Friday Fun: Must-Tweet TV

Like all social activities, television-watching demands compromise. People may have strong ideas about what they want to watch, but what they really want to do is watch together. - The Economist

I am a huge Grey's fan. So are my friends. We don't get to watch it together. But we watch it together. Chirping Blackberry phones, FB status updates and comments, tweets. The experience of watching tv with friends all across the country and around the world has the ability to create an almost cult-like experience, in real time and in post-time. You can collectively cheer, gnash teeth and cry because you're connected and it no longer is a solitary experience with you and your ice cream. It's that whole communal element that made tv so popular in the first place.

NBC recently revealed its new social initiative on its MyNBC platform. ABC, which is the network which created Grey's Anatomy needs to get us on board!!! Ah. No need to get off the couch and go anywhere. And though we don't get Hulu videos here, the idea of social tv is one which works for this generation of social networkers who love tv and who live for exciting season finales. I thoroughly enjoy sharing my fave shows with friends who feel the exact same way about the show, because it's not the same when your husband or boyfriend is forced to watch it with you because of blackmail. It's just not the same.

Does the lean-forward expe­ri­ence, inter­ac­tiv­ity and backchan­nel chat­ter of social net­works have a place in the tightly con­trolled, lean-back world of tele­vi­sion? - JD Lasica

The answer is a resounding yes!

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From the Board Room to the Lunch Room

Larry O'Donnell, CEO, Waste Management is the first Undercover Boss. Photo credit: CBS

In the midst of all the Super Bowl activity, I saw a preview of a new show on CBS called "Undercover Boss" and while the title may suggest bosses spying on their employees, it's not what I gathered from the premise of the show. The show basically shows CEOs of some major US companies, taking off the CEO hats and getting down and dirty in the trenches with frontline staff - getting a feel for what they do, how they feel, how their top-down policies affect the employee, the customers and the overall business.

Can someone say hallelujah? I thought this was a great idea and while it may be just another reality show, the idea behind it is sound. Now I don't expect to see CEOs around the world, rushing to put on the uniforms of their frontline staff, but does management really and truly understand the needs, concerns and issues of their employees? It's a bit alarming that some of these CEOs go work for a week with their employees, who don't recognise them. How do you not know your CEO? Just goes to show how far removed some managers are from the people who work for them.

Sadly, in many companies, talk to employees and you will hear the signs of distrust and resentment and frustration. And it just should not always be the role of the HR or PR teams either to be that channel. CEOs really need to get out there and know their people. It may be one guy in the kitchen, or the one woman near the copier, but sitting in an office all day will not only drive any sane person bananas, but can also isolate leadership from the rest of the company.

And now there are tools, so even in the largest of organisations, with the busiest of CEOs, leaders can still make themselves accessible. Here are the days of video conferences (I have sat through my share of trans-Atlantic bonding), podcasts, blogs, YouTube. Here are the days of leaders getting to know the people who work for them and communicating with them in a real way. And I would hope leaders would use these tools honestly and not have their PR teams do ghost channelling/communicating.

I am excited to see the show, though of course I still see it as just another entertaining, "feel good" reality show. But if they are sincere and determined to learn more about the people of their organisations, then it would be a lesson to their colleagues around the world that it can be done, not necessarily on tv, nor in the way they are doing it, but it can be done. And should be done.

Check out the video for "Undercover Boss" here.

The show aired Sunday night but I wrote this at Sunday at 5.30pm, knowing I would be too medicated to watch it. 

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A Tale of Two Phenomena: Reality TV and Social Media

Last night, I was flipping through channels, trying to watch 2 shows at once - Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (I heart Benson and Stabler) and Lifetime reruns of Grey's Anatomy (McDreamy!!!). But the flipping stopped at 7.30pm when I hit VH-1 and there was the season finale of "I Want to Work for Diddy" which I had missed due to sheer exhaustion the night before. There are a lot of things one can say about this show - like, how can a grown man and a grown woman have Diddy treat them like a couple of school kids in a spelling bee? How does a grown man not know how to spell legitimate? How much public humiliation are these people willing to take for a bit of fame and maybe a job? Seriously. It's addictive! lol.

I admit it. I love reality tv. Now don't get me wrong, I don't see any deep lessons in these shows, besides "I am blessed to have common sense", and reality tv does not keep me up at night with burning questions about current issues, but reality tv sure is entertaining. And not only is it entertaining but reality tv is making these networks a whole lot of money and giving these wannabe stars their 15 minutes.

And I think if you want to go further, reality tv is akin to social media in its rapid growth in popularity and ability to transform an entity from nothing to something in quick time. How many people knew about Twitter a year or so ago? How many know about it now? How many people knew anything about the Jersey Shore? How many people are googling it now because of the controversial MTV reality show of the same name?

More and more people are usinng reality tv to further their own personal goals. You have the average Joe who wants to be a star. Noone can tell me these girls who go on shows like "For the Love of Ray-J" REALLY think they will walk down the aisle with him one day?

If you're good enough, and you create a character compelling enough, you can segue into something else that can bring real financial returns. "Flava of Love" and "I love New York" made Tiffany Pollard a household name because this girl worked her brand. It may not be a brand that most normal people may want to be associated with, but it's HER brand and it clearly worked for her, to an extent.

Diddy himself is a marketing machine. The attention his reality shows have garnered have gone a long way I am sure in ramping up his personal image and that of his Bad Boy/Sean John/I love myself empire. The same goes for Donald Trump, the Kardashians, and all the other people who are doing a pretty good job at establishing and strengthening a personal brand via reality tv and our love for it.

Diddy has gone a step further via his Twitter presence. He is the self-proclaimed "King of Twitter" and pushes everything from his vodka, to his music to himself via the microblogging site. With over 2 million followers, he is getting his brand OUT THERE!

And then let's look at reality tv and social media and the question of hype and relevance. MTV has come under fire for not living up to its name - Music Television. When is the last time anyone saw a music video on MTV? I mean...seriously! They have reality shows all day about everything under the sun, most not even related to music. Reality tv is everywhere. On every network. Starring everyone - from washed up celebrities to fame-hungry small towners. And while some of the shows have been around for a long time and may be around for even longer - The Bachelor, The Amazing Race, The Real World  (yes, I watch 'em) for example - a lot of the others crash and burn because they just don't have the staying power or bring anything unique to the table or are so ludicrous that even the usual reality tv fun of laughing at silly people becomes obscene.

What about social media? I cannot tell you how many new social media sites I encounter or hear about every day. If you were to sign up to all these things, you would not have a life! And while Facebook and Twitter have really made an impression on people the world over, how many of the others are relevant? Depending on where you are in the world, some tools may work more effectively than others in social media marketing. We all know how huge Facebook is here in Trinidad, and Trinis are also blogging, tweeting, Youtubing and Flickr-ing, but how many Trinis know about Ning, for example? In business especially, you really have to understand your audience and what they may be interested in. So while you may think the hot new tool is fab, trying to force your enthusiasm on a target group , who may be just catching up with the Twitterverse is not the way to go.

It would be like forcing me to watch "Frank The Entertainer in a Basement Affair" which is such an agonising thought that I don't know where to begin in describing how annoyed I feel about it. I can't. I just can't bring myself to think of it.

p.s. There's an app for that! - did you know there is actually an app for I Want to Work for Diddy??? My God! What's next?

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