Guide to U.S. Election on TV and Social

Today’s presidential election in the United States will go down in history as the first social media election. We won’t know until the numbers are crunched and the research is completed just how much a part social media actually played in activating voters for specific candidates, but what we do know right now is that this election is all over the social networks.  Following is a roundup of broadcast coverage with social media links and LinkedIn profiles for executives of note on each of these efforts.

CBS
Coverage starts at 7 p.m., and will utilize eight studios in the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, including Studio 57, the newest studio and the home of “CBS This Morning” CBS News will also present breaking news via Twitter (@cbsnews) and its Facebook page (facebook.com/cbsnews). CBSNews.com will live-stream the network’s.

Names to know:
Anthony Salvanto, CBS News’ director of elections
[www.linkedin.com/pub/anthony-m-salvanto/8/103/154].

NBC
Coverage starting at 7 p.m. — NBC will live-stream its coverage on various platforms http://www.nbcnews.com/ and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553/ns/politics/ , theGrio.com, NBCLatino.com and on Facebook (facebook.com/nbcnews). Will use Zeebox and NBC News Xbox app and the Xbox dashboard. In person, NBC “Democracy Plaza” takeover of Rockefeller Center. http://electiongrams.com/

Names to know:
NBC elections director Sheldon Gawiser,
Mark Lukasiewicz, senior vice president of specials for NBC News
[www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-lukasiewicz/3/93/4a5]

ABC
Coverage starts at 7 p.m. — Katie Couric (@katiecouric) monitors social media and a separate live stream, anchored by Dan Harris, will be shown on ABC and partner Yahoo’s websites. ABC’s election coverage will originate live from ABC News Election Headquarters in Times Square, where ABC News will post real-time election results on several screens.

ABC News Digital platforms will provide live, anchored coverage of Election Night 2012 across ABC News digital and social platforms includingABCNews.com, Yahoo!, Yahoo! News, GoodMorningAmerica.com, ABC News’ iPad & iPhone apps, ABC News affiliate websites, as well as the YouTube Elections Hub. Social Analysis powered by Yahoo!‘s The Signal in partnership with Attensity.

Names to know:
Marc Burstein, senior executive producer, ABC News Special Events
[www.linkedin.com/pub/marc-burstein/45/879/a5]

CNN
Coverage starts at 6 p.m., CNN is sponsoring “Election Night in America,” an event  on the corner of 47th Street and Broadway in New York City, open to the public beginning at 4 p.m. ET on a first-come, first-served basis. CNN’s coverage will be projected on three jumbo screens, and users can share their Election Day stories via iReport, play election trivia and create mementoes at the social media-enabled photo booth on-site. CNN-branded food carts will serve coffee, hot chocolate, pretzels and hot dogs to attendees. @CNNPolitics on Twitter and the hashtag #CNNElection.

Names to know:
Sam Feist, CNN Washington bureau chief
[http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sam-feist/13/a9b/351]
Steve Brusk ‏ @stevebruskCNN  Coverage Manager, CNN Political Unit
[www.linkedin.com/pub/steve-brusk/1/76/364].

PBS
Coverage started at 8 a.m., with the website moving to a special Election Day homepage. Our team will also be posting photos and capturing the day’s news in multiple social media streams, using the hashtagt #pbselection. As election results come in, the NewsHour’s embeddableDigital Map Center will be continuously updated http://election2012.npr.org/bigboard/president.html

Fox News Channel
Coverage starts at 6 p.m. — Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly are co-anchors for Fox News Channel’s coverage, with analysis from Chris Wallace and Brit Hume. Bill O’Reilly and Greta Van Susteren will appear, the latter assigned to interview Sarah Palin throughout the evening. Fox broadcasting network has Shepard Smith anchoring its coverage. Fox Business Network coverage coverage will be anchored by Neil Cavuto with Stuart Varney and Lou Dobbs. Anchor Jenna Lee [@jennafnc]analyzes Twitter data live.

Associated Press — http://bigstory.ap.org/topic/election-2012
Names to know
David Pace, the AP’s news editor for elections and special projects.

Other channels
HootSuite http://hootsuite.com/2012-election-command-center

Bing http://www.bing.com/elections with strategic partnerships with Twitter and Facebook for social sentiment analysis across key election issues. Mike Nichols, corporate vice president, Bing.

Twitter lists http://www.geeksugar.com/Who-Follow-Twitter-Politics-25763281

Great Twitter Lists
https://twitter.com/HuffPostPol/election-day-night-2012/members

STVD Editor Mo Krochmal’s Real-Time Social Media Election Dashboard
http://www.webdoc.com/documents/C5107866-1390-0001-1163-6EF01C401AAA