Activ8Social

Say what you might about the television quality of Gossip Girl produced by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (creators of “The O.C.”), but it’s a weekly winner for the CW Network drawing nearly 4 million viewers on average. Equally interesting to us at Activ8Social is the CW’s winning social media strategy especially on Facebook.

Gossip Girl’s official Facebook Page clocks in at an impressive 8.5 million fans ranking #16 among all TV shows past and present—ahead of such household names like The Office and right on the heels of Jersey Shore. Considering the relative unknown stature of the show’s cast prior to creation, the CW has a real gem across multiple screens. To the CW’s credit, the GG Facebook Page is given prime real estate on the network website as seen above.

This week’s Social Mashup may be secondary to filling out your NCAA March Madness bracket (drop us a line if you want to know who we’re picking) but don’t let that stop you from brushing up on sports and entertainment social marketing this week.  We present to you Memolane,  a new social media visualization service, movie rentals on Facebook, and a social media game from Hollywood. Just to make sure everybody is totally clear, Charlie Sheen is in fact not dead.

A new social media service has entered the market that has the potential to replace grandma’s old photo albums.  What memolane is at its core is an aggregator of your social media history from all the major social media sites you often upload media to including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Instagram, Tripit, Vimeo, Spotify and Last.FM.

This week’s Monday Social Mashup may be a little too Apple heavy for you Steve Jobs haters, but how can you argue with that stock price? We review the official announcement of the iPad 2, free live streaming of March Madness, Angry Birds arrival on Facebook, and the updated Facebook ‘Like’ button. BTW, unless your dog is Lassie, you do not to need to create a Twitter or Facebook account for him!

The original iPad was the first tablet to hit the market and caused a sensation. It created a whole new genre of technological products. If you remember back to about a year ago on April 3rd, 2010, there were lines of giddy consumers stretching entire blocks looking to get an iPad. There was also short supply and insanely high demand that only Apple seems to be able to create. It could be argued that 2010 was the year of the iPad.

If there is one thing that Charlie Sheen is definitely #winning at right now, it’s the social media game.  In case you haven’t been following celebrity news (or mainstream media for that matter) as of late, Charlie Sheen has been a bit of a loose cannon on radio and television, but he’s certainly been entertaining to say the least. This interview on Good Morning America serves as a good example.

So what was the next logical step for the most talked about celebrity in the United States? Signing up for Twitter of course, and when Sheen’s official handle went up, people came flocking. Flocking to the tune of one million in just over 25 hours for the world record time of “Fastest to Reach the One Million Twitter Follower Mark”.

Social media may be the true starlet of the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards this Sunday.  When the biggest names in the movie industry walk down the red carpet, viewers from around the world will have the chance to stay tuned online or through Oscars’ own iPhone and iPad app. Last year, 13.3% of Oscar viewers used the Internet via laptop or mobile device during the awards show.  This year has seen other major sporting and awards events, including Super Bowl XLV and the GRAMMYs, as well as marketers embrace social media to engage and communicate with viewers.

In this week’s social mashup, we take a long look at Foursquare’s new Jersey Shore Badge.  Ha. Just kidding!  We do, however, provide our thoughts on a long awaited mobile announcement, an intriguing social media sports sponsorship, a Q&A site getting serious buzz, and a young start-up launched by some Harvard undergrads.

Over the last two weeks, Tiger Woods has started tweeting from the @TigerWoods handle and it has gone under the radar.  The question everybody has been asking is whether or not it will really be Tiger or a hired gun.  Tiger’s agent Mark Steinberg has tried to assuage those fears by telling the world that is in fact Tiger but experts are still skeptical.  Woods though is gonna have to prove to his fans that he has a fun side instead of being the quite conservative guy that we have not gotten to know over the years.  The athletes who have traditionally done best on Twitter are those that have found a way to get closer to their fans by being consistent, being candid and showing a personal side.

This week’s Saturday Night Live episode hosted by former Golden Girls star, 88 year-old Betty White, claimed the highest ratings and largest audience since November 1, 2008 when John McCain and Sarah Palin appeared. And who do they have to thank? A fan and his Facebook Page.

After White starred in a viral Super Bowl Snickers commercial, a 29-year old superfan named David Matthews took to the 450+ million user platform in an attempt to garner 5,000 fans before writing a letter to SNL producer Lorne Michaels.

After being picked up by USA Today and Perez Hilton, Matthews says the Page jumped from 8,300 fans to over 22,000. According to AllFacebook, the Page went from 30,000 to 230,000 fans last week. The “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!” Facebook Page now claims over half a million “likes” or “fans”, which is simply astonishing.

Facebook recently introduced an opt-in list of “Suggested Pages” as another step in the new user registration process. In stride with the recent decision to replace the “Become a Fan” button with “Like”, this appears to be an attempt by Facebook to encourage new users to express their interests and become active.

The phrase, “Connect with your favorite celebrities, businesses and brands to hear the latest news from them”, is displayed above the list.