Cue the ‘Jaws’ soundtrack: the 27th year of ‘Shark Week‘ is upon us and primed to take its biggest social bite yet.
Last year, ‘Shark Week’ was Discovery‘s most social event to date, generating more than 10 million Facebook interactions throughout the week. This year, the network will utilize Spredfast to incorporate Facebook Trending Topics, Hashtag Polling and live Instagram posts during broadcasts. Throughout the week, fans will also be able to see their Facebook posts featured live on air throughout the 26 hours of programming.
“We’re taking ‘Shark Week’ to a new level this year – complementing the incredible on-air lineup with more social integrations and more live online events than ever before,” said Conal Byrne, Vice President of Digital Media at Discovery Communications. “From streaming Discovery’s FinFest celebration at the start of the week to Facebook fans deciding the best ‘Shark Week’ moments of all time at the end of the week, ‘Shark Week’ 2014 is a non-stop, fan-focused extravaganza.”
Fans can consume all things ‘Shark Week’ at SharkWeek.com and through in-person, digital, and social integrations. Here are the details from Discovery:
– Fin Fest: The ultimate summer beach party begins at 10:30am PT on Saturday, August 9th in Hermosa Beach, CA and continues until the sun goes down on Sunday, August 10th. The bash will be streaming live at FinFest.com, and everyone can join in on all the fin-tastic fun, using hashtags to vote on items for ‘Shark Week’s’ ’s 60-foot mechanical shark, Sharkzilla, to chomp every hour, checking out the bands from the main stage and more.
– Supersized Shark Cams: Fans can get their shark fix through the addition of cams like the Shark Cage Cam, a virtual cage diving experience with Great Whites, as well as the Mega Shark Cam, Jaws Strikes Back Cam, Shark Cage Cam, Seal Decoy Cam, Sharkageddon Cam and Shark Fin Cam, featuring compilations of incredible footage from these different species and vantage points. Additionally, Discovery has continued its partnership with the National Aquarium, giving Shark Cam visitors live, 24/7 access to the inhabitants of its Blacktip Reef shark exhibit in Baltimore, through the return of the original Shark Cam.
– #KingOfSummer: Fans can visit the #KingOfSummer hub to keep on top of all things social around this year’s #SharkWeek, as well as upload their own photos to become the #KingOfSummer. Why should Rob Lowe get to have all the fun?
– Shark After Dark Live: ‘Shark Week’s’ live, late-night show, featuring updates from social media correspondent Taryn Southern, is back. Hashtag voting on Facebook lets viewers determine some of the live activities on-air and fans can stick around for the behind-the-scenes scoop after the show wraps, as the party continues for an extra 10 minutes, only at After Shark After Dark Live on SharkWeek.com.
– Sharkified Snapchat: Breach the waters of the newly launched Snapchat account and add SharkWeekTV for exclusive updates throughout the week.