Guaranteed Social Media Success for CNBC

At The Motley Fool, we (the marketing team) watch CNBC constantly. When we moved to our new office last summer, we switched over to their “HD+” channel. It was a little disappointing — I was excited to watch Cramer in all his hi-def glory, but quickly realized their HD feed is actually pathetic standard def with an info sidebar on the right side (see pic).

As you can see, the sidebar is filled with current quotes and historical data — all important information for people following the market. However, if you think about it, it’s a complete waste of space.

The thing is: all the data that is shown on the right hand side of the screen is repetitive. Currency info and indices information is all available on the top of the CNBC screen on a rotating basis. Also, the historical info is something that can be easily found through Google or Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, or even the iPhone stocks app. In my opinion, it really doesn’t add much value for the amount of space it takes up on the screen.

In a world where information equals profits, CNBC could easily use this space to track what the community is talking about at any given point. They could pull in StockTwits about the companies that are being discussed at that given moment, monitor the #CNBC discussion thread on Twitter or start a Facebook page where (similar to CNN’s coverage of Michael Jackson’s memorial concert or the Inauguration) people could comment in real-time about the market or CNBC’s coverage, or even pull in YouTube videos that viewers create to comment on the day’s events (and put the audio on the SAP channel).

If news organizations are looking for ways to stay relevant, a simple mantra comes to mind: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Old-school news coverage is quickly being eclipsed by real-time community reporting. With this simple change in its sidebar, CNBC could take a major step toward joining the “new world” while providing more complete and interesting coverage for its viewers. Seems like a much better call then what they have now.