MTV's Kristen Frank believes that Beyonce cupping her belly ahead of the Video Music Awards provided the perfect opportunity to display how far social networking is changing our world.
Singer Beyonce's subtle indication that she was pregnant ahead of an on-stage announcement swept across social networks like Twitter and Facebook, with an MTV tweet providing a picture of the event.
Speaking at IPTV World Forum, Frank explained that big TV broadcasts are increasingly social events, and outlined how the so-called millennial generation were asking for even more interactivity.
"We had someone from our social scene take a picture [of Beyonce's pregnant pause] and post it up before anyone and cement that moment into pop culture history," said Frank.
"Within minutes we had news alerts, SEO and SEM campaigns and we started to tailor content made for each social platform meant to build on the event."
Most tweeted
That led to the VMAs becoming, for a time, the most tweeted event of all time, with 9,000 tweets per second at its peak.
Frank believes that children born in the late '80s and '90s - the millennial generation - are an increasingly demanding audience, used to getting more interaction.
"These guys have high self-esteem and a voice that is heard. They are super educated and have superior tech know-how.
"This generation is poised to be the most transformative force the world has ever seen."
