The Academy Awards this year was a tipping point. We have been toeing this line for quite awhile, blurring the lines between live television and social media. But, Sunday, the lines were obliterated!
Ellen DeGeneres hosted the #Oscars on Sunday and she went #Social #Media #Crazy!!! And the great news is, it worked! Not only was viewership up from last years (According to Nielsen data, viewership was up 6% to 42 million), but ENGAGEMENT (where we all know, holds the secret sauce) was also up. How much? So glad you asked!! According to Social Guide, during the telecast, 11.2 MILLION tweets were posted, which is a 72% increase from last year's activity! Now that is impressive!!
The MAIN reason for this just might be DeGeneres herself, and the genius "retweet" campaign she started for the selfie she took with Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts and just about any other A-list celeb you can think of. That tweet itself was retweeted over 2 million times. In a matter of hours after Ellen suggested, on air, that viewers retweet it, it became the most retweeted image EVER. It also crashed Twitter's site for a bit!!
There is a bit of controversy, though, over if this focus on social media and engagement actually made for better television. Many (including the Hollywood Reporter and Times) claimed the show was boring or dragged on too long, many referencing the focus on social media taking away from the live telecast.
What do you think? Did you tweet along with the show or change the channel out of boredom?
