Liz Gannes

Recent Posts by Liz Gannes

The Socialized and Appified Oscars

It’s not just that movie about social networking that will be featured at this weekend’s Oscars. There are also social media and mobile app tie-ins up the wazoo. Here’s a sampling of what’s up for the big night:

Fans can tweet and Facebook post their way into the pre-show ABC red-carpet coverage by asking questions of @TheAcademy on Twitter or going to the TheAcademy Facebook page. A start-up called Mass Relevance is helping filter the questions for hosts Robin Roberts, Tim Gunn, Krista Smith and Maria Menounos.

(Facebook itself, which often hosts its own red carpet live chats for similar events, will not have a company presence at the Oscars.)

The official ABC Oscar Backstage Pass app for Apple devices costs $0.99 and gives viewers additional live camera angles from the red carpet, backstage and the after party. For $4.99 you can get additional content on the Web, like a “360 cam” to assess attendees’ ball gowns and tuxes from all angles.

E!’s Live From the Red Carpet for iPhone and Android carries the network’s coverage of special events like the Academy Awards.

If you want to remind yourself of all the contenders, YouTube has compiled the trailers here. The most-watched best picture nominee trailer was “Toy Story 3,” with 15 million views.

If you need some virtual validation on Sunday evening, check-in to receive stickers from GetGlue for tuning into E!, Oscars.com and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Jimmy Kimmel is also releasing one of his celeb-studded made-to-go-viral videos on his post-Oscars episode. Here’s a preview of “Hottie Body Humpilates”:

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I think the NSA has a job to do and we need the NSA. But as (physicist) Robert Oppenheimer said, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you’ve had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”

— Phil Zimmerman, PGP inventor and Silent Circle co-founder, in an interview with Om Malik