Newsweek Interviews Tim Geithner Live on Facebook

May 18th, 2009 | by Adam Ostrow

We’ve talked a lot recently about how brands can use Facebookfor engaging with their customers. Today, a glimpse of how media companies can further interact with their audience on Facebook by way of Newsweek, who is using their Page on the social network to broadcast a live interview of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner with Editor Jon Meacham.

The video itself – which is being filmed at the National Press Club – is being delivered by UStream. The Facebook component, however, works just like the Pages of brands. Newsweek has developed a custom tab on their Page that includes the video stream, and under it, is allowing Facebook users to leave comments.

Further, like the updates that brands push out to their fans, Newsweek’s message that they’re interviewing the Treasury Secretary is visible to the magazine’s fans on Facebook via their homepage.

As Justin Smith notes, this interview likely appeals to a “slightly different demographic than your ‘traditional’ Facebook user.” And Newsweek seems like a relative newcomer to Facebook, sporting only a bit more than 3,000 fans.

But it’s yet another example of how big brands are using Facebook Pages to connect with customers, and how we’ll increasingly see applications integrated to make Pages not just a medium for broadcasting messages, but also destination sites for providing content and interaction.

via Newsweek Interviews Tim Geithner Live on Facebook.