The NBA continues to stand out among sports properties as a forward-thinking social brand, and NBA players are some of the most active and followed athletes. The league recently surpassed 400 million likes and followers combined across all league, team and player pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Sina and Tencent, and was the first sports league to surpass one billion video views on YouTube. Read more

With more than 143 million Facebook likes and 1.2 million Instagram followers, MTV ranks as one of the biggest brands on both platforms. The network continues to outpace its rivals in terms of digital innovation, and with the MTV Movie Awards which aired last night, MTV has show the world that social TV is now about GIFs, Instagram and real-time access to fans via Facebook. Read more

I just finished producing the 5th Annual Shorty Awards, honoring the best on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, Tumblr and more. The entire night brought together social TV from every angle possible. Comedy Central, The CW, ABC Family, CNN, Fox News and Conan were all successful in the Industry Awards competition. TV celebrities were also in full force as well for their use of social media. Here are video highlights that were just launched. Read more

Last night The Shorty Awards were held at the Times Center in New York City. The “Oscars of Twitter” honored the very best tweeters, as well as stars on other social networks like Pinterest and Tumblr. Hosted by Felicia Day, the awards also featured special guests like Mayor Mike Bloomberg, supermodel Coco Rocha and The Nerdist’s Chris Hardwick.

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It goes without saying these days that another big live event has set another social TV record. Last night’s Oscars was no exception, attracting 13.2 million social interactions, up 197% from last year’s event, according to data from Trendrr. This makes it the third most social TV event on the year, behind the Super Bowl (52 million) and the Grammys (17 million). According to early Nielsen numbers, the show scored a 19% increase over year’s Academy Awards ratings.

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The award show that has helped launch the careers of Selena, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, and Ricky Martin since its initial telecast, is preparing for its most social broadcast ever. Univision’s 25^th annual “Premio Lo Nuestro” Latin Music Awards has secured Honda, Chevrolet, L’Oréal Paris, McDonald’s and Old Navy, and T-Mobile USA  as sponsors. Here’s how they’re working with T-Mobile to make the awards the most social broadcast yet. Read more

When CBS exec Jack Sussman was asked why the Grammys broadcast is taped-delayed again this year, he said all the chatter on social media gives West Coast viewers “another reason to want to watch.” And it looks like he was right: last night’s Grammy Awards pulled in its second-highest ratings numbers in 20 years — last year’s Whitney Houston tribute still holds the top spot — while generating more than 14 million tweets, according to Twitter. Read more

The third annual Streamy Awards is set to take place next Sunday, February 17^th. Better know as the Streamys, the awards show honors excellence in original online programming and those behind it. “Comic/actor/writer/composer/Wired Magazine contributor/Talking Dead host and founder of Nerdist Industries” Chris Hardwick will host the show, which will take place at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Read more

Twitter is partnering with Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on the “Twitter Oscars Index,” which will be tracking talk of nominees on the social service leading up to and during the live telecast. Twitter’s head of TV Fred Graver explains the tracker in a post on Twitter’s media site:
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Last week Univision aired the 13th Annual Latin Grammy Awards. The network has continued to expand their investment in social TV and their strategizing continues to pay off. “As part of its social engagement efforts, Univision ranked as the No. 1 broadcast network with social TV activity with the Latin GRAMMY Awards as the second most popular broadcast, followed by the green carpet special ‘Noche de Estrellas’ on November 15,” according to the network. Additionally, “‘Noche de Estrellas’ outperformed the ‘BET Awards 2012 Pre-Show,’ the live from the red carpet shows for the Academy Awards, as well as ‘GRAMMY’s on E!,’” according to Trendrr. Here are the full details. Read more