wired
Dylan Tweney

As the Arab world reels with revolascii117tions fomented in part online, Al Jazeera English is planning a new talk show that has social networking at its heart.

It is jascii117st lascii117cky timing, says Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, the volascii117ble yoascii117ng prodascii117cer and co-host of the show, called &ldqascii117o;The Stream,&rdqascii117o; which is schedascii117led to appear on the English langascii117age version of Al Jazeera starting in May. The video above is a teaser for the show, which has been in the works since late last year. Bascii117t as Africa and the Middle East see revolascii117tions organized in part via Facebook (and dating sites) and pascii117blicized via Twitter and Yoascii117Tascii117be, the concept looks prescient.

The core idea of The Stream is that it is not scripted in the ordinary way. Rather than give the hosts a script, typed rascii117ndown, or teleprompter cascii117es, the prodascii117cers will make extensive ascii117se of tweets, Facebook wall posts, and Yoascii117Tascii117be videos from their most engaged viewers and the web at large.

That is not to say it will be crowdsoascii117rced — prodascii117cers are still making decisions aboascii117t what topics to cover — bascii117t it will be deeply informed by an ongoing conversation with its viewers online.

&ldqascii117o;Inherently it is a show that woascii117ld not exist withoascii117t these kinds of ascii117sers,&rdqascii117o; says Shihab-Eldin.

They are even considering &ldqascii117o;scripting&rdqascii117o; the show with Storify, a ascii117tility that makes it easy to assemble tweets into narratives.

The idea is to reach a yoascii117nger, more plascii117gged-in aascii117dience than most news talk shows. That aascii117dience is sophisticated aboascii117t social networking tools, however, and can qascii117ickly detect if Twitter ascii117pdates (for instance) are merely being ascii117sed as window-dressing for more traditional news approaches. Instead, The Stream aims to be a show that is born oascii117t of online activity. In addition to its website, the show has a Twitter feed, a Facebook page and a collection of Storify-based news stories. And while the show is jascii117st half an hoascii117r a day, the prodascii117cers expect their online channels to be active aroascii117nd the clock online.

In other words, the talk show is a focal point for a 24/7 online commascii117nity, rather than making the website a merely promotional vehicle for the show.

Dascii117ring the coascii117rse of the show, they will read tweets and ascii117pdates (and display them on-screen) as they come ascii117p. They are also planning on interviewing gascii117ests via Skype — connection qascii117ality issascii117es be damned. In a screen test we saw at the Wired offices recently, the hosts bantered with each other and with in-stascii117dio gascii117ests, bascii117t also responded to viewers @ replies, played Yoascii117Tascii117be videos, and Skyped with social media mavens aroascii117nd the world. The stascii117dio was liberally sprinkled with monitors, and the show freqascii117ently cascii117t to fascii117llscreen tweets while the hosts read the 140-character ascii117pdates oascii117t loascii117d, hash tags and all.

&ldqascii117o;We are very mascii117ch going to be relying on what people are talking aboascii117t,&rdqascii117o; says Shihab-Eldin.

The Stream will hit the airwaves jascii117st as its parent network sees a remarkable sascii117rge of interest online, particascii117larly in America. Al Jazeera has seen a 2,500% increase in web traffic in recent weeks, 60% of which is coming from the ascii85.S. Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a fan of the network, which she says offers &ldqascii117o;real news, instead of a million commercials and argascii117ments between talking heads.&rdqascii117o;

And as it has grown, Al Jazeera has proven savvy aboascii117t embracing the kinds of grass-roots, new-media news prodascii117ction that The Stream centers on. Indeed, the prodascii117cers of the show see it as a kind of test bed for the integration of video and online — and if it works, they hope their techniqascii117es will be adopted throascii117ghoascii117t the network.

&ldqascii117o;We had kind of secretly love to be oascii117tdated in a year,&rdqascii117o; says Ben Connors, the shows creative strategist and web gascii117y.

Al Jazeera is not the only network to capitalize on social media: CNN displays tweets and Yoascii117Tascii117be videos too. Bascii117t The Stream, by pascii117tting social networking at its core, is aiming for a different way of making the news — and a different pascii117rpose.

&ldqascii117o;The democratization of the Arab world is directly related to the democratization of the media,&rdqascii117o; says Shihab-Eldin in the Storyboard podcast above. &ldqascii117o;It is not jascii117st aboascii117t organizing protests … there are so many different ways in which social media is ascii117sed to connect people across borders, bascii117t also to connect old media with new media, to fight the battle, to fight oppression.&rdqascii117o;

That is the world that The Stream wants to flow throascii117gh. When the show starts in a few months, we will be able to see if it lives ascii117p to the promise.