By Rajani Baburajan
TMCnet Contributor
MTV and ZYNC from American Express (News – Alert) announced a nationwide search and competition to fill a new innovative and pioneering job opportunity to serve as the first-ever MTV TJ ‘Twitter Jockey.’
The contest “Follow Me: The Search for the first MTV TJ ” kicked off on June 14. The contest will see 20 social media enthusiasts compete head-to-head in Twitter challenges. Of these 18 candidates will be selected on the basis of their unique voice, passion for music and pop culture, as well as their social media activities. The search will culminate with a live televised finale on August 8, when the MTV viewing audience will choose the winning candidate from the final five, the company said. The winner will become the brand new face and voice for MTV across social media platforms, including MTV.com, to expand the two-way dialog between MTV and its global audience across social media platforms, the company said. The MTV TJ will be based at MTV’s global headquarters in New York City. Unlike a typical MTV VJ who follows a one-way dialog format in reporting music and pop culture-related news to the audience, the MTV TJ will actively engage MTV’s hyper-social audience answering their questions, amplifying their interests, doling out behind-the-scenes information, cool links and exclusive media across MTV.com, Twitter, Facebook (News – Alert), blogs and in 30-second sponsored on-air interstitials. MTV is mining social media networks, including posting the job via MTV’s Twitter and Facebook pages, to identify and select the candidates. MTV will announce 18 candidates at zyncmtv.com. The public will also have an opportunity to nominate their choices via the ZYNC Card Facebook page, for the two remaining candidate slots. Candidates can nominate themselves and other Twitter users via www.zync.mtv.com or the ZYNC Card Facebook page from June 14. Nominations will close on June 27. MTV will select two of these candidates and add them to the 18 candidates already selected, bringing the total to 20 candidates. The competition officially starts at MTV.com on July 7. After five challenges, four candidates will advance to the finals, with one remaining slot to be voted on by fans via the ZYNC Card Facebook community and announced on July 21. The competition will switch to television for the finale on August 8 from 10 – 11 pm. The final five candidates will square off live on the air in a series of elimination rounds. Only two candidates will move on and then make one last plea to the MTV audience, who will then text vote for the winner. The MTV TJ will begin work immediately, reporting for the first high-profile assignment at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on September 12. “Follow Me: The Search for the first MTV TJ” comes on the heels of the official launch of the ZYNC Card, American Express’ newest Charge Card designed for people who want a Card to fit their lifestyle. The ZYNC Card allows Cardmembers to customize their Card by adding optional bundles of benefits called Packs, which offer additional rewards and benefits in specific passion areas, such as music, fashion, giving back and many more.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Juliana Kenny
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