At an RTS event about social media and television, Facebook’s Patrick Walker addressed the charge that his company had done little to stop these stories spreading.
‘We are a platform – we see ourselves first and foremost as a technology company. The mission we have is to connect people and make the world more connected, which is about sharing information,’ he said.
News of television’s death is premature, heard a relieved RTS audience, who were assured that the US tech giants – Facebook, YouTube and Twitter – were TV’s partners, not predators.
“Television is amazingly resilient – the great thing about it, is that it’s very adaptable. It’s always been good at seizing the opportunities that new technology brings,” said YouTube’s Stephen Nuttall at the RTS early-evening event in November, “Social media muscles in on TV”.
Networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are now an integral part of the UK’s video landscape. What are the implications of their growth, not just for viewers, but for content creators, traditional broadcasters and advertisers?
An expert panel, chaired by Kate Bulkley, discussed the subject at our 'Social Media Muscles in on TV' event. The panel included Dara Nasr, Managing Director, Twitter, UK; Stephen Nuttall, Senior Director, EMEA, YouTube and Patrick Walker, Director of Media Partnerships, EMEA, Facebook.
The panel spoke about working with storytellers who make creative content, how each platform thrives in the digital landscape and how user-generated content is incremental to television.
YouTube's Senior director Stephen Nuttall, Twitter’s UK Managing Director, Dara Nasr and Facebook’s Director of Media Partnerships, Patrick Walker all took part in the event.
Read the full event report here.
“Television is amazingly resilient. It’s always been good at seizing the opportunities that new technology brings,” said YouTube’s Stephen Nuttall at the RTS early evening event in late-November, “Social media muscles in on TV”.
“Some of the greatest innovators on social media are the television companies,” added Twitter’s UK Managing Director, Dara Nasr.
Over the past year or so, online video has become hugely important to social media companies.
This is the first time a broadcaster in the UK has done this, with the show being made available in 61 countries across Europe and Africa, as well as in the US.
“By partnering with Facebook, we are giving the fans the chance to watch the new show at the same time across Europe and Africa," said Fox Networks Group, Europe and Africa chief operating officer Diego Londono.
"We are proud to be partnering with Facebook to create a real TV event on such a huge scale.”
2016 is looking like it could be a big year for Virtual Reality as the technology becomes ever more accessible. The Google Cardboard frame which allowed users to turn their smart phone into a VR headset was a fun and affordable toy, however the VR revolution is beginning in earnest next year. We have gathered five of the top VR headsets, set for release in 2016.
One of the big draws at television technology shows such as NAB in Las Vegas is the "living room of the future", with its wall-filling, multi-image, interactive TV screen. Such "wallpaper displays" are still, largely, mock-ups, not demonstrations of real services.
But the "internet of things" (IoT) – the multiplication of connected devices, body-worn sensors and Cloud data services – could soon make such TVs a reality.
"I’d rather have internet than running water," declares Dan Snow, broadcaster, historian and self-confessed digital obsessive. Not content with making history programmes for broadcasters on subjects as diverse as China’s Terracotta Army and the D-Day landings, Snow is now building an online empire. His new tools are apps, YouTube videos, Facebook, Twitter (where he has a whopping 100,000 followers) and, most recently, Periscope, the Twitter-owned live video app.
