NBC News and MSNBC Pioneer Best Practices in Social TV

Team members: Mark Lukasiewicz - Senior Vice President, NBC News Specials, NBC News, Mark Lukasiewicz - Senior Vice President, NBC News Specials, NBC News, Marc Greenstein - Vice President, Creative Prod Design, NBC News, Adam Benalt - Production Technology Director, MSNBC, Christin Kennelly - Production Coordinator, MSNBC, Ryan Osborn - Senior Director, Digital Media, NBC News, Anthony Quintano - Senior Manager, Social Media, NBC News, Farra Ungar - New Media Producer, MSNBC, Chris Tine - Producer, NBC News, Arturo Brena - Real-Time Graphics Art Director, TV Operations & Production Services, Andreas Minas - Real-Time Graphics, Senior Specialist, TV Operations & Production Services, Sarah Schultz - Art Director, TV Operations & Production Services, Kara Vacchino - Senior Graphic Artist, TV Operations & Production Services, Lucy Paynter - Real-Time Graphics, TV Operations & Production Services, Dana Haller - Executive Producer, NOW With Alex Wagner; Executive Producer, Stronger America; Senior Producer, Education Nation, Denis Horgan - Executive Producer, MSNBC, Kevin Fornito - Real-Time Graphics Specialist, TV Operation & Production Services, Tony Franqueira - Real-Time Graphics, Designer, TV Operations & Production, Alexsandr Barkan - Real-Time Graphics, Programmer, TV Operations & Production Services, Robert Dembo - NBC News Senior Broadcast Producer Special Events

About this entry

Real-time social media integration into TV is changing the conversation in the newsroom – and MSNBC is setting the innovative bar. In 2011, they utilized social content in a variety of ways to encourage discussion, audience participation, and uncover the real conversations happening about hot topics and current events. MSNBC partnered with Mass Relevance, a real-time social curation and engagement platform, to power immersive social experiences for the live broadcasted events, The Education Nation Town Hall and A Stronger America, and for the primetime news shows, The Ed Show and NOW with Alex Wagner. Integration of real-time Facebook and Twitter data into the in-venue, TV, and website experiences allowed MSNBC to enable a more honest conversation to occur and be shared with the public.

The case for why this entry should win a Shorty

The Education Nation Town Hall was a live broadcast event, providing a space for conversations regarding the state of education in America. The event infused social media into multiple components of the programming and venue. They utilized a Twitterfall (similar to a waterfall) of video screens containing Tweets and Facebook posts discussing Education Nation topics. These Tweets were shown on-air and broadcasted simultaneously to the panelists to foster conversation. In addition, the Twitterfall featured tweets in 2 different depths, moving at various speeds, utilizing graphics optimized for TV broadcast. Education Nation featured dignitaries such as, President Clinton, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former First Lady Laura Bush, Arne Duncan, and Melinda Gates. In sum, 342 teachers attended the event, over 2,000 people participated in the event through Educationnation.com reaching over 52 million viewers. Over 350,000 posts on Facebook, and 19,000 Tweets were received during the Education Nation event.

A Stronger America live event series creates a forum for Americans to foster ways to build a stronger America. At these broadcasted events, screens featured Tweets and posts related to the topics being discussed by the expert panelists. Hosts were able to reference the social content to engage the panelists, lead discussion, and understand the concerns of the American people. These Tweets and posts were featured in-venue and on-air during the live broadcast of the event.

In addition to The Education Nation and A Stronger America events, Mass Relevance collaborated with MSNBC to power social content for The Ed Show and Now with Alex Wagner. Tweets and Facebook posts are streamed on the lower 3rd quadrant (called the “Twicker”), and are referenced during the shows encouraging active engagement from the public through social media. Specific show-related hashtags are used to curate the conversation and support a dialogue between the online audience and the broadcasted show.

Results:
- The Ed Show “Twicker” contributed to a 61% increase in Twitter followers after 8 weeks of implementation
- NOW with Alex Wagner “Twicker” integration drove an approximate 390% increase in Twitter followers after 10 weeks of implementation
- Over 350,000 posts on Facebook, and 19,000 Tweets were received during the Education Nation event.
- 40% of the live audience participated in the “social conversation” during the Stronger America live event taping

Additional Information

Stronger America: http://vimeo.com/28117867

Education Nation: http://educationnation.com

Education Nation Town Hall: http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=F0E4CA30-D338-11E0-810D000C296BA163
Skip to 4:05 for Rehema’s intro to social integration
Skip to 21.16 to see use of topical lower thirds
Skip to 22:45 for Rehema reading tweets in front of twitter fountain

The Ed Show - http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/

NOW with Alex Wagner - http://nowwithalex.msnbc.msn.com/