Monday, May 24, 2010

L*O*S*T. A Social Media Phenom

As I write this, the early ratings are in for the LOST Finale; 9.0, which isn't even close to the finale of one of television's most beloved shows, M*A*S*H.

But as Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend."

The difference between how people talked about M*A*S*H and LOST after an episode was the traditional Watercooler vs the "E-Cooler" i.e. the myriad number of podcasts, fan pages etc that evolved during the run of LOST.

My two favorites LOST Podcasts are The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack and The Transmission. Both heavily involve fans of the show itself, plus you can blog, twitter, post comments on Facebook and the list goes on. That conversation will continue for months to come, if not years. The conversation continues!

One of the real challenges of Social Media is how to measure it as compared to traditional television ratings. But one thing for sure is, lovers and yes, haters of LOST are empowered to talk about the show, be involved and you can bet the networks monitor the more successful podcasts and fan pages.

As in my last posting here, viewers controlled the brand far more than ABC ever did. It's the brave new world of social media. It can be overwhelming sometimes, but Social Media can be an effective and powerful communication tool for your association or business. It's a medium where it's not enough to dip your toe into it, you have to jump in. Just make sure you know how deep the "E-Water" is!!

We don't claim to be experts in social media, frankly there aren't any "experts." Just people with a lot of experience with what works and doesn't work. Social media can and must be custom designed to meet your exact needs. One size does not fit all.

So today, people are all over the web chiming in on those final scenes of LOST, just like they did a generation ago around the traditional water cooler about the final scenes from M*A*S*H. But with Social Media, you can be part of a conversation involving millions instead of just a few.

It's what we help you do at Conversation Starters. Check us out.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC

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