"Social media is critical to PBS," Kevin Dando, the network's director of digital marketing and communications, told ReadWriteWeb. "With public media and social media, there is a huge symmetry between those two worlds. It's very important to us to make sure that people who could be interested in a program on TV or online know about it."

PBS has built a solid online following, amassing over 400,000 fans on Facebook, and over half of a million followers on Twitter. Dando says that the thousands of comments and mentions PBS receives online each day has grown significantly thanks to promotions like GetGlue stickers.

"We want to be smartly ubiquitous," he says, adding that the growing popularity of mobile apps has helped significantly.

"Once these companies - including GetGlue - started having mobile apps, we started seeing many more mentions of people watching our programs," says Dando. "We want to make it easier for people to have engaging conversations about our programs and to be able - if they wish - to collect stickers and badges."

Research has shown that when we watch TV these days, we are often engaging in a "second screen" experience. I know I am guilty of plopping down on my couch to watch my favorite shows on TV with my laptop or smartphone (or both) along for the ride. It's no surprise then that many broadcast networks have flocked to social media as a means of engaging with viewers and attracting new audiences.

The challenge to these networks is deciding which shows will gain the most traction through social media. PBS has been pleased with its results on GetGlue and is now throwing as much as it can at the service to see what sticks. The network is also in talks with other social check-in apps to launch similar promotions this fall which Dando says "people will be impressed with."

Those familiar with GetGlue on the Web or on their phones will find the iPad app very familiar. As one would expect, the app lets you check-in to the service's 8 standard categories - music, movies, TV shows, books, games, wine, topics and celebrities. The added screen size of the iPad lets you more efficiently like, rate and comment on items without leaving each screen by utilizing pop-ups and overlays.

The startup hopes these overlays will encourage social interaction on the app as people enjoy things like movies and TV shows. The overlays, which will be familiar to users of the Twitter for iPad app, allow users to chat and discuss the media they are consuming with their friends and contacts in real-time - a practice that has many broadcast channels and movie studios excited.

Stickers from Glee, Dexter, TWiT and More

So excited, in fact, that many have refreshed their campaigns for special GetGlue stickers, which users can collect by watching and checking into shows and events. FOX has agreed to promote its wildly popular show Glee, long-running hit Bones, as well as a pair of new shows - Raising Hope and Lone Star - with special GetGlue Stickers.

HBO is running a unique campaign that rewards users for checking into each new episode of its anticipated series Boardwalk Empire. If users watch each episode on its debut night in succession, they will "level up" and earn a special sticker at the end of the season. Other shows and movies announcing campaigns include Showtime's Dexter, PBS' NOVA and Charlie Rose, Universal Pictures' upcoming releases Catfish and Devil, and Leo Laporte's TWiT podcast network.

According to GetGlue's Fraser Kelton, media networks have been impressed by the results their sticker campaigns have garnered, attracting them back again for expanded programs.

"Within 5 minutess of True Blood airing 2 weeks ago, 5,000 fans concurrently checked-in with an estimated reach of about 1 million people on Twitter," says Kelton. "The benefit of having trusted recommendations coming out from friends and reaching that number of people is a huge win for them."

Kelton adds that shows and movies that run sticker promotions on GetGlue see far better engagement from the platform compared to those that don't. While this is to be expected, it is evidence that the social check-in platform is a viable market for advertising campaigns from big brands, stations, and studios.

We invite you to enjoy some tex-mex, margaritas and live music with us! Also you'll network with the smart, cool people attending SXSW from ReadWriteWeb, PBS, NPR, Frontline, ITVS and Futurestates. This event is free to attend for all SXSW Interactive or Film badge holders.

Nicole Atkins & The Black Sea

Band of Skulls

SXSW attendees, calendar this event and let everyone know you are coming on Facebook and on Plancast.

When, Where and How to Get There

When: Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 9:00pm until Monday, March 15, 2010 at 1:00am
Where: SXSW, Austin City Limits @ KLRU Studios

Shuttle buses will run throughout the night between the Austin Hilton (5th street entrance) and KLRU.

