CNN and Facebook are partnering for coverage of the upcoming inauguration. Facebook user statuses will be updated with streaming updates of Obama’s inaguration. Facebook users will be able to log in to CNN.com Live through Facebook Connect and update their statuses while watching the live stream on January 20th.
I have yet to see how this integration works exactly but it sounds like this is a basic Connect integration with status updates built directly into the video player. There will also be the ability to view your friends status updates that were sent from the CNN.com Live video player. The service will “tag” status updates in a similar fashion to the many Twitter users that tag their tweets at events.
Unique to this integration is that the tag “via CNN.com Live” will be hyperlinked directly to CNN.com Live website. This is one of the first campaigns I’ve seen integrated directly in to status updates and it’s definitely a unique model. This also highlights how Twitter could just as easily launch similar campaigns given that their entire system is essentially a replacement for Facebook’s status updates with some additional functionality.
I’m also assuming that there will be some basic promotional component but there was no mention in the press release. Facebook previously partnered with ABC on the Presidential debates and this is the second big partnership for political coverage that we’ve seen integrated into the social network. Will you be watching the inauguration coverage from your computer?
