Companies Enable Users to Speak Out on Personal and Life Topics Through Video, to Be Documented in TV Series ‘Facebook Diaries’
Facebook, the Internet’s leading social utility, and Ziddio.com, a national multiplatform user-generated video site recently launched by Comcast Interactive Media, today announced a partnership that will allow Facebook users to create and share user-generated videos and give them the chance to become part of a new television series titled “Facebook Diaries.”
Beginning in March, the companies will kickoff a program that includes contests asking users to submit short video segments about their lives. Throughout the contests, Facebook users will be encouraged to upload, view, share and rate the videos. Selected videos will be featured prominently online on Facebook and Ziddio.com and on television including Comcast’s ON DEMAND service.
Submitted videos will also form the basis for the new television series, “Facebook Diaries,” to be produced by R.J. Cutler, the Oscar-nominated, Emmy award-winning producer of TV shows, including “American High” and “30 Days.” Cutler will choose from the best submissions and weave them together to produce ten half-hour episodes that will air online and on television.
“Video sharing is extremely popular among Facebook’s 16 million users,” said Owen Van Natta, chief operating officer, Facebook. “Through our partnership with Comcast, we are making it even easier for the Facebook community to share video content in a trusted online environment and giving them the opportunity to tell their stories on TV.”
“Ziddio has leveraged Comcast’s powerful reach in broadband and television to create a nationwide site that elevates the world of user-generated videos to a cross-platform experience,” said Amy Banse, president, Comcast Interactive Media. “We are excited to connect this phenomenon with the Facebook community and bring Ziddio to its unique demographic.”
“Everyone has a story to tell and ‘Facebook Diaries’ is a really new and exciting way for people to share their experiences,” said producer R.J. Cutler. “The concept is a fresh spin on entertainment and programming, and I think it’s truly groundbreaking. Facebook and Comcast are terrific partners for this and I can’t wait to get started.”
Once the contests launch in March, Facebook users can begin uploading video by joining the Ziddio-sponsored group on Facebook or through Ziddio at http://www.ziddio.com. To join Facebook, people can authenticate into a school or work network, or they can join a regional network by registering at http://www.facebook.com.
Ziddio is a new multiplatform user-generated site launched last year by Comcast Interactive Media. The site brings together premium networks and partners to host co-branded contests with unique prizes and the chance for users to showcase their content across multiple platforms — online, on Comcast’s ON DEMAND service and on linear networks.
About Facebook
Founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook helps people better understand the world around them by developing technologies that facilitate the spread of information through social networks. The site has over 16 million registered users in over 47,000 geographic, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks, and according to ComScore’s MediaMetrix report, Facebook ranks as the seventh-most trafficked site in the United States. Facebook is privately held and headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (http://www.comcast.com) is the nation’s leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 24.2 million cable customers, 11.5 million high-speed Internet customers, and 2.5 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.
Comcast’s content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, AZN Television, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One and four regional Comcast SportsNets and Comcast Interactive Media. Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.
About R.J. Cutler
R.J. Cutler is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy award-winning producer, director, filmmaker and president of Actual Reality Pictures, which specializes in the development and production of non-fiction projects for film and television. Over the course of his career, Cutler has garnered numerous awards and nominations including an Emmy for creating, directing and executive producing American High (PBS & Fox) and an Oscar nomination for the highly-acclaimed documentary The War Room. Cutler’s previous projects include: THIN (HBO), 30 Days (FX), Oh Baby, Now What? (A&E), Black.White (FX), Flip That House (TLC), Freshman Diaries (Showtime), The Residents (TLC), American Candidate (Showtime), Military Diaries (VH-1), Bound for Glory (ESPN), A Perfect Candidate, Making Dazed (AMC) and The War Room. He also produced the nightly National Public Radio series Heat, which won the 1991 Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.
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