Sophia Vergara

Oh yes, baby! There’s romance in the air, and it’s between your TV and social media stream. It’s no surprise that, in general, the way of TV-watching has changed drastically with the influx and success of social media.

Take, for example, Oreo’s quick-thinking ad that aired during the Super Bowl blackout. If you watched the Super Bowl or participate in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other social media outlets, you probably know the one I’m talking about. Somehow, the folks at Oreo aired a remarkably timely image of an Oreo cookie with the script, “You can still dunk in the dark.”

The ad went viral instantly.

It helped that the commercial aired on one of the only days people tune in specifically for the advertisements, but the blackout-inspired ad’s popularity skyrocketed mostly in part to the social media frenzy that followed it. In fact, Oreo’s cheeky advertisement received over 15,000 tweets, 20,000 Facebook “likes” and the company gained tens of thousands of new Instagram followers.

The trend could work the other way around. For example, remember the 2012 presidential debate in which Sesame Street’s Big Bird went viral on Twitter and other social media? All it took was a five second comment by Mitt Romney on cutting funding and the whole Internet was abuzz. In fact (for better or worse), it distracted from some of the more important points of that debate.

Another example: I know that if there’s a big season premiere or a highly anticipated award show (like the Oscars!), I can sign onto Facebook or Twitter and read a slew of real-time talk and feedback as the show’s actually airing. Even more, the celebrities involved in these very events participate in the real-time social media scene themselves. Take Sophia Vergara tweeting about her wardrobe malfunction last year, for example.

In anticipation of the big night, Twitter reminds us in a blog post that “As the audience in the Dolby Theatre claps, laughs, and cries, so do the viewers at home. Watching along with Twitter, you can have the best of both worlds: get insider access from stars who know the Oscars best, and join fellow film fans in a global viewing party.”

If you want to  watch the #Oscars with stars and need the handles to participate in the conversation check out their post   http://blog.twitter.com/2013/02/watch-oscars-with-stars.html

By Wendy Rose Gould