Can social media save the video star?  Or at least bring appointment television programming back? 

eMarketer reports that the building in elements to programs that motivate the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook is having a positive impact on live television viewing:

Viewers are using Facebook and Twitter to comment about shows before, during and after they air. Television networks, grappling with the fragmentation of their audience, are experimenting with mobile apps, Twitter promotions and branded social networks in an effort to bring viewers back together. And a variety of other stakeholders are getting in on the social action as well.

“Experimentation still rules the day,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “Socializing the TV Experience.” “There is a great deal of uncertainty about the paths that social media and TV will take, and the extent to which they will converge over time.”

Take a look at the Twitter activity connected to Survivor during 2011 episodes, when the producers began to encourage program talent to live tweet during broadcasts:

Read Social Media Brings New Engagement to TV here.