Facebook, in conjunction with Comcast’s Ziddio, has had a new project in the works since February: Facebook Diaries, a weekly series of episodes made up of user-generated content edited professionally. According to New TeeVee, the series will finally launch tonight around 9 p.m.
Judging from previews hosted on Ziddio and Comcast’s VOD platform, the video diaries will largely feature content befitting a college-centered social networking site - heartbreak, drama, and personal stories about users’ adventure creatively edited together. At present, the series is set to stretch eight episodes long, with the pilot, “Who Am I,” already waiting here.
Considering Facebook’s success and the success of social networking in general, it seems likely that these Facebook Diaries, the newest in the tradition of partially candid series (think lonelygirl15), has a good chance of attracting steady viewers. It may even have a chance of ending up on cable TV, which would be just one more feather in the cap of user-gen content’s online success. In the end, is there anything we like better than our own work?
(Source: New TeeVee)
User-generated content already dominates many video and streaming sites on the Web, but Fox Network and MySpace are teaming up with the Producers Guild of America to take it one step farther.
Beginning in September, MySpace will host The Storyteller Challenge, which invites civilian moviemakers across the Net to submit 5-7 minute television pilots of their own creation. These pilots will be judged by visitors to the site, as well as a panel of professionals and film students organized by the Producers Guild. The top two pilots will earn $25,000 each (winners to be decided in January), and their creators will also get a shot at a development deal with Fox.
The Storyteller Challenge didn’t come out of thin air. This summer, Fox ran a show called “On The Lot,” a reality TV-style contest about theatrical directors competing on the air, but the show lost out in the ratings. MySpace has also done something similar before: “Prom Queen,” a webisode-based show that got 15 million streams and is preparing for another season. The Storyteller Challenge is a mix between the two.
Producers Guild of America chief Marshall Herskovitz had this to say about the upcoming challenge:
“Producing will always be a difficult and competitive job, but I’m proud that our Storyteller Challenge will give unique new voices the chance to find their audience. You never know where the next great storyteller will come from.”
There’s no denying that user-generated content is on its way to the top of the Web entertainment sphere, especially with all the new streaming sites rising in prominence. All that remains to be seen is whether Fox and MySpace can tap into that interest to generate not only a contest, but possibly a dynamite TV show as well.
(Source: Variety, Tech Crunch)
