Chapter 2
Social TV Guides
Curating Social Media for Content Discovery
After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Las Vegas, world wrestling fanatic Brandon Stratton moved to Austin, Texas, to begin his new career as a professional chef. Brandon first got into Twitter while promoting his fine dining restaurant. The 36-year-old long-haired, tattoo-sporting husband and father recently opened Sputnik, a traditional burger and hot dog joint in the hipster East 6th Street area of the city.
In lieu of a chef’s coat, Brandon cooks his culinary masterpieces wearing death metal t-shirts and jeans. While his passion for sharing good food and love of the extreme side of music may seem like an unusual combination, Brandon built up a community on Twitter (despite his early doubts about the usefulness of the platform) of like-minded chefs who use the hashtag #foodporndeathsquad that Brandon created. Although he is (figuratively) strapped to his restaurant’s kitchen for 12 hours at a time, when he does go home, Brandon is a TV junkie—one who is now addicted to engaging on the Twitter backchannel while watching his favorite shows, which include The First 48, True Blood, Dexter, and The Walking Dead.
One night in 2011, while Brandon was catching the latest broadcast of WWE Monday Night Raw, he noticed a tweet on the backchannel from former WWE writer and producer David Lagana (@Lagana). David’s tweet contained a link to SocialGuide, an online television guide powered by the ...
