Like a child shaking an Etch A Sketch with both hands, celebrities on Monday’s Emmys red carpet will be shaking a new toy created by Facebook.
Facebook told Mashable that on Aug. 25 it will debut the Facebook Mentions Box, an interactive device that stars will wield to answer questions from fans. It’s similar to the InstaStop Video Q&A Station that Instagram launched at the Golden Globes in January.
Though the Facebook Mentions Box will be used for the first time at the Emmys, anchor Katie Couric is already slated to use the device during the Sept. 5 Stand Up to Cancer telecast.
This is how the Mentions Box, shaped similarly to Nintendo’s Wii U, will work:
1. A handler will give the portable device to a celebrity after choosing his name, her name or “general”
Access Hollywood will be operating the Mentions Box at the Emmys. Viewers can submit questions on Access Hollywood‘s Facebook page for Amy Poehler, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Voight, Julie Bowen, Jimmy Fallon, Uzo Aduba, Tina Fey, Julia Roberts, Betty White, Heidi Klum, Seth Meyers, Bryan Cranston, Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey, Kerry Washington. Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Parsons, Lena Dunham, Melissa McCarthy, Sofia Vergara, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey and Taylor Schilling.
2. The celebrity will shake it like a Magic 8-Ball, causing a question to appear on the touchscreen
3. The celebrity will then record a video response
4. The handler will then edit the title and caption of the video response before posting it on Facebook
iStrategyLabs built the device for Facebook.
Source: Mashable