TV Shows and Fans Target Facebook and MySpace Promotions
By Sally Cohen-Cutler
NBC's launch of the beta site www.my.nbc.com is creating more interest in social networking and community building for fans of TV programs. NBC is responding to the popularity of TV series' pages at MySpace and
Facebook. Myers Report intern Sally Cohen-Cutler, a senior at Columbia, explains the social network opportunities for networks and fans.
"You are friends with Meredith Grey." Oh really, Facebook? Am I?
The Facebook/MySpace generation is revolutionizing advertising and marketing in nearly every arena. Television is no exception. Almost every television show has its own Facebook or MySpace group, and each character its own profile page. The more popular the
show (see: Lost, 24, The Sopranos), the greater the number of groups and profiles proliferate, mostly created by fans. That's the basic story, and none of it really qualifies as news to anyone familiar with social networks.
But how can we explain the nearly 22,000 members of the Girl, Positive Facebook group? The Lifetime movie attracted record numbers of members in its Sponsored group, more than The CW's - an entire network aimed at the exact Facebook demographic - Sponsored group can claim. The easiest explanation for the large
numbers is that the first 10,000 members of Girl, Positive's group represented a dollar each donated to a group of AIDs research and support charities. But beyond that, the Facebook group represented the up swell in viral campaigning that is rapidly taking over the 18-24 age group, drawing in viewers interested in both the edgy TV movie as well as the cause.
Social networking sites account for roughly seven percent of all internet traffic. The demographics skew determinedly toward the younger crowds, as high schoolers and college students reach out to
one another on their most familiar medium of communication - the internet. Profiles allow these young adults to express themselves without restrictions, as well as advertise their favorites and interests. When it comes to advertising, however, they are not just doing it for themselves.
Every visitor to the profile of a TV show devotee points that visitor to a webpage devoted to promoting the interest of that show. Sponsored groups are a well-organized way for fans to get
together and discuss their favorite story lines, characters, and what they think will happen. More than that, however, they introduce other internet surfers to the community and the excitement that surround the show. In a casual, friendly environment, surfers can browse the addiction and get interested.
Sponsored groups provide this platform neatly, and are directed entirely by the sponsoring network. Often designed with professional HTML coding, they are usually very aesthetically pleasing and look official. At the same time, fan-created groups allow an even more casual, and
often more specific approach to TV show enthusiasm. Though sometimes more difficult to navigate and repetitive in purpose, fan groups are created by and for the fans alone, making them very attractive to true devotees.
That kind of passion translates well over the internet as earnest groups emerge supporting and decrying every move a TV show makes. The more groups that are created, the more people join,
and the more the image and name of the TV show becomes omnipresent on the web. Facebook and MySpace therein serve a double purpose - not only are they social networks, connecting viewers with the same interests, but behind-the-scenes ad campaigns, drawing in new viewers with other things in common.
With nearly 80% of social networking traffic attributed to MySpace, there's no doubt that the mega-site is a major player in this newly popular advertising push. Shows like Traveler, which are very character oriented, can use MySpace profiles for their characters to allow
viewers to learn more, as well as preview the next week's episode. One week, the MySpace pages of the two main characters of Traveler were changed to reflect the smear campaign featured on the show. Not only does this promote the interests of the show, but it creates an aura of realism around the characters and brings them closer to viewers.
MySpace also offers public and private groups supporting nearly every television show possible. With the higher availability of more advanced HTML designs, MySpace sites tend to be more fancy looking and have more interesting features. However, MySpace is infamous for being difficult to navigate, and the many available add-ons often back up slower internet servers. With hundreds of fake fan pages (there are 1555 page matches for the
name Jack Bauer), it is impossible to tell which is real and which is merely a fan - or detractor - having fun. The higher volume of users also leads to an even larger percentage of groups with 0 or 1 members than Facebook. Searching groups for a Hannah Montana fan club yields 56 separate groups, only 16 of which have 10 or more members, though the largest has over 400 members.
But regardless of their membership or aesthetic appeal, these groups definitely perform an important advertising mission - they get the name of the show out on the market. As the proliferation of Grey's Anatomy pages shows, the most specifically aimed groups do not get the most members. Facebook has nearly 200 groups named "Addicted to
Grey's Anatomy," one of which boasts over 41,000 members, while groups like "Anti-Addison's Anatomy" only have 20-30 members (as does "Addison's Anatomy," for the sake of fair representation). Yet these groups still offer an arena for fans to get more invested in the television show while simultaneously presenting the big plot and character points to their friends who may not watch the show.
The fan groups do get something right that the Sponsored groups on Facebook may miss - they have the enthusiasm and energy that the networks themselves do not muster. Both Facebook and MySpace deal with the public/private distinction, closing out some members for whatever
reason the moderator deems necessary. But the user friendly interface allows another group to crop up in the place of an overly exclusive one at anytime. Facebook and MySpace offer an unending supply of exposure and encourage a sense of brand recognition. But Sponsored and fan-created alike, the groups create a space for fans, and a badge of support that they can put on their own profile.
It's like hyper-speed word of mouth - as more people join a Facebook group, for example, it will show up on a user's News Feed, a tool that allows him or her to see what friends are doing. When the
homepage reads "25 of your friends have joined the group 'Did I Stop Breathing???…I Must Be Watching PRISON BREAK,'" it serves as its own self sustaining, peer-driven advertising. Curious about their friends' interests, these groups draw in new users, taking advantage of the branching nodes of the social network.
By using MySpace and Facebook, users feel more directly involved with their favorite TV shows, whether they're "added" by one of the many Hiro Nakamuras from Heroes on MySpace or they add the Facebook application that puts a daily Smallville quote on their profile. They serve the current fans, giving them a social place to interact with one another about their own interests, while simultaneously attracting new viewers from the current fans' friend pool. So maybe I'm not exactly friends with Meredith Grey. But the mere fact that my friends see her on my Recently Added Friends page just might be the next advertising titan.
