The Socialympics? Nope. Just Social and Olympic - Shelly Palmer

Everyone seems to want to talk about how social media is impacting NBC39s Olympic coverage quotLook at the velocity of tweetsquot quotLook at the ratingsquot quotTwitter must be helping raise awareness and therefore impacting ratingsquot quotSocial media is the secret to saving appointment television viewingquotMaybe but I don39t think so While it is true that NBC39s ratings are high and Twitter velocity is also high the two metrics are only loosely related at bestThe mass and velocity of tweets Facebook posts and even blog posts surrounding the Olympics have been extraordinarily high But if you analyze the content you39ll see that the high volume conversations are focused mostly on interesting storiesPeople are latching on to things that they find relevant The reality shows called quotPoor Jordyn Wieber Spent Her Life Training For Nothingquot and quotJohn Orozco Almost Got It Donequot were as compelling as any you39ve ever seen on Jersey Shore or the Bachelor The tweet volume is a reflection of the growth of social media tools and adoption of a new behavior called quotI have a connected computer in my pocket and on my lap and I39m going to use both of themquot That behavior does not necessarily translate into quotI tweet therefore I watchquotNBC is experiencing excellent in some case record ratings for its coverage of the Games of the 30th Olympiad This has everything to do with the interesting stories and and this is an important and there is nothing else on television worth watchingNBC is doing a pretty good job Production values are high the primetime coverage is well curated and Bob Costas is simply awesome at his job Add this all together and you get comparatively high ratings Think about it If you know that the crab pots are coming up empty the rerun of Deadliest Catch is pretty uninteresting If you know that the Pawn Stars are not going to buy the fake Elvis autograph the show is basically unwatchable So what39s on Fox News and the OlympicsWhat I do find interesting about the social media coverage of the Olympics is the content that NBC doesn39t have and to be fair can39t get People who really know Michael Phelps are starting Twitter conversations and discussion threads that are personal and fascinating Of course there39s no way to know if any of it is true amp8211 but it39s really interestingSo here are the questions we need to ask about the Olympics NBC39s ratings and Social Mediaamp183 What does it mean when tweets exceed ratings I don39t know but if I owned a television network I39d want to find outamp183 When a huge thread is a result of a network shot of the athlete39s superhot girlfriend or the loving mom does that help or hurt ratings Do advertisers careamp183 Will social media mass or velocity affect programming Is this a feedback mechanism that will affect production Is there even time for this process to occuramp183 Is there an advertising role in tweet velocityamp183 Is social media a new form of instant replayamp183 What if anything does social media do to a commercial podI have a few hundred other questions But these will do to start our conversation There are two big numbers associated with NBC39s Olympic coverage Tweets ampamp Ratings I39d love them to be closely correlated and causal but I don39t think they areShelly Palmer is Fox 5 New York39s Onair Tech Expert WNYWTV and the host of Fox Television39s monthly show Shelly Palmer Digital Living He also hosts United Stations Radio Network39s Shelly Palmer Digital Living Daily a daily syndicated radio report that features insightful commentary and a unique insiders take on the biggest stories in technology media and entertainment He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC an industryleading advisory and business development firm and a member of the Executive Committee of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences the organization that bestows the coveted Emmyamp174 Awards Palmer is the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2nd Edition York House Press 2008 the seminal book about the technological economic and sociological forces that are changing everything and Overcoming The Digital Divide How to use Social Media and Digital Tools to Reinvent Yourself and Your Career York House Press 2011 For more information visit shellypalmercomRead all Shelly39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Shelly Palmer ReportCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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The Socialympics? Nope. Just Social and Olympic - Shelly Palmer

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