Editor's note: This story is part of a series we call Redux, where we'll re-publish some of our best posts of 2009. As we look back at the year - and ahead to what next year holds - we think these are the stories that deserve a second glance. It's not just a best-of list, it's also a collection of posts that examine the fundamental issues that continue to shape the Web. We hope you enjoy reading them again and we look forward to bringing you more Web products and trends analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb!

In an age when gross-out sites like goatse are just a click away, a number of services offer parents the information they need to find quality online entertainment. While past generations were raised on unfiltered television and video games, today's parent take a more active role in the process of media consumption.

AOL's PlaySavvy: PlaySavvy is another site that offers parents a chance to check out age-appropriate kids games. Similar to What They Play, this site lists the ESRB ratings next to games and information is categorized by topic and gaming system. Products for console favorites like Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii are often featured on the site. AOL also offers parents daily articles and a section to view the most popular games.

Parents' Choice: Established in 1978, this site is run by the Parents' Choice Foundation - a nonprofit organization that offers awards to the top children's media and toys. Some of the award categories include websites, video games, DVDs, software, television programming and toys. This site definitely skews towards narrative-based educational materials. If your kid has a shorter attention span, you might want to visit PBS Kids instead.

Common Sense Media: Common Sense media is a nonprofit organizations dedicated to offering parents reviews and suggestions on appropriate content. The group produces movie, website, TV, game, book and music ratings as well as a number of educational tools for classroom use. The site can be personalized for kids between the ages of 2-17 years old and it's available in English and Spanish. This site tends to weigh the benefits of mainstream media sites.

PBS KIDS Island: This site offers parents reading resources, videos and games in English and Spanish. While the majority of the content is best queued up by a parent or teacher, the videos are of particularly high quality and completely commercial free.

National Geographic for Kids: This site offers kid-friendly games, videos, stories and activities for nature lovers. The same photography that has made National Geographic a hit with grownups is likely to please kids. Not surprisingly, the video content is equally compelling. Discovery Kids offers a similar experience and is a great site for visual learners.

Totlol: Totlol is a parent-moderated version of YouTube. The site offers video options specifically designed for children and even offers "age optimized interfaces" to ensure that kids of different ages get the most appropriate content. In 2008, ReadWriteWeb covered Totlol's beta launch. As of today the site charges a $3 per month subscription fee or $54 until your child grows up.

Photo Credit:Swaminathan

While I'm willing to admit here that I went to yearbook camp and computer camp as a kid, this one might take the cake as far as camps that don't include S'mores and Kumbaya go.

The organizers hope this was the start of a series of "unconferences" for public media outlets around the country, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Public Media Camp is the latest in a slew of events and projects pushing the public media agenda forward on the Web.

Recently, NPR gathered its executives, including CEO Vivian Schiller, in San Francisco to meet with Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs and funders. The Columbia Journalism Review reported on the conference, called NPR Digital Think In. And the ongoing Engage project at PBS, funded by the Knight Foundation, is creating social media tools for PBS stations and producers, such as a chat series with PBS personalities and a map showcasing projects at stations around the country.

"In many communities, public broadcasters are among the few news outlets that are weathering the financial crisis intact. As more news outlets close due to economic pressures, our public service mission is going to be more important than ever, creating a powerful opportunity to provide accountability journalism at both the local and national level," Carvin says.

Having been a part of many of these projects, I'm excited to see the changes that have happened in the public media sphere online, from the This American Life/Planet Money collaboration taking on a life of its own, to CPB 2008's collection of election projects like Video Your Vote and Twitter VoteReport.

Some of the most exciting projects happening in public media include:

Local Aggregation Sites

The Economy Project at the University of Missouri and Public Media Texas are two new local public media sites that are aggregating stories using blogging software and encouraging public participation in the news conversation at the local level. WBUR's Commonhealth blog covers health care issues in Massachusetts by tapping doctors, lawmakers and citizens to help report. And WNYC's Brian Lehrer show is crowdsourcing "Uncommon Economic Indicators" - from the price of pizza to for-rent signs.

