Oprah Winfrey to Appear Live on Facebook to Address Ratings Decline
After speculation about her OWN network ratings surfaced, Oprah Winfrey will appear on Facebook Live on Sept. 8 at 1:30 p.m.
The Facebook Live program is a new online television show for the social network. Winfrey will make her first appearance on the show and chat with Facebook chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg.
The former major network talkshow host will travel to Palo Alto california to chat with the COO for an hour, the Vancouver Sun reported. Although Winfrey, 57, has nearly 6.3 million fans on her Facebook page and over 7.2 million followers on Twitter, support for her magazine and television show have not proved to be as successful.
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Michael Woods,a sportswriter and Huffington Post blogger asked Oprah if she was nervous about her businesses not doing as well as some anticipated.
"Are you frazzled because show ended, network doing poorly, mag sales down,” Woods questioned on Twitter. “Or did u foresee this?"
Winfrey responded to Woods, seemingly optimistic about her business ventures.
"ALL mag sales are down as we move ever more to digital. Just had my first week at OWN,” Winfrey wrote. “No regrets ending show. Onward!"
The first black talk show host to receive a major network television show also recently spoke about her faith in her network and publication on Facebook.
“Nope, not frazzled. And I have faith that if I do what I'm supposed to--allow it to serve my purpose, and you, the viewer--it will succeed,” Winfrey wrote. “Everyone in the cable business told me it would take 3 years. Some said 5. I've been here a week...I will say this; it's 10 times harder than doing my daily show. Doing that show felt like breathing everyday. Now I'm in so many meetings I sometimes have to step out and catch a breath. But I see every challenge as an opportunity. So no shortage of opportunities here.”
Oprah will not be the first high-profile individual to appear on Facebook Live. The online show has seen the likes of President Obama, former President George W. Bush, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, actors Vin Diesel and Rainn Wilson, singer Katy Perry and Microsoft's mastermind Bill Gates.
