Quick Rundown
Instead of dedicating a whole blog post to each of the last four networks, I am just going to give each of them a rundown, listing the basics from each website.
We’ll start with Discovery. I give them an A. They’ve got a link to the blog pages in the top tool bar, a huge box with icons to follow them on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and opportunities for viewers to upload videos. There are even a few quizzes. Overall a pretty interactive website, which is excellent for such a learning environment.
Sci Fi has something that I haven’t seen yet in my reasearch. I don’t really know if this is considered social media, but it sure is cool. They offer a bunch of iPhone Apps that all relate to Sci Fi. This is so convenient, because fans can just come to one place to download apps that they are interested in, and they will always come back to the website for more. They also have a TON of forums for viewers and fans to talk about their favorite shows. Like I have said before, this is an excellent medium for viewers to communicate with the network and each other.
Next up is Spike. While the website offers much of the same things as all of the other networks, such as blogs and videos, they have a news feed featured right in the middle of their home page. Similar to sites like E! Online, it is just a constant feed of news stories and breaking news that their viewers would be interested in. This is a very clever way to keep people coming back for more.
Last but not least is the Weather Channel. Not that I can honestly say that I am surprised, but their website is not busting at the seams with social media. There are some videos, and the opportunity for visitors to type in their zip code to get a 10 day weather forecast (I don’t know what I would do without this,) but there isn’t much chance for communication. There are links for putting weather forecasts on your website or RSS feed, so I guess that is a step in the right direction.
So there you have it, a run down of ten major TV networks and what they are doing with social media.
