I’m glad to finally see social media starting to show up in television shows in a big way.  While smart phones have long been a staple feature of sitcoms and dramas, few plots until now anyway, appear to have actually turned on social media or mobile technology.

But last week, I spotted not one but two major shows with social media-related plot developments.

Glee: On Tuesday’s episode of Glee, the most nerdy of the Gleek students enjoyed a hilarious pilfered video of their nemesis, Sue Sylvester, the intense and intensely funny cheerleading coach dancing in her office to Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical”. They quickly upload it to YouTube where it quickly reaches 3 million hits. Sue has the last laugh however, when Olivia Newton John contacts her about remaking the 80’s video together.

The Office: Then on Thursday in The Office, Pam Halpert searched out information incriminating Michael Scott’s new girlfriend of being unfaithful by leveraging access to her Facebook page through a friend. He later learns she is actually married, a development that would not have occurred but for Pam’s Facebook stalking.

The use of social media in these shows feels completely natural and plausible. One takes place in an office and another in a high school where social media is a routine part of daily life.  One wonders why we don’t see more?

This leads to me to speculate how technology and social media may have played a role in 90’s television shows and movies had it been as integrated into daily life then as it is now. Imagine the way things would have gone if…

Bonfire of the Vanities: Gordon Gecko accidentally ends up in the Bronx when he fails to make a fast enough turn in response to commands from his Garmin.  “Re—- calculating!”

Cosby:  Cliff Huxtable uses simulated reality game to instruct Cleo on the true cost of life on his own.

Sex in the City:  All the single ladies use the new Facebook social graph to prequalify dates, making it faster and easier to identify the ‘likes’ of potential dates, weed out creepers, identify keepers and generally ‘put a ring on it’.

Home Alone: Kevin McAllister uploads photo shopped pictures of himself in France to make his family believe he is actually already there. Meanwhile he projects Youtube videos of his family onto the walls to create the illusion of people being home for the benefit of the burglars.

Fresh Prince of Bel Air: Will Smith challenges Carlton to see who can get to 10,000 Twitter followers first.

Okay, you get the idea. Now consider how different the shows of the 70’s and 80’s might have been! What if there had been social media when they made Back to the Future, Golden Girls, Gilligan’s Island, Family Ties…