Wolf Tracking

Professionals pushing 40 and older are joining the college crowd on the social hub. Move over MySpace, Facebook, is a social utility that connects people with friends and colleagues. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. All you need to do to join is have a valid address. To me, that’s a little scary since anyone can have access to your e-mail but I guess this is the way to the 21st century! The website states that people can only see the profiles of confirmed friends and the people in their network. You can also use their privacy settings at any time to control who can see what on Facebook. That makes me feel a little better knowing that not just anyone can see your profile. It reminds me of a former Cohn & Wolfe client, meetup.com where it’s not just one big site, it’s made up of lots of separate networks based around things like schools, companies, and regions, etc. It’s funny because I know quite a bit of younger folks that use these type of websites to post whatever they choose to, but not professionals 40 and older, go figure!

BusinessWeek.com stated that: older users are behind the recent traffic surge at Facebook, which says it signs up 150,000 new users a day. In June, 11.5 million of the individual visitors to the site were 35 or older, more than double the number a year before, according to market researcher ComScore Media Metrix. The 35-and-up crowd now accounts for more than 41% of all Facebook visitors. Among the fogeys with profiles: Internet pioneer and Google executive Vinton Cerf, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, and Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff. Jeff Pulver, a telecom entrepreneur and blogger, famously said in a recent post that he was forsaking LinkedIn for Facebook as his main professional hub.

The internet has become a big part of everyday life for social life and work life. Millions and millions of people go online each day and it has truly impacted another way for pr professionals to pitch their story ideas or events. Social networking sites can be an ideal vehicle for pr people to go directly to the end-user/consumer. You are bypassing the media and you can do a lot of guerilla networking without a cost to the pr person where you can post regional events or story ideas. Honestly, I have never visited this site or any of its kind before but I am quite intrigued and will have to educate myself on how the old fogeys socialize on the web! Something I must try!

For the first time since 1952, no incumbent, (President or Vice President) will be seeking the oval office in 2008. Fresh faces are running and major changes have occurred in news coverage. Major cable news networks have tried to brand their networks as “political media centers,” places where everyone can turn to for the latest breaking news on the 2008 presidential election. We say time flies and sometimes when watching these cable news channels I have to remind myself that it is only August, 2007. To compete with one another, the cable news networks reached out to both political parties to plan, host and televise pre-primary debates in various battleground states throughout the country. Debates have been exciting when its five weeks out from the general election, but debates in general normally follow the same old routines. A moderator, typically a television anchor, puts together numerous questions, posing them in no particular order to the candidates on stage. The cable news networks knew that they had to get creative with their debates. One network stood out. That was CNN. CNN put forth a “YouTube” debate platform, where everyone and their mothers could submit a video question for the candidates and the CNN staff and crew would pass them onto the candidates and disseminate it to the TV audience as well.

CNN turned over a new leaf in presidential debate productions. We are moving toward an engagement age and CNN saw that and embraced it. Viewership was 2,622,000. CNN said the Youtube debate was “the biggest audience since measurements began in 1992 for a cable news debate of those between 18 and 34, the demographic most coveted by advertisers.” Watching the debate I saw a number of classic as well as sensitive questions. One of the best YouTube questions and overall moments of the debate occurred when a man in his said, how will you protect my baby? At first nothing was in the screen except him. So my assumption was that he was talking about protecting youth or education. All of the sudden, I saw him grab something in the corner of the screen. It was an M16. Though shocked, I was eager to see not only the looks on the candidates’ faces, but the responses they would give to this unexpected video question. They did not dodge the question. They had straightforward answers and that is when I knew that CNN had succeeded. CNN embraced the social media, extending an opportunity to anyone with a computer and video computer camera to finally have a chance to get involved in the political debate. That guy put a face on a very sensitive question about the right to bear arms, forcing the candidates to not dodge a response to the image just put up on television screens not only for them to see, but for the viewers at home to see as well. For years, the 18-34 demographic has gotten a reputation for being “highly uninvolved” in the political process. CNN’s YouTube debate re-defined the debate forum and successfully engaged its audience, but more importantly opened the door for more people like you or I to become more engaged in the political process, something that social studies teachers and parents have been urging for years.

Yesterday, Merv Griffin passed away at 82 years old.

Known as the “inventor” of television games shows, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune were Mr. Griffin’s brainchild. His death comes at an interesting time…some many are calling a television game show revival.

What traditionally was TV “fluff” geared towards the early bird dinner audience, TV game shows have experienced a renaissance period in the past few years starting with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which averaged a jaw-dropping 27.9 million viewers during its 2000 heyday.

Today, there are an abundance of game shows appearing on primetime TV. NBC’s Deal or No Deal and Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? averaged 14.8 million and 12.5 million viewers, respectively, last season. This summer has already spawned two more breakout hits: NBC’s The Singing Bee and Fox’s similarly themed Don’t Forget the Lyrics! And there’s more to come, with the Power of 10 and Crosswords set to debut.

All of these shows are cash cows for the TV networks. Taking very little money to produce, they can be geared to a very specific demographic – mainly 25-45 years old household purchasers.

According to Ellen Seiter, author of Television and New Media Audiences, people simply like watching others win, and love watching them lose. Also, she adds, game shows are universally accessible, meaning you don’t need to be invested in the program every week or day, making them “ideal for group or workplace” viewing.

Of course, today’s game shows also include audience feedback – polls, contests and enter to be applications available via social media – further bringing viewers into the show. For example, on Deal on No Deal, you can text in your choice of lucky cases to win $10,000. You can also play the game online.

Ultimately, with the death of Merv Griffin and traditional TV game show production, the door opens for the next generation.