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Would You Watch an Original Series Inside Twitter?

No, we’re not talking about a reality show based on the people that make Twitter run (although there’s an idea) – we’re talking about a show that is debuted, streamed, and shar...
Would You Watch an Original Series Inside Twitter?
Written by Josh Wolford
  • No, we’re not talking about a reality show based on the people that make Twitter run (although there’s an idea) – we’re talking about a show that is debuted, streamed, and shared all within the walls of the service. Yep, Twitter may be getting into the broadcasting business.

    That’s the rumor according to a report from Adweek. Apparently, Twitter is already in “serious” talks with Hollywood to bring several original content series to Twitter.

    There’s no word on the exact format of the series and how it would be displayed on the site. There are a few existing options, however.

    Last month, Twitter experimented with a dedicated Hashtag page for NASCAR during the Pocono 400 race. Basically, any search of “NASCAR” on Twitter redirected to a standalone NASCAR-themed page with its own header, media-rich slideshow, and related tweets. Algorithms and hand curation determined which tweets were most relevant – and they were shot up to the top.

    A dedicated page like this could be a place to house an original video series.

    Or, Twitter could show the videos right in the middle of users’ tweet streams from a dedicated Twitter account or from a combination of Twitter accounts. Those tweets that contain the video could be promoted to the top of users’ streams or they could have to follow the accounts in order to access the videos. As you’ve surely noticed, tweets on the site are much more content-rich these days as Twitter has expanded tweets to play in-line videos as well as display images and article content from new sites.

    Of course, logistically, Twitter’s original content could be streamed in any number of ways – or even a combination of the ways mentioned above. But one source seemed pretty confident about Twitter’s intentions.

    “This is real,” said the source familiar with the discussions. “This is more than just talk.”

    We would also expect that any original video content that’s streaming exclusively via Twitter would include some sort of social element. Fans could interact with each other – and possibly the cast and crew of said shows while watching them. We already know that Twitter loves to promote the “two-screen experience” – TV and tweeting. This could bring it all to one screen.

    Adweek says that one of the first original series that’s part of the discussions is a reality show in the vein of The Real World. Although that doesn’t really sound all that appealing to me, those are the types of TV shows that generate the most chatter on social networks – so if you’re going to bring a TV show to Twitter, you might as well make it as engaging as possible.

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