It’s one thing to upload only the photos that showcase your most attractive features or selectively tweet links related to your industry, but it’s quite another to publicly over-share the minutiae of your daily life. Too few social media users consciously filter the information they post online – a pattern which MTV Canada’s producers are capitalizing on to capture viewers’ attention in the network’s latest show, Creeps.
MTV used their ever so popular Jersey Shore as the lead-in for Creeps’ series premiere on January 5. Creeps proves that Canadian broadcasters indeed have a knack for creating engaging, interesting and timely original content, as it revolves around the over-sharing trend that we are all too familiar with in 2012.
Each episode examines young Canadians’ social media profiles and introduces viewers to Facebook-aholics and Twitter junkies. For example, in the first episode, we met Rashida James (@thatsSOrara) who has 300+ Twitter followers. In a recent tweet, she admitted she “doesn’t know 90% of the people” appearing in her news feed.
With her bright lip gloss and unmistakable pearly whites, Rashida looks like a teenage cartoon character come to life. As for her real life besties, apparently she has one close friend. “Everyone else is like whatever,” she sassily told the judges on the series premiere.
The amount of information revealed about each contestant on air makes MTV’s disclaimer that the show contains “candid conversations” an understatement. In its premiere alone, there were multiple conversations about racial and gender stereotypes. Likewise, the judges’ brutally honest remarks about the contestants’ online behaviour is not only candid, but also witty, hysterical and often representative of viewers’ interpretations, as confirmed by viewers’ continuous stream of live tweets.
The uber-modern competition show replaces traditional paper cue cards with iPads for the judges to use. Some of the ridiculous things these kids post on line need to be quoted word for word for maximum entertainment value and the Apple tablets help the judges do just that.
The judging panel will continue changing as the series develops, but its most notable judge is Western alumnus and Toronto-based Internet influencer, Lauren O’Neil, who shares my love for social media and wearing red jeans. Creeps offers a unique platform for the UWO journalism grad to share her thoughts about social networking outside of her blog.
To summarize my thoughts about MTV Creeps in fewer than 140 characters…
So far, I don’t intend to follow any of the over-sharers on #mtvcreeps. If you choose to do so, try to keep your maturity intact!
Videos from MTV Creeps are available online for your voyeuristic pleasure.
You can also catch #mtvcreeps live on Tuesdays at 9:30 PM on MTV Canada.