Thought I'd put this up on the blog. It's an initiative from Channel 10 News called Sydney Soapbox. It's an example of making a TV show, in this case the nightly news interactive, and building a sense of community. The Soapbox is represented online via Facebook and Twitter, and gets a high level of interaction. It's an interesting trend as articulated in this article in The Australian, Social Media the X Factor in Boosting TV Ratings. I've seen stats showing Q&A audience increased 23% after introducing Twitter feeds. I also had the pleasure to speak at Promax, the industry responsible for all promotional material on air. It surprises me that so few of the promotions ask the viewer to get involved in the message. The promotions often just ask people to watch the next show (or don't miss out - as loss aversion is a significantly strong motivator for action). However, getting people to Tweet the show, or join the Facebook group, or in some way be part of the show's community before the show is launched could be an even stronger conditioner - and ensure the show starts with positive momentum.
Here's a completely random clip from Sydney Soapbox I've chosen as an example! Just so happens to be linking to my favourite cause at the moment - hoping Karl Sandilands is squeezed by advertisers to get off air.
If you want to see more or follow it go to the Ten News Facebook or Twitter pages.
OK so this is my POV on Hoaxes. It was printed in the last edition of Adnews. I also spoke about the topic on ABC radio with James O'Loghlin on Sunday night. I asked listeners what they thought. By and large they said they didn't like them and it put them off the brands that did them. I'm not convinced.
You'll have to click the image to read and hopefully it's big enough.
I was in the airport lounge yesterday when I heard over the pager 'Could Professor Noam Chomsky please come to the reception area'. What?!? I then realised Noam was in town to pick up his Sydney Peace Prize, so thought, unless it was a coincidence of linguistic proportions that it must indeed be the Noam Chomsky (that is the distinguished American social scientist, author and human rights campaigner (including spotting that 9-11 was a terrorist act that differed from other terrorist acts only in that it was committed on American soil and not by Americans on other nations soil).
I went to the reception are to wait and try and get a glimpse of the great man but to no avail (he didn't turn up after being paged - no manufacturing consent with Noam).
Anyway, thinking I had missed my chance I left the lounge to board my plane, and there he was, sitting in business class looking bemused! I went to my seat and wondered how I could meet him - I'd get him to sign something. The only thing I had was todays Adnews, so I grabbed it and off I went to have it signed.
So now I'm getting what must be the only piece of advertising trade press in existence to be signed by Noam Chomsky framed. It will hang in my home among works by Shepard Fairey, an infamous Australian serial killer, and my sister Tania Ferrier.
I wonder what the Occupy crew must think?
