win a Lexus-funded trip to Boston (where Syfy’s Being Human is set), Santa Barbara, Calif. (where USA Network’s Psych takes place), or Los Angeles (to see a taping of E!’s The Soup).

Prometheus trailer In late April, a trailer for the RidleyScott film Prometheus that ran on Channel 4 in the U.K.featured the hashtag #areyouseeingthis. Nothing all that new about hashtags in ads. But these Sunday night viewers had added incentive to tweet: During the next commercial break, a 40-second spot showcased some of the tweets the first ad had elicited. At one point that evening, the hashtag was the No. 2 trending topic in the U.K. (In addition,users of Zeebox who tweet about the ad from within that second-screen app can win movie tickets and other prizes whenever it runs.)

Examples of “Wrong Turns”

Streisand effect

Steve Jobs (not) Dead: Reports say that Steve Jobs has passed away. Stay tuned for more updates.” News many of us heard in October. Well, CBS’s "What’s Trending" webshow sent out the panic-inducing tweet in September, when the mastermind behind Apple was still living. The message was pulled a minute later and several apologies were issued via Twitter and through Shira Lazar, host of "What’s Trending." Lazar placed the blame on a nameless junior staffer. CBS consequently severed ties with the webshow and Lazar, stressing that the show was produced independently and had no newsgathering ties with CBS.

Gilbert Gottfried, former Aflac spokesperson, Sends Out Inappropriate Tweet. The comedian was caught sending out tweets about the tsunami that hit Japan in March of that year and received a lot of grief for it. One tweet said: “Japan called me. They said ‘maybe those jokes are a hit in the U.S., but over here, they’re all sinking.’” As it turns out, Aflac has a large branch in Japan, so they donated to the International Red Cross and immediately fired Gottfried. Lesson to be learned here? Watch what you say on Twitter, especially right after a natural disaster.

Lowe’s Uncensored Facebook Page: Ads were pulled off the air about a TLC reality show about Muslims in December 2011, and Lowe’s decided to speak out about it on its Facebook page during a weekend. Pretty soon the post had 23,000 comments (both positive and negative), but Lowe’s was nowhere in sight.

A few days later, the press caught them on the post and had to delete it. Later, Lowe’s posted an update, saying they let the debate go on “out of respect for the transparency of social media.” Lesson learned here? Participate in your discussions even on the weekends, and watch what is being said. This could have hurt Lowe’s reputation in the long run.

Seven News: When Seven News deleted a comment with 32,000 likes on its Facebook page from Linda Goldspink-Lord accusing the network of intrusive reporting of her 13-year-old daughter Molly Lord’s accidental death near Wollongong, NSW, social media uproar ensued, forcing the network to make a public apology.

Bruno Bouchet: Proving that it’s not just companies that can find themselves falling victim to the perils of social media, radio producer Bruno Bouchet was fired by 2DayFM after making jokes on Twitter about the tragic shooting massacre in Colorado. Bouchet’s defense was weak: “I didn’t realise how serious it was and I had had a few drinks.”

Clever uses

Twilight: The evolution of Summit Entertainment's digital strategy over the four-year run of the "Twilight" series is a case study in how studios traverse digital platforms to keep up with a movie's fan base.

For "Twilight," the first film in the blockbuster series, released in 2008, the studio focused on Myspace, the dominant social network at that time. By the following year, Facebook and Twitter both figured prominently in campaigns for the first sequel, "Twilight: New Moon."

With the final installment in the "Twilight" saga now in theaters, Summit added two more digital outlets, letting fans listen to and share music from all the films in the franchise on online music service Spotify and encouraging them to pin images from the film to personal pinboards on Pinterest for their friends to see and share.

Still, Facebook dwarfs all of its competitors.

Gangnam Style: We can cite Psy's "Gangnam Style" and the Harlem Shake videos as examples of how sites like YouTube and Twitter can give an artist exposure and success.

Hawaii Five-O: For the first time in television history, a primetime drama will allow viewers to choose the ending of an ending episode in real time when CBS´s Hawaii Five-O lets fans vote, reminding of the old “Choose your story”

True Blood: HBO hyped the Season 4 premiere of "True Blood" by creating a Facebook app, "Immortalize Yourself," which enabled fans to produce videos of themselves with real characters and Facebook friends. The app pulled in data from users' profiles to generate the videos, which could feature random or specific Facebook friends.

Policies and Legal Issues

Laws aimed at curbing piracy remain in a state of flux and greatly impact media and entertainment companies. In the U.S. Congress, the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act sparked intense debate over the rights of copyright holders vs. interest in an open Internet.

While government bodies are stuck in stalemate, regulatory compliance is only one part of a complex, multi pronged strategy that media and entertainment companies can apply to impose control over the use and consumption of their intellectual property.

In Spain we have a kind of SOPA, Sinde´s Law.

The possibility of a photograph being leaked onto social media sites such as Twitter have become a concern when doing photo shoots and interviews with celebrities. Booking a celebrity for a photo shoot has become much more complicated with the progression of technology

For years now, celebs have been mixing it up with fans far and wide and getting bombarded with countless harassing emails and some very intimidating followers.