TTR Ep 4009: Monty Python celebrate 40 years, Hey Hey it's Saturday reunite, Apple goes Woolworth's over trademark breach, Microsoft launch FREE online protection, ANZ rolls out FREE wifi, New online threats challenge authorities.

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DATE : Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:03:39 +1100
Entered in Database : 2009-10-05 12:03:39
length : 50000000
Link to the Show / Show Notes

Last Tuesday night, Australian’s had the chance to relive some of their childhood and even adolescence with the return of Hey Hey it’s Saturday to free to air TV last week. Hey Hey was Australia’s longest running variety TV show with a 28 year season which, in its infancy, was a Saturday morning 3 hour kids show. In time the show grew to become very popular with all ages, kids and adults alike as what went over the kids heads in the front row, was not missed by the mums and dads sitting on the couch behind them.

Hey Hey eventually moved to a night time spot where it lived for well over a decade until its timely demise in 1999 when it’s 28 year run finally came to an end. Not only was it the end of a TV show most, if not all Australian’s grew up with, it was the virtually the end of live variety TV in Australia. Yes variety lived on, but not in the form of live television. Post Hey Hey variety was in the form of scripted and tightly edited television, the complete opposite of the unscripted, un rehearsed, live TV of the pre 2000 era.

So what has Hey Hey it’s Saturday got to do with technology? Well last Tuesday night when the 3 hour 10 year reunion special aired, social networking added a whole new dimension to live television. Thanks to Twitter, the short messaging social network, Australian’s came together for three hours to interact with the show pushing #heyhey to no1 globally for the three hours the show aired, and it remained in the top 10 for nearly 24 hours after that.

Mainstream media reported “Social media might not have been around when Australia got its first taste of Hey! Hey! It's Saturday, but that didn't stop the show's fans taking to Twitter and Facebook like a Plucka Duck to water last night. Tens of thousands of tweets were posted as Daryl Somers and friends took to the air for part one of their reunion special, with comments from viewers still flooding in this morning at a rate of around one every five seconds.”

So why was Hey Hey so strong on Twitter? Well in a recent report by Neilson Online, Twitter continues to grow in popularity and importance in both the consumer and corporate worlds. No longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real time, it has evolved into an important component of brand marketing. Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month. Facebook followed, growing 228 percent but Twitterers (a.k.a. Tweeters) are not primarily teens or college students as you might expect. In fact, in February the largest age group on Twitter was 35-49; with nearly 3 million unique visitors, comprising almost 42 percent of the site’s audience.

Hey Hey it’s Saturday is scheduled for its final reunion show on October 7. Let’s see if the law of averages stand true, and the Hey Hey hash will again soar to the top of twitters trending topics. My bet is it will be bigger and better than the previous as Australians relive the time when things weren’t so stressful, and life was just that little bit easier.

For the rest of the world wondering what on earth #heyhey is – it’s a little bit of yester-year for us Aussies. It’ll go away in time, but then again, maybe it’s here to stay.

Also on the show this week:

It's been 40 years since Monty Python's Flying Circus aired on TV
Adam looks at Google’s Sidewiki,
Microsoft to give free anti virus to the masses
A bank to roll out free wifi - I wonder which bank it could be and
A warning today of the new online threat set to be a real challenge for authorities.

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