In 2008, we learned the power of social media during the Presidential election. And, in 2010, we’re learning how Facebook can reignite Betty White’s television career.
It all started when 29-year-old David Matthews created a Facebook page called “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!”. The page was started to encourage Saturday Night Live producers to consider 88-year old Betty White to host the show, as she has never done so during the course of her long entertainment career.
500,000 fans later, and a letter to SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels, and Betty is now scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on Mother’s Day weekend! In an USA Today article, Lorne Michaels states that he’s always wanted Betty White to host. In fact she’s turned the offer down three times in the past.
This time was different—and I have to imagine its because she couldn’t let down half a million fans cheering her on from the internet.
Betty’s Facebook fans couldn’t be more delighted. They are lighting up the Facebook page’s “Wall” with comments counting down to Betty’s episode of SNL–“We Love You, Betty;” “You go, Betty;” “One Week Away!” …Who knew that Betty White was becoming such a pop culture phenomenon? I suppose we should have seen it coming with her recent Snicker’s Bar commercial that first aired during this year’s Super Bowl, which has now had an astronomical 1.6 million views on YouTube alone.
In the SNL promo video for next weekend’s show, Betty White proclaims “Thanks to the internet, I’m hosting Saturday Night Live.” An interesting case study indeed, for the power of social media. Now lets see what it can do for World Peace!
I can assure you that I’ll be watching along with the other 500,000 Facebook fans. I’ve never heard of a Facebook revolution quite like this one–impressive to say the least!
I’ve only watched 1-2 episodes of SNL this season, but I’m making sure to catch next week’s show. I hope the writers come up with some funny sketches for her.
Maybe next year SNL can have two of my favorites from the old Carol Burnett Show: Tim Conway and Carol Burnett, herself. I’ve got to make this happen!
I love your blog post and I LOVE Betty White! The Snickers commercial always cracks me up. This is a great example of the power of social media and how persuasive it can be when enough fans come together on an issue. I like your ending comment about world peace. I believe we can change the world one Facebook group at a time!
I love Betty White (grew up with the Golden Girls)! I knew there was a lot of “buzz” about Betty recently but I had no idea how it all got started. I’m going to have to check out Betty’s Facebook site.