It’s hard to write this without coming across as sarcastic, but I mean it genuinely: It’s a stroke of genius that CBC paid to post their own Buzzfeed list “22 CBC Shows Every Canadian Needs in their Life” as a brand publisher and is now paying to promote it on Twitter as Buzzfeed’s list.

I’ve seen several examples featuring different listed shows, written as if it’s not CBC’s own content they’re shilling:

Power & Politics with @RosieBarton is just one of @BuzzFeed‘s 22 CBC Shows Every Canadian Needs In Their Life https://t.co/Q4yJNPZPza

— CBC (@CBC) September 18, 2015

Advertorials aren’t new, though there are fancy new names for them, like branded content. But the CBC to Buzzfeed to Twitter path takes advantage of this new-fangled social media thing in a way Canadian networks and shows haven’t always done well. It also takes advantage of the fact that few people click on the link to read the actual story and even fewer pay attention to the byline. So most Twitter users who see the promoted tweets, whether they click or not, will assume Buzzfeed has endorsed the featured show instead of that CBC is paying both Buzzfeed and Twitter to imply Buzzfeed endorsed it.

With 22 shows to feature (22? seriously? isn’t that everything CBC produces?) they’re making sure they get a lot of bang for that advertising-dressed-up-as-earned-media buck.  This is the kind of advertising that could reach people who aren’t already the captive CBC audience.

And if you read the advertorial and didn’t realize it was one? There was no actual deception, and it’s caveat emptor on what we buy in our information-saturated lives. Plus the worst that can happen is it makes you check out a CBC show you might not have heard of before. And after all 22 start airing, maybe someone paid by Buzzfeed will like some of them enough to write about them, too.

It’s hard to get more stereotypical Canadian TV industry than this: The Social’s social media is anti-social to Canadian performers.

The daytime talk show, which “was conceived and developed to deliver a unique Canadian voice to the CTV daytime schedule, in addition to providing custom opportunities for CTV’s advertising partners,” launched with some fanfare about its use of social media to engage with viewers in real time.

As long as those viewers don’t try to engage with them too much, apparently.

From February 3-14, 2014 comedian Mark Forward waged a campaign – more like a running comedy bit — to be on The Social.  His tweets directly to @TheSocialCTV numbered at most 2 a day, plus replies to his followers – many fellow Canadian performers – who also joined in on the conversation, often with the hashtag #putmarkonthesocial. He did a hyperbolic countdown of the days they’d ignored his tweets. And sometime during or after that time, they blocked him and fellow comedian Pat Thornton.

Most of those tweets were intended to be humorous. Some were more pointed — and valid:

I’m no comedian – even my mother doesn’t think I’m funny — but I bet I could come up with a few sociable responses they could have used to join in on and diffuse the joke early on. “Sorry, we only book guests through Snapchat.” “Have your people call our people.” Or, perhaps: “Get yourself a CTV show or find fame in the US first.”

OK that last one might not have gone over very well. But in life it’s feed a cold, starve a fever and on social media it’s feed an engaged follower, starve a troll.

Don’t believe me? Here’s some social media advice from Hootsuite: “Social media is a public place. Allow it to remain open and respond as best you can, even to those who would speak negatively about your brand. Just responding will help shift perception back into the positive.”

Just responding. To a non-hostile follower who is begging for a response. At best not responding to and blocking a non-troll is bad social media practice, at worst it’s contempt for homegrown talent.

Executive producer Michelle Crespi is unrepentant. She says those behind the