Current plans to showcase Twitter like never before during the cable network’s upcoming convention coverage, even displaying Tweets across half the TV screen. The plan is to differentiate Current’s coverage from the “other guys” while engaging a real-time audience.
“We think we can bring in real time tweets that are pertinent, and also provide some depth and catch up with things that we didn’t put on the air when they were on,” Current TV president David Bohrman told TVNewser. “When this flood is going, there is a really interesting volume of information.”
Producers will be curating the Tweets that will appear on live TV, grouping them into categories (media, Republican, Democrat, trending, etc.) represented by different colors.
On Current.com, users will see a “heat map” of tweets, as (briefly) illustrated in the TV promo airing on the cable network (above).
Current is a natural place to carve out so much real estate for Twitter. Beyond its roots in citizen journalism and user-generated content, Twitter VP Chloe Sladden used to work there.