Sep. 25, 2012 at 6:03 PM ET
As if gossip and entertainment mags weren't already trying hard enough to get your attention at the checkout stand, Entertainment Weekly will actually be including a tiny LCD screen with TV network The CW's Twitter feed on it, embedded right in the magazine.
The insert will show a video of CW stars and end with a live view of @CW_Network's Twitter feed — even if the feed is full of negative comments, The CW's Rick Haskins told the New York Times.
It's part of a campaign to promote online discussion of the network's fall lineup; executives and promoters feel sure that seeing content on Twitter increases the likelihood that people will tune in for the show itself.
That goes both ways, too: some shows have taken to including hashtags onscreen and prompting viewers to tweet or post elsewhere about the events of the show. And of course voting by text message is a well-established strategy for viewer interaction, perhaps best exemplified by "American Idol."
It's unlikely that every single issue of Entertainment Weekly will have the video module, since each one likely costs far more than the magazine itself — EW itself has previously limited such inserts to 50,000 in number. Look for the insert in the Oct. 5 edition of the magazine.
Devin Coldewey is acontributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
