NBC and Facebook to Announce Olympics Partnership
Reblogged from The New York Times, by BRIAN STELTER
Users of Facebook, later this summer, will be reminded about NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Games in London. And viewers of NBC’s coverage, at the same time, will be nudged to talk about the Games on Facebook.
Data from Facebook will inform television coverage on NBC and on the other channels that will carry portions of the Summer Games starting on July 27. The specific uses will vary, but there will be a “Facebook Talk Meter” occasionally shown on TV to reflect what is being said online.
The connections between television and social media have come a long way since 2008, when the world last gathered for a Summer Olympics. Then, Facebook had 100 million users; now, it is said to have 900 million. In the intervening years, the notion of a “second screen” — the TV being the first, the computer or phone being the second — has been commercialized; it’s normal now for TV shows to encourage viewers to chat online about the show while watching it.
On Facebook, the NBC Olympics page will be frequently updated with what the companies call “exclusive content” for fans only, a common marketing maneuver. Fans will be able to let Facebook friends know that they are watching videos and reading articles on the network’s Olympics Web site, possibly encouraging more viewing and reading by their friends.
Perhaps the more intriguing part of the partnership, for traditional television viewers, involves Facebook’s data-crunching about user conversations related to the Olympics. With the assistance of a small team of Facebook staff members in London, “NBC is going to turn that data into stories,” Mr. Mitchell said. The television segments with the “Talk Meter” inspired by social media chatter will be shown in prime time and at other times of the day… [Full Story]
