CNN's HLN to relaunch as "cable news network for the social media generation"

Xeni Jardin 12:15 pm Thu Feb 13, 2014

Here we go! We’re turning @HLNTV into a network made for and by the social media generation. Join us! http://t.co/by2AqVOwab #HLN

— Albie Hecht (@AlbieHechtHLN) February 10, 2014

Buzzfeed has a piece on CNN's Headline News relaunch under new chief Albie Hecht. The revamped channel promises to be "cable news for the social media generation." That's interesting, but one thing I don't get: the social media generation isn't watching anything on television.

It's all about laptops and mobile devices, and I'm not sure what value-add HLN can contribute to the native flow of memes and viral ephemera.

But who knows. A friend of Boing Boing has been tapped as an advisor in this new venture, and he's about as smart as it gets in this space. So I am highly skeptical, but prepared to be wrong.

From the Buzzfeed piece:

“Younger consumers have a very different perception of what news and information is,” said Hecht. “For them, news is really made in the palm of their hands, in the iPhone prayer position. But they want every update in real time and nonstop and that’s the space that is not on TV. Our headlines are going to be ripped from social media.”

Here's a skeptical blog post at HuffPo.

I'm very concerned about what will become of Nancy Grace. Sneering at her unbridled mania is one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

nancygrace

This is the HLN we know and love.

Here's the sort of content we might expect from the revamped network:

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