Social Media’s Front Row Seat at the #Grammys

Historically, Hollywood events have not been very successful at integrating real-time social media into their programs; that is until this year. If you didn’t watch the Grammys, not only was the event a large success, but also the following spree of online discourse has been hit. The Grammys, being a nationally and internationally televised event, acted as a spotlight to prove and reinforce the truth that social media can turn a static event into a dynamic interactive experience.

“Actually, the Grammys soared among the most social shows of the year, much less the week. Music’s biggest awards night of the year achieved the second highest social interaction in 2013 for a televised event, just behind the Super Bowl.
In fact, social activity surrounding the Grammys climbed 511% from 2012. Mobile interactions increased to 88% from 57% last year. And the most popular hashtag of the show (#grammys) logged over 2.6 million uses.” (S. Buck, 2/12/2013. Mashable.com)

This success was due in part to several reasons. Whenever possible, the opportunity to promote the social involvement was taken. Even before the Grammys, there was a campaign to promote the event using a unique hashtag, (#theworldislistening) accompanied by images and posters. The Grammys did a lot of other things right also. Prior to and during the event, twitter handles and hashtags were sent out in real-time about the performer/entertainer at that moment. There were mentions by the host LL Cool J, as well as commercials promoting the social interaction occurring throughout the show. All this real-time engagement helped the Grammys to virtually flood Twitter for hours with multiple trending topics, millions of tweets and hundred of thousands of mentions.

The takeaway
Social media hasn’t always been acknowledged, accepted, or encouraged by the “official” mainstream. It has been an organic progression within the masses that has slowly caught traction with the media, pop-culture, and industry. As evidenced by recent events, such as the Super Bowl, the Grammys and now the State of the Union address, it seems social media is finally is being utilized by these circles as a legitimate and effective platform for communication. Unlike the past though, social media is now being used simultaneously to compliment and enhance events. At any given event like the Grammys, fans will be tweeting and talking in real time. The task of the any social media department is to engage and guide the flow of discourse in real time.

One of the most interesting responses to the “social Grammys” was an infographic showing what the results would have been, had the awards been determined by popularity across social media platforms.