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Sunrise goes behind the scenes via Google+

Sunrise positions five laptops with webcams behind the scenes to allow viewers to watch the show being made live.

Sunrise gave viewers a one hour peek behind the scenes this morning using technology from Google+.

Between 7am and 8am viewers saw live footage inside the Martin Place studios with five laptops with webcams positioned  including in the control room, make-up room plus  video and audio of the producer and director.

Sunrise also used Hangouts to allow users to chat with friends on the Google+ service.

It was the first time an Australian show has used the technology live with viewers.

Newly appointed Director of Social Media and Strategy Adam Boland is a devotee of Google+ and has ditched Facebook in favour of the new platform.

Source: ITWire

19 Responses

  1. @Allie – the only way you can join Google+ at the moment is with an invitation from Google or one from someone who has already joined Google+. As mention before, it is still in field (beta) test mode – so you can expect a lot of changes to come before they release the final product to the general public.

    I also have no doubt that will find some to charge commercial enterprises like TV networks to use their video chat service in the way that Sunrise has.

  2. @Dodge
    All valid points but consider that Murdoch won’t be in charge coming January. Bolt is not guaranteed since his ratings aren’t that stellar. Video Hits had become unwatchable in recent years. Today has been clawing back viewers ever since Karl’s Logie win and has out done Sunrise nationally in terms of audience several times this week.

    If i were him, I would’ve sought greener pastures than the stale barn yard that is Seven… I’m still waiting for his call as well 😉

  3. @Julie S, that’s interesting. I did not realise Google+ was not freely available yet. My brother set me up on it, so I just assumed anyone could join it, did not realise it was still restricted. I think Google are onto a winner with it, it has better privacy safeguards than FB, and I like the circles idea they have for putting your friends, family, etc, into different social “circles”, makes the whole thing much easier to manage.

  4. @steve sydney – I thought that re Adam too, but then I realised: Why would he go to a station that (a) is run by a Murdoch, (b) hires Andrew Bolt, and to a lesser extent (c) axes a show like Video Hits. Suddenly 7 isn’t looking so bad.

  5. A bit of a waste due to the limited use of Google+ at the moment.

    Google+ took a lot of ideas from Facebook and Twitter and tweaked a couple of them, then added a one or two of their own. It’s also Google’s third or fourth attempt at trying to create a Facebook rival. When the site goes public and the advertising starts, it will be interesting to see what people think then.

  6. Wait a second… How is David Koch getting yet another new iGadget by promoting a Google product? Is he not afeared of the wrath of great maker Jobs? There’s something seriously amiss here…

    BTW guys, 1997 called, they want their video chatroom back.
    (leans back and waxes lyrical about ICQs and ICUs)

  7. I dont quite understand the interest or value of the much hyped “behind the scenes’ POV….BFD…you see people in the control room, or a punter in the makeup chair. its a job…so what…

  8. Isn’t 7 in partnership with yahoo? wouldn’t google+ be like working with a rival company?

    I know channel 7 shows try very hard not to use the word google.

  9. I’m all for Google+ and any form of social integration (which I think Can of Worms currently does the best with), but wait until everyone can freely join Google+, not when it’s only open to a select few.

  10. @Andrew
    ‘Sunrose’ sounds like an excellent show and i will be tuning in.. how it doesn’t stink in the end

    @Adam Boland
    You really should have gone to TEN as per advice on similar comments made by others on this blog. Apart from that… call me 🙂

  11. They can do that all they want, but if the hosts are pretentious and sickeningly fake as always then it’s not going to change ratings .
    Grand idea though.

  12. I believe this is a great step forward, but wonder whether it is partly motivated by the novelty factor of G+. As best as I can tell Sunrose are using the chatroom and webcast features. Chatrooms have been around for a long time in various forms – it would be easy to setup an IRC service and embed in the Sunrise website, or have a nominated Twitter hashtag. And webcasting is easy via existing service providers such as Ustream or BitGravity – and these could be embedded in the Sunrise website to maintain branding.

    Some other notes:
    – G+ is only in Field Test mode so is not open to everyone. There are lots of people who would like to be on G+ but are not amoungst the lucky incurred. So we are looking at limited audience reach at the moment.
    – G+ does not allow brands to date – only personal accounts. So is there a Sunrise G+ account about to be deleted, or a Sunrise staffer using their account for commercial purposes?
    – Interesting that the laptops used 3G cards instead of the office WiFi. More expensive and less reliable, with a likely lower quality experience, but perhaps there was a commercial deal assisting?

  13. To be clear, I’ve ditched Facebook for my personal use (although I’ve kept my account open to monitor activity). I accept the current strength of Facebook and still consider it a vital tool for engagement with our audience. I just prefer G+ for my own use – for a whole series of reasons, including the ease of grouping people via their circles (much simpler than FB lists) and cool little features like hangouts shown above. Adam

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