Two TV companies, FOX 6 and TMJ4 have taken hold of social media tools and used them to deliver and capture their audiences which is the public. TV stations or News success are based on their audience that watch and view their broadcast during their segments. Both stations main purpose for these tools is to have people follow them on Twitter and like them on face Facebook, in a sense those people that perform those actions become part of their audience online. The following is a quick overview how two companies in a similar business use and utilize social media to their advantage.
Fox 6 MilwaukeeWITI, channel 6, is a Fox-affiliated television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. WITI is owned by Local TV, the broadcasting subsidiary of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, and has studio and office facilities in Brown Deer, Wisconsin (though with a Milwaukee address) and its transmitter based in Shorewood, Wisconsin.
Fox 6 on Twitter and Facebook
On Twitter, there is a more frequent post by FOX 6. By scrolling through the post, you can identify that those post are made by those who work for FOX 6 only. The intro stated, "Managed by the Web Team." but does not stated who those individuals are. There are no replies on any tweets or conversations, we can deduct that this twitter accounts purpose is for news personnel to use this to promote and broadcast news that is happening now. Also, by having the news personnel tweet on this pages, it will allow its viewers/followers to develop a more personal connection to the station.
TMJ 4WTMJ-TV, virtual channel 4.1 (digital channel 28) and branded as "Today's TMJ4", is the NBC-affiliated television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It serves as the flagship station of the Journal Broadcast Group, and is one of several flagship media properties owned by Journal Communications, which also owns the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and radio stations WTMJ (620 AM) and WLWK-FM (94.5). The station's studios located on Capitol Drive in Milwaukee, with its transmitter located directly to its north at approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north of downtown Milwaukee.
TMJ 4 on Twitter and Facebook
TMJ 4 has fewer likes(114K) and followers (13,700) on both social media tools than FOX 6 but have more people talking about their pages (14,964). The TMJ 4 Facebook page provides a more wholesome, frequently updated, and interactive page for the public. The example, here shows that posts are less than two hours apart and that post from this station are almost always ask their fans questions. "How much do you love the Packers?" like this photo shown here. As you scroll down the page, you begin to notice that most of the post are related to news happening locally in the state and those that relate to national and global news are post if they are news worthy for the page. The target for this page is mostly those that are centrally located in the Southeast Wisconsin Area and to engage them by asking questions of their opinion and personal lives that they are willing to share with the rest of the world.
TMJ 4's twitter account is very plain and bland in appearance. It has two tones of color (Blue and Gray) and the TMJ 4 logo. The twitter page is very under developed in comparison to FOX 6's twitter page. Visual this page is very unappealing and less personable than the FOX 6 twitter account. The posts are frequent and centered around popular news, and at the moment its football. There is little or no interactions from the followers in the last 10 tweets made and again it is use to promote the station and its news broadcast. We can see that this account can be more accommodating for those following on mobile devices but not a desktop setting. FOX 6 uses Twitter to personally interact with its followers by having it news team to tweet on the page, while TMJ 4's Twitter page is only best on mobile device to it's appearance and tweet management. On the other spectrum, TMJ 4 best utilized its Facebook page to interact with their fans and have a more diverse post centering around the local news on their page, while FOX 6 page have a less frequent post and a wide array of posts.
Social media is here to stay, these two TV are using Facebook and Twitter to gain and draw in their audience to watch their shows. Also, we saw that each tool can be used to interact with the public depending on the presentation and post contained on the page. The best part about these tools are that they are free advertisement for any companies to use to promoted their brand. Social media is gaining this track to becoming mainstream and those companies who choose to ignore this will be left behind.
Fox 6 Milwaukee
https://twitter.com/fox6now
https://www.facebook.com/fox6news
TMJ 4
https://twitter.com/tmj4
https://www.facebook.com/tmj4
Very informative Chester, good blog, and who knows there may be a day when we can only access our news from digital devices.
ReplyDeleteAt work we use to sell newspaper by the dozen, now we can't even get rid of two.
DeleteWell thought out and use of graphics to enhance your description of the contrasts, Chester. That there is no engagement with audience tweets leads me to wonder if automated tweets are part of the system.
ReplyDeleteNever thought of it as such but its certainly a possibility.
DeleteVery interesting way to take the initial assignment. I've never actually stopped and though of how news media manages to use social media to their advantage. I agree it is kind of strange that they aren't allowing their audience to respond, that would be an excellent way to make the local news closer to the community.
ReplyDeleteI found that to be a pattern on FOX 6 sites but not for TMJ 4.
DeleteAmazing post! Funny to think that social media can even be used for up to the minute news.
ReplyDeleteVery planned out and informative, nice job Chester; you can really tell you put effort in. Do you think one day regular news will be retired from television? Also that only breaking news will be aired and the rest of the regular news will be on the internet?
ReplyDeleteInteresting how one news station seems to rely on one option of social media more than the other, with TMJ4 being more active on Facebook than Twitter, while FOX 6 is the opposite. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteReally interesting post. I really hadn't thought about how news might use social media since they don't sell a hard product. Taught me a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe reporters who work for the stations also will have accounts. It is interesting to see their 'take' on what is happening.
ReplyDelete