social networking helps late night tv shows

in this article, the writer discusses how use of social networks can boost a celebrity's popularity. Take for example, Jimmy Fallon, who is apparently a twitter fanatic. Since he started using it and keeping in touch with his audience, his viewship has gone way up. The article goes on to suggest that mainstream media has started to become dictated by social media:

"It is no longer mainstream media that must validate social media, but rather social media that is influencing what we see in mainstream channels...'media is increasingly becoming an echo of social media, allowing YouTube’s masses to define what matters (Susan Boyle, the Domino’s Pizza scandal) and mirroring that public sentiment,”'

here;s the link: http://mashable.com/2009/05/31/late-night-tv/

The article also mentioned the Nielsen rating of online shows which I find very interesting since so many of us don't really watch tv on tv. Also, this whole social media popularity influencing mainstream media not only happens on twitter, I know I have started watching tv shows because i enjoy some of the actor's blogs and their sense of humor (I will forever watch anything that Mindy Kaling is on not because i love the office but because I read her blog and feel more related to her)
This also reminded of the time when Stephen Colbert urged viewers to vandalize wikipedia (it's kind of the opposite of what the first article describes but I though it was interesting) http://spring.newsvine.com/_news/2006/08/01/307864-stephen-colbert-causes-chaos-on-wikipedia-gets-blocked-from-site, in the end I think colbert got banned from wikipedia.