CNN and Facebook on Obama

Last Night, I watched, together with the rest of the world, the inauguration of the 44th president of the U.S., Barack Obama.

More specifically, i watched it on CNN.live, which was having a collaboration with Facebook (FB) whereby FB users could update their status, akin to a twitter update, as the event was being streamed live.

I blogged abut this previously with questions and doubts, but I had them all answered yesterday.

Here’re some of the questions which i posed:

1)FB community needs regulation?

No! Surprisingly, the general feel of the community was full of goodwill and every1 was excited about this historic moment. Comparisons to Dr Martin Luther King inevitably arised, but the general feel was a very united FB community watching the event together.

2) Interactivity to enhance viewer’s experience and increase viewership?

I don’t know if CNN had increased viewership because of the collaboration with FB. But as of last night, there were 2000 updates per minute. Find me a campaign that can generate that amount of feedback! I felt that the interactivity actually help maintain interest during some of the boring parts of the event.

3) Would Singapore or any Asian country ever allow an event like this to be covered the way CNN has done?

I know Singapore wouldn’t allow something like this. The control of any message is still very strict here, not too sure about neighboring countries but I would assume the same sentiments apply across.

All in all, i would think this was a pretty good move by CNN. Interactivity, the Obama brand and the hope for a better tmr by the rest of the world and America lived up to the promise of a great convergence between a traditional news network and a social networking site.

Real Time News

Tomorrow will mark Obama’s inauguration into the white house. A significant event befitting the memory of Dr Martin Luther King. However, it is also a landmark in a convergence of traditional and online media.

CNN will be showcasing the event by live streaming and Facebook status updates. You can watch the video to understand more about what CNN is doing.

Why is this significant? It shows that a traditional media outlet has recognized the importance of real time news. We’ve all seen the effects of these ‘status updates’ by Twitter users on the Mumbai attacks, the Sichuan earthquake, Obama being elected as the 44th President of U.S. etc.

And yes, the debate has alwasy been that social media outlets provide faster BUT inaccurate news while traditional media provides slower BUT more reliable news. CNN has merged the 2 benefits and canceled out the kimks which the 2 mediums have to cover.

It will be interesting to see how this works out for the community using Facebook. How will CNN control spam? How about negative messages? Will the community self regulate or will CNN have to step in to cancel out certain comments?

Will interactivity amongst the FB community propel viewership of the event, especially among the younger GEN Y and below crowd?

What do you think?

1)FB community needs regulation?

2) Interactivity to enhance viewer’s experience and increase viewership?

3) Would Singapore or any Asian country ever allow an event like this to be covered the way CNN has done?

I would love to hear your thoughts! Do share!!

Oh, and you can join the FB event invitation here. Have a good inauguration experience!