When asked to choose a favorite show that uses social media I had several to choose from, but my choice came down to Face Off, the special effects make-up reality show.  Before I get into how Face Off utilizes social media let me explain why this show trumps many of the other reality shows out there.  In a format first used by Survivor, reality shows will often pit contestants against each other in a series of competitions. The contestants are encouraged to form alliances with others to eliminate the competition then in an underhanded move, turn on their allies and throw them under the bus.  The main goal of Survivor is winning by subterfuge.  A person behaves in an untrustworthy manipulative manner and they are rewarded for playing the game successfully.  I just can’t see why we would want to reinforce that sort of behavior, but it’s a money maker so I also see why the studios love it.  Now with Face Off the set up is different, it rewards the contestants based on their talent.  Even with this the players could use mental games to unnerve the others and put them off their game, but they don’t. Most them are friendly, cooperative and seem to genuinely like each other. After all, if the participants want to work in a studio setting they need to play well with others. This positive behavior has been exhibited time and again on the show with examples being of one participant asking the opinion of another and actually getting a helpful advice or a player asking for help removing a cast from its mold and the others will stop and go to help.  One episode had a participant crush his fingers which necessitated a trip to the E.R., the others finished cleaning out his mold so he could get straight to work when he returned the next day.  They gained nothing from the judges for this action it was just the right thing to do.

Since Face Off is a competition you would think it relies on social media to help pick a winner, but any opinion the viewers provide does not matter since the judges are the ones who make the final decision, but it does use Twitter to make the viewers a part of the show.  The show does something different with the comments sent in by viewers. Instead of using them as pop-ups during the first viewing, as other shows will do, they save the tweets and use them as pop-ups during the second showing later that night.  A fan will certainly tune in just to see if his or her tweet was used during the show.  By playing to the ego of the viewer it is possible Face Off gets equal viewers to a second showing as they did the first, unfortunately I could not find ratings to prove this it’s just an assumption. Beginning with the July season premiere a new Twitter campaign will allow fans to vote for their favorite contestant and the winner will receive a cash reward.  This interaction gives the viewer the power to reward their favorites when the judges fail to do so.

Social media and television seems like a match made in heaven.  How often have you discussed with your friends about what happened in last night’s episode and speculated of what will happen next?  Too often in my world, I must admit, and with social media your friend base has now expanded to 1 million other viewers.  Using social media to engage viewers is brilliant and gives them a feeling of being more important than just viewer ratings, it makes it personal.