It is September 8, 2009 and I’m standing in line at 30 Rockefeller Plaza with my ticket in hand ready to go into a live taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (back from a 2-week summer hiatus). His guests today are Elijah Wood, Taraji P. Henson (@tarajihenson) and musical guest John Fogerty (john_fogerty). I’m pumped. My assignment (given to me by anonymous boss) is:

“Find out how easy it is for an audience member at a talk show taping (such as myself) to document what they see in social media real-time, as the show is being taped. And don’t get caught.”

As I stand here patiently waiting to be let inside, I fumble with my cell phone. This is when an NBC Page (responsible for monitoring the audience and who looks just a few years younger than myself – I’m 24) walks up to me and gives me the following ultimatum (and I paraphrase):

“Either put your cell phone away, or I’ll take it.”

I smile reassuringly to let him know that I will not be much trouble and put the phone in my satchel. He walks away.

A few moments later, a higher-up comes out into the hallway and tells us that cell phones and cameras are not to be used and that, if we break the rules, we risk having them taken away until the end of the show. A few women behind me mumble obscenities. In my mind, I echo similar sentiments. Threatening to take a person’s cell phone is harsh (and actually would start a knife-fight in certain seedier parts of town). It seems a rather strict policy considering that, these days, cell phones are so common for literally everyone to be carrying (it’s right up there with your house keys and your ID – never leave home without it). But, whatever, those are the rules. So I will follow them.

Later, when I am in my seat and Jimmy’s monologue gets rolling, I jot down a few notes in my trusty note-pad, which the higher management and NBC Pages neglected to say anything about in the hallway. As soon as I begin to write down something that I found particularly funny about Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) and Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton), a pretty blonde Page instantly appears and stares at me. As an automatic response, I put it away. She says nothing and walks away.

A few minutes later, I take the note pad out again. The blonde Page is back. This time, she says, “If I see you with it again, I am taking it.” I put the pad away again — annoyed that the man next to me who has been plugging away on his Blackberry does not face the same prosecution. Leave it to the universe to restore balance – later in the show the man’s Blackberry was taken by the blonde Page. Once senses that his entire reason for being was temporarily stunted the moment his Blackberry was jacked by NBC.

The question then becomes: What harm can a note pad or cell phone really do? After all, these are not government secrets we’re talking about here. It’s a talk show. The epitome of harmless, family-fun tv. Well, I am guessing that in the eyes of the broadcast networks, a lot. If a show’s content is leaked before the show is aired, that means that the topics at hand (and any deliciously viral-worthy spontaneous moments – like William Shatner (@williamshatner) giving Conan the middle-finger weeks ago) will be discussed online in social media before the show airs that night. In the eye’s of the networks, this is tantamount to ratings suicide — or so they fear.

The networks believe that if certain information hits the internet before it sees the light of day, people will not want to see the real action for themselves later that night on the show. But is this fear rational in a day and age where even the talk show hosts (like Jimmy Fallon) tweet their thoughts and their every move throughout the day to millions of followers on Twitter and Facebook (these same people who flock to watch the live tapings of their shows)? Isn’t this fear of losing control of their content the very reason they are losing control of their content?

Though I’d personally like to think that the networks are looking out for our best interest by squelching the voice of the blogger and over-zealous average folks who want to share their experiences now, because it will ruin the surprise for us viewers when we watch the shows on tv, sadly, this is not the case. The grim truth has to do with profit margins, advertisers and a crumbling business model that leaves networks with less control over their content than they every imagined would’ve been possible just five years ago.

The big networks are incredibly aware that the age of information is in full swing. Social media is the “Love Boat” of the communications and entertainment high seas. The broadcast networks (combined) is the Titanic. Based on Hollywood’s reaction to real-time reviews of movies from movie-goers who tweet their opinions of films while they’re watching them (particularly if they don’t like the movie), Hollywood knows their content-controlling days are numbered.

We have a million portals and devices to transmit information. There are dozens of social media sites that funnel the real-time thoughts and shared information of millions of people worldwide. Jimmy Fallon alone has almost two million followers on Twitter and he constantly preaches the glory of social media and technology. Is it realistic for broadcast networks, in this day and age, to believe that they can stop people from doing the very thing we have all (young and old) become conditioned to do: express our thoughts about events to our friends in real-time?

Why make it difficult for us civilians to share something funny, fascinating or scandalous from their shows with our friends (ironically using the very gadgets they solicit for big advertising dollars but wish to confiscate)? That should, in actuality, make you want to see the original show later that night all the more (not less). Is there no middle ground (and if there is, why can’t they find it). Is the ship really sunk… already?

As I sit here in the Jimmy Fallon studio audience, there are a million NBC Pages swarming around at all times, like an army of ants at a picnic (Obama has less security). Determined and trained like mercenaries in a South American army, all that it takes to send them into combat action is your cell phone, your camera or, in my case, my note pad. All of these eyes constantly surveying us makes one feel incredibly intimidated. I decide that the anxiety level due to their surveillance is too much for even me (a young guy with a tough exterior) to handle – I don’t even attempt to take any more notes. It was all too tiring and too threatening (and the thought of losing my cell phone – even to a pretty blonde – was more than I could bare). In the end, I was outnumbered and broken by a gang of NBC Pages. But at least I was better-off than the poor sap who had his Blackberry taken from him by a girl a tacky uniform.

So, unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you that Elijah Wood taught Jimmy Fallon a new drinking game, called Beer Pole, or that funny joke about Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton, or that John Fogherty and his band kicked ass. At least not while I was there, in real-time.

All of this considered, however, I did end up completing my assignment. I found out how hard (and potentially damaging to your phsycological well-being) it is as an audience member to blog talk show content in real-time to your friends in social media. The answer is, very.

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