The new show What’s Trending premiered live on CBSNews.com, YouTube and Livestream today. As we previewed a week ago, What’s Trending is a live, weekly webcast infused with social media. “It’s not just a show with a social strategy added on to it – it’s powered by the community and social media,” host Shira Lazar said. “What’s Trending fills the gap as a broadcast show for the internet generation.”
On an expansive set, the show has the feel of an informal TV broadcast — including the occasional commercial — peppered with a steady stream of questions and comments from Twitter and Facebook. “Dancing With the Stars” contestant Chelsea Kane, Cenk Uygur from “The Young Turks” and What’s Trending’s Melissa Jun Rowley joined in the conversation.
Although a little rough around the edges, the show did a good job juggling real-time social interaction. In an interview with musician Talib Kwali, a viewer tweeted asking for his reaction about the shooting death of M-Bone. In the background, a screen powered by Mass Relevance featured tweets about the show. And as you might expect, Lazar says What’s Trending booked the interview with Kwali via Twitter.
Joe Trippi appeared in a Skype interview to talk about the role of social media in the upcoming election, incorporating questions from the Facebook and Twitter chat alongside the CBSNews.com player. NPR’s Andy Carvin was scheduled to appear, as well, but he had to reschedule.
The show also featured a “like or dislike” segment that used sentiment analysis powered by Singley Mackie to see how the social world is reacting to the addition of Ashton Kutcher on Two and Half Men and other viral stories in the news. An animated infographic produced by Column Five tackled the question, “Pirates vs. Ninjas, the internal meme debate.”
Reaction to the show so far has been largely positive. At the end of the stream, Lazar read a comment suggesting they focus more on what will trend, instead of what’s already trending. “We’ll be changing and experimenting with the show,” Lazar said, encouraging viewers to chime in with their ideas.
The show will be archived shortly — we’ll link it when it’s available.
P.S. Separately, two weeks ago Yahoo launched “Trending Now,” a 3-minute daily newscast of stories trending in the news. Host Adriana Diaz starts the segment by saying, “Here’s what’s trending now….”