Although it’s been done before, the idea of promoting a hashtag during a show is quickly gaining popularity among the networks. #TheVoice was prominent from the top of show last night, and the promotion seemed to pay off. The hashtag was a top trending topic on Twitter.

Although the show was pre-taped, the judges (@AdamLevine @CeeLoGreen @TheRealXtina @BlakeShelten) and host (@CarsonJDaly) were tweeting during the east/central airing last night and a few of the tweets were shown at the bottom of the screen during the show.

The real potential for breaking new ground? I’m hoping it will be the show’s V-Correspondent, Alison Haislip. Alison actively blogs, tweets and Facebooks pictures, videos and tidbits as both herself and on the official show accounts. It’s similar to what Sarah Haines does for The Today Show…I’m sensing a theme here with NBC and social media. Of course, I’m completely biased on this topic since my current station and previous station are both NBC affiliates (KWWL and KOMU).

Alison only made a quick plug during the premiere show. But I’m hoping that after the auditions when the show moves into a live format, she’ll take on a more prominent and interactive role. At the same time, I’m glad that initially her presence is primarily on the Web and not on-air. There are plenty of shows where correspondents and hosts tweet and Facebook, but I think there’s an opportunity to take things to the next level here.

Typically for TV shows, there’s a team of marketing folks behind all those videos, pictures and comments you see on social networking sites. And I’m sure that Alison still has a team of people backing her up. She obviously had a camera person for her backstage interviews. But I love that they’re giving a face, name and personality to the person who is really driving a lot of this content. And I’m excited to see her role grow throughout the season.

You can look up your address and see how much heat is escaping compared to properties around you. If your home is losing a lot of heat, CFU has tips to help insulate your home that will help save energy and money.

Click here to see the map.

The project is especially timely as this is Earth Week and many of us are especially eco-conscious. Since I live in Waterloo, this map doesn’t help me save energy, but I did buy sulfate-free shampoo yesterday and dropped off my recyclables – so I’m doing my part!

Here’s a link to my post the day we made the switch: http://addins.kwwl.com/blogs/download/2010/04/hd-is-here

Me and some #CVTweetup friends at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank

Everyone in the newsroom knows when it’s a “food bank day,” because I change into jeans and a t-shirt before leaving work so I can go and pack boxes of food and stock the pantry at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. It’s one of my favorite parts of my week!

I think most people would agree that access to food is a basic human right. It’s not optional. We need food to not only survive, but to thrive. The quality and quantity of the food we eat can impact our physical, mental and emotional well-being.

Growing up in east Africa, it was impossible to leave home without seeing hunger. And since moving back to the U.S., I’ve found that hunger is still a serious problem in this community, but it may not always be as visible.

It breaks my heart that something so basic is still such a concern for so many families. And it amazes me how many people fail to realize that we are all just a few missed paychecks away from needing help.

Yesterday, Feeding America released a study and an interactive map documenting hunger in America, called Map the Meal Gap. You can break the statistics down by state, county or areas served by a specific food bank. For example, in the 16 counties served by the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, more than 50,000 people are considered food insecure. And in Black Hawk County alone, it’s estimated that an additional $6.8 million was needed to meet food needs in 2009.

They’re also using the hashtag #mealgap if you want to join the conversation on Twitter.

I was fairly late to the Twitter scene…I joined in 2007 to land grab @jennjarvis, but didn’t start actively tweeting until 2008. Now, like so many other pieces of technology, I can’t imagine life without it.

Here’s a video put together by Twitter to mark this milestone. They asked some celebrity tweeps to talk about why they use Twitter.

Oh, and my very best friend shares a birthday with Twitter, so I have to give her a little shout-out. Happy birthday Janelle!

Live Video streaming by Ustream

This is a live stream of a Geiger counter that is supposedly in Tokyo. As I am writing this, there are more than 11,000 other people watching the pixelated little screen.

I also found this National Radiation Map for the U.S. It’s populated by a live feed from Geiger counters across the U.S. and shows the location of nuclear power stations across the country.

GeigerCounters.com is essentially sold out according to their website.

Verizon and AT&T have waived fees for text donations, as well as text messages and wireless calls to Japan.

At one point this morning I had four separate video streams on my desktop from Japan, Hawaii, Seattle and L.A.

I wanted to compile a few tech related things I’ve run across today.

Donations:
Sprint announced it is waiving text message fees for text donations to the following groups. To donate to the American Red Cross, text REDCROSS to 90999. To donate to the Salvation Army, text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888. I’ve donated to Convoy of Hope, a great organization that my father worked for and that I interned with several years ago. To donate to Convoy of Hope, text TSUNAMI to 50555. AT&T posted a tweet earlier saying it was waiving fees to text donations to the Red Cross, but there has not been an official announcement.

YouTube:
Aside from the compelling video available on every news site in the world, a great source for user-generated content is YouTube’s CitizenTube. Cars floating in the tsunami waves, people screaming and running for cover, and fires with flames and smoke rising towards the sky. A lot of it is disturbing, and beware because it is raw and unedited.

Twitter:
The three most popular hashtags today have been #prayforjapan #tsunami and #japan, although I’ve seen a host of others including #sendai #quake #jpquake

Google:
Google has set up the Google Crisis Response  and the Google Person Finder. The Person Finder is available in 5 languages and currently tracking more than 18,000 records.

Groupon:
Groupon is selling donations of $5, $10 or $25 for the International Medical Corps.

Say hello to the Decorah Eagle cam! This is a live feed of a nest in Decorah. From the screenshots on the Raptor Resource Project website, it looks like there are two eggs in the nest now. And according to Meteorologist Jennifer Hildreth, the eggs should hatch in April.

As I’m typing this, I just heard some screeching by the eagle and switched tabs to see another eagle fly into the nest. The first eagle made some more noise then flew away leaving the first eagle on the nest. I don’t know much about eagles, so I have no idea what happened. But it was pretty cool to catch some action.

But no one has told the story quite so poignantly as three friends in the movie Catfish.

I’m not sure what took me so long, but I finally got around to watching it – on Valentine’s Day actually! And I’m still processing…

If you decide to check out the movie, watch it first then cruise around and check out some of the controversy associated with it. I’m completely intrigued.