How Social Media Is Invading Traditional Media

Over the last few years we have seen a real explosion of social media sites and services, influencing the way we network, read, and search the web.

With sites like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and Delicious, social media is here and it is here to stay. The success of social media really shouldn’t a mystery as in general, we all tend to want to have our voice or vote in how things are presented and done.

So it is natural that as sites began to allow people more interaction, they would in turn spend more time online and on the various social media sites.

What is really amazing is not that people, who are social in nature, found a passion for interacting online, but rather that the success of that interaction would actually invade into traditional media.

Somehow in the evolution of the social media, companies have figured out how to use social media to evaluate content and determine what should be worthy of more visibility, on or offline.

Below are a few instances that really show the evolution of social media on the web starting to invade traditional media.

Twitter

On June 12, 2008, Chris Winfield did something no one else had done when he used Twitter to write his entire presentation for SES Toronto about whether Twitter was a waste of time or a great tool. He posted a series of questions on Twitter and received over 275 answers in less than 90 minutes.

Chris used the responses to write his entire presentation which was presented at one of the largest online marketing conference series.

Reddit

Reddit, one of the largest social media news sites on the web, took the next step when they began working with PBS to create a television show called “YourWeek.”

YourWeek was designed to showcase stories that were hot on Reddit during the previous week.

You can see many of the other pilots listed in the YourWeek subreddit.

Unfortunately, YourWeek was not picked up but it is a great example of how really influential television stations are looking to incorporate social media into their programming.

Revision3

Revision3 is an internet television station that produces broadcast quality shows on the web. Founded in 2005 by a handful of people, including Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson from Digg, Revision3 exploded on the web.

If you happen to fly Virgin America, you will also have the chance to watch recent Revision3 shows as a part of their in-flight entertainment television system called “Red”.

Current TV

Current TV, founded in 2005, is an Emmy award-winning television show that broadcast their user generated shows to more than 51 million households in the US and the UK.

Users participate on their social platform at Current.com by submitting content, commenting, and voting on the various stories. Stories that make it to the front page of the site are eligible to be included in their broadcast show on Directv, Dish Network, Comcast, Time Warner, and more.

CNN

CNN, one of the largest news agencies in the world, has also taken social media offline and into their broadcasts.

Initially with their social media platform iReport, where users can submit and discuss news to be displayed on CNN, followed by their most recent project, Rick Sanchez Direct.

Rick Sanchez Direct, a new CNN show live Monday through Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST, uses Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, to connect directly with a growing audience of people can interact with Rick Sanchez live on national television.

The show launched in September of 2008, so it is unknown the extent this new adaption of social media will have to traditional media offline, but it is a huge step having one of the largest news agencies in the world using social media in traditional media.

And more…

The examples goes on and on, Yahoo features occasional content from their social media platform, Buzz, and even Google is showing youtube videos in their search results. This clearly indicates that the search engines understand and respect the power of social media online.

We will continue to see more and more traditional media outlets creating social media platforms and interacting with their audiences to help determine what stories to promote in their offline traditional media.

Do you have any examples of social media invading traditional media that we have missed? If so, please comment them below.