Oprah's live Facebook show a hit

Friday, September 9, 2011

Oprah's live Facebook show a hit

Friday, September 09, 2011 ANSOR No comments

By Suzanne Choney

Oprah Winfrey got a whole lot more Facebook friends Thursday — not that she needs them, mind you. The longtime TV star, whose enormously popular show went off the air last May, was a huge hit on the huge social networking site for her first live, streaming appearance.a

Even the set for her one-hour appearance resembled a mini-Oprah show, with the audience filled with genuinely enthusiastic fans (Facebook employees, seated in the audience at the company's Palo Alto headquarters), and a global audience watching.a

There was high-tech girl talk, with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg moderating, but it was from the heart, as always.a

Winfrey said just as she had "leveraged" her TV show to do good, she decided to end the show after 25 years and "create a platform on cable, in digital, on people's telephones, wherever they are ... that reaches them in such a way that allows people to be who they were meant to be.a

"That's really my goal, just like Facebook's goal is to connect everybody in the world, my goal is to connect with people and have them see for themselves the greater possibilities of their lives."a

Winfrey admitted starting her own network — called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) — has been the source of some anxiety, and "I feel a little out-of-body some days," but she is happy to be tackling new challenges, even though some people see her and greet her as if a relative just died, saying, "How is it? How's it going?"a

Oprah fans were exuberant at the chance to see Winfrey, even on the small screen. "I loved this interview with Oprah. :)" said Catherine Bialosh, in the comments posted during the live feed. Said another fan, Nasrin Kian, it's "great to see your beautiful face Oprah any where any time."a