Economy Coverage

Covering the economy is a major focus of public media this year. Station and producer projects are drawing a line between local and national coverage in new ways. EconomyStory.org aims to collect these stories and feature exciting new projects from around the country, and EconomyBeat.org features user-generated content about the economy.

PBS NewsHour's Patchwork Nation map incorporates statistics and stories from 12 types of communities around the country and compares how they are coping with various economic issues.

Facing the Mortgage Crisis asks users to share their experiences in dealing with foreclosure and other recent real-estate woes, as well as provides community resources to help cope. A variety of public stations nationwide are involved in this project at a local level.

NPR's Social Media Guidelines for Reporters

This list, released last week, includes concerns about expressing political views online and how reporters should present themselves on Twitter and Facebook. It's a great starting point for other organizations concerned about similar issues. Carvin says that while NPR reporters are using online tools more and more, it still can be a challenge.

"The one thing I never do is show up and insist that they use a particular tool simply because lots of other people are using it," he says. "People are often resistant to learning new tools simply because they don't seem relevant to them, so you need to figure out with them what may or may not be relevant."

Guest author: Laura Hertzfeld is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles. She has worked in public media in several capacities, including her current role as managing editor of EconomyStory.org, a Public Radio Exchange (PRX.org) project aggregating public media coverage of the economy. She previously produced PBS.org's coverage of the 2008 presidential election.

AOL's PlaySavvy: PlaySavvy is another site that offers parents a chance to check out age-appropriate kids games. Similar to What They Play, this site lists the ESRB ratings next to games and information is categorized by topic and gaming system. Products for console favorites like Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii are often featured on the site. AOL also offers parents daily articles and a section to view the most popular games.

Parents' Choice: Established in 1978, this site is run by the Parents' Choice Foundation - a nonprofit organization that offers awards to the top children's media and toys. Some of the award categories include websites, video games, DVDs, software, television programming and toys. This site definitely skews towards narrative-based educational materials. If your kid has a shorter attention span, you might want to visit PBS Kids instead.

Common Sense Media: Common Sense media is a nonprofit organizations dedicated to offering parents reviews and suggestions on appropriate content. The group produces movie, website, TV, game, book and music ratings as well as a number of educational tools for classroom use. The site can be personalized for kids between the ages of 2-17 years old and it's available in English and Spanish. This site tends to weigh the benefits of mainstream media sites.

PBS KIDS Island: This site offers parents reading resources, videos and games in English and Spanish. While the majority of the content is best queued up by a parent or teacher, the videos are of particularly high quality and completely commercial free.

National Geographic for Kids: This site offers kid-friendly games, videos, stories and activities for nature lovers. The same photography that has made National Geographic a hit with grownups is likely to please kids. Not surprisingly, the video content is equally compelling. Discovery Kids offers a similar experience and is a great site for visual learners.

Totlol: Totlol is a parent-moderated version of YouTube. The site offers video options specifically designed for children and even offers "age optimized interfaces" to ensure that kids of different ages get the most appropriate content. In 2008, ReadWriteWeb covered Totlol's beta launch. As of today the site charges a $3 per month subscription fee or $54 until your child grows up.

Photo Credit:Swaminathan

In total, the new portal will feature about 130 episodes from 20 shows, and PBS promises to add more shows and episodes over the next few weeks. PBS also plans to make PBS Video the clearinghouse for shows from local affiliates.

In some ways, the interface resembles ABC's streaming video player, with a substantial dose of Hulu thrown in for good measure. PBS does not allow users to embed any of its shows on other sites, which is quite a shame. This is probably a compromise PBS had to make in order to be allowed to put these shows up on the Internet in the first place.

Sadly, the user interface isn't always very user intuitive. Every show, for example, is presented as a deck of cards, which looks cool, but which would be almost impossible to work with if it wasn't for a standard, text-based table of shows at the bottom of the page. Most shows open with standard pre-roll ads from PBS sponsors. The site also features links to these sponsors, as well as links to local PBS stations, where viewers can make donations.