Channel 4 programme Chatty Man presented by Radio 2 DJ and ex-Friday Night Project presenter, Alan Carr welcomed Black Eyed Peas singer-songwriter and Intel Director of Creative Innovation Will.I.Am onto the show to promote his latest single, “This is Love”, which is set in London and features Dutch singer-songwriter, Eva Simons.
Carr – host of Chatty Man – Channel 4, Friday nights.
During his interview Carr sparked interest in Will’s use of the social network, Twitter and his position as a coach on The Voice, a flagship BBC One programme which is part of Saturday night television and a great competitor to ITV’s Britains Got Talent, broadcast at similar time slots. Carr asked about Will.I.Am’s tweeting habits during the show which sees him sitting as he listens to the constants while posting updates to the social network from his Blackberry smartphone.
Will replied with a very valid and to the point answer to help aid his active personality on Twitter to become a helpful resource to the show stating;
“If teenagers are watching the show, they are bound to have access their phone, tablet or computer in order to access such networks and share their own opinion about each constant as well as interacting with him and other viewers.”
In theory this statement is very true as the target audience for this programme is set for families with teenagers in addition to young adults. However, it may appear to other viewers, who aren’t aware of Will.I.Am’s activity on Twitter, that he isn’t interested in the show any more and wishes to “play on his phone” for the duration of the filming and as the programme is broadcast live, the producers have no control on stopping Will. Clearly, this is the first time on British television that social networking has appeared discreetly in a live format without it being advertised to the viewing public.
Will.I.Am (left) and Simons (Right) in his latest single – “This is Love”
An example of “live social networking” is shown on This Morning broadcast by ITV each weekday morning making vital connections with their audiences through Twitter & Facebook and the use of iPads and “The Hub” where opinions are fed through into this experts area where other “behind the scenes” presenters meet with the main presenter couple and discuss what the viewing public is saying about the current topics talked about live on the air.
The main question that should be asked is whether The Voice should have official accounts on Twitter & Facebook and allow these to be publicised throughout the broadcast or let Will to drive attention to the programme which is in its first series using his 3 million followers perhaps leaving him too distracted to say anything at the end of the performance. Another valid question to ask is whether Will.I.Am is being moderated on what he can tweet out after Jessie J, a fellow coach on the show tweeted photos of the finalists prior to it being announced, which sparked debate among not only her Twitter followers but followers of the programme in general who happened to see the tweet.
One final question that will be hanging is whether ITV will be getting in on the social media action as it has been announced that Simon Cowell has finally signed up for Twitter but its likely he will be tapping his pen on the desk instead of tapping 140 characters into his phone.
