It’s Striking How Often We Use New Media to Talk About Awesome Old Media
I spend a lot of time living in the Twittersphere. Not because I’m a particularly prolific tweeter (I’m not), but because, in addition to writing this column, I do social-media trend analysis twice a week on AdAge.com: the Trendrr Chart of the Week on Wednesdays (which usually culls data from Twitter) and the Top 10 Most Tweeted Brands Chart on Fridays.
Here’s what I’ve learned from soaking in all that data: For all the buzz and obsession about social media, old media still rules our lives. (It’s amazing how often we use new media to talk about what old media is up to.) And of all the old media, TV maintains the tightest grip on our collective consciousness. Pay attention to what’s really being talked about en masse on Twitter (and Facebook and elsewhere in the social-media sphere) and chances are pretty good it relates to what’s on TV at the moment somewhere in the world, or what was on TV last night. Betty White was huge on Twitter last week, for instance, because of her star turn on “Saturday Night Live.” News trends on Twitter because it’s on CNN right now. Political controversies often flare up on Twitter because of something Glenn Beck or some other professional provocateur said on Fox News. Pop stars shine the brightest on Twitter when they’re on TV (e.g., Justin Bieber on Oprah last Tuesday) and there’s a snippet of video from that appearance that can be passed around online. Hell, TV created many of the pop stars tweeted about most ardently, from assorted “American Idol” alumni to the Disney Channel’s Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers.
