I was recently asked to put together a list of innovative ways that the internet has been integrated into television or documentary narratives. Since I thought this list could be a thought starter for producers, I thought I’d share it here.

Note that I purposely didn’t include some of the more obvious and well known examples, like Xenophile Media’s work on the first couple season’s of Regenesis, or say Jamie Oliver’s online presence, because, well, most producers already know about those projects.

Also I was trying to find examples that extended beyond simple marketing or Facebook integrations, or simple viewer voting mechanisms like American Idol.

1. The World Without Oil – Smart, Participatory, Fun, Awareness-Raising

‘The World Without Oil’ was an online project by PBS in 2007. It really broke new ground by incorporating an alternate reality narrative with social media participation to answer a simple question: “What if there was an oil shortage. Starting today, how would your life change?”

Over 1,800 people participated in this make-believe world without oil. They simulated the first 32 weeks of a global oil shortage by writing blog posts, shooting videos, images and leaving voicemails.

The participants really got into the spirit of the simulation, they stopped driving, pretended they had blackouts at home, and imagined a future where food choices were limited because of the lack of fertilizer.

PBS packaged the submissions into videos that explored questions about energy use, sustainability, the role energy plays in our economy, culture, worldview and history.

2. One Day on Earth – Great concept, results remain to be seen

I love this project because it plays to the strengths of social media participation online – it invites input from around the world. The challenge will be to try to funnel that into a single narrative.

The aim is to create a time capsule for the whole world to better understand itself. As their site says: “We strive to find out who we are as human beings because it is beneficial to our sustainability as a species.”

Will it work?

Remains to be seen, the documentary will be released on October 10th.

3. AgendaCamp with Steve Paikin – A social media conference that was the springboard for a television series

AgendaCamp was a series of conferences that took place in Ontario in 2010. Under the banner of Re-inventing Ontario in the face of the recession, they sought to answer these questions:

What directions are key to strengthening Ontario’s future? What role should government play? Where do new citizens fit into the changing economic landscape?

The camps were organized as a road show, with a local focus for different cities and towns. As their web site says “It’s all about face time with fellow citizens, local and regional decision makers, thinkers, questioners, way finders, underwriters and implementers. Ideas are challenged, validated, recalibrated; understanding develops, plans on common cause may be sketched out, and all of it happens in real time.”

TVO captured this conversation, added interviews and other elements and packaged it as a road show series on TVO. It was definitely cerebral, but it was also an illustration of the possibility of combining a traditional conference format, capturing that on social media and repackaging it for TV. Did I mention it also marketed itself on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube?

4. Social Media and TV: There’s an App for That

The U.S. science fiction channel Syfy recently teamed up with Shazam to integrate some of their television content with their online content.

Syfy has taken a really simple, yet innovative approach here.

Shazam is an iPhone smart phone app that is normally used to identify the name of a song and the artist singing by listening to it. But instead of music, Syfy is using the app to engage with a TV show.

Under the deal, viewers can use the Shazam app to listen to one of two Syfy shows in order to unlock hidden online content.

This approach requires that viewers watch the show on TV to unlock hidden content.

Pretty smart.

5. Being Erica

When the CBC comedy Being Erica launched in 2009, the producers used social media tools to extend the narrative of the show.

A month before the show launched the fictional ‘Erica’ starting writing her own blog.

The blog turned out to be a prequel for the television show – an attempt to hook the viewers before the show launched. It served to set the stage for some of the story lines and introduced the quirky character. Then once the show started the action moved to Facebook, where the ‘Erica’ character made friends with viewers and discussed the story lines.

This same kind of approach has been very successful in the U.S. with Heroes and Lost.

By blurring the lines between the fictional characters and reality, the producers make the characters more multi-dimensional than they could ever be on TV alone. It’s strategy that also creates an emotional investment in the story and can result in loyal fans.

What Do You Think?

Have a missed a few obvious choices? Are there other examples that I’ve overlooked? Any radio projects that spring to mind?

More generally do you think these kinds of projects are even worthwhile in the broadcast world, or maybe they’re just pointless experimentation?

Let me know your thoughts.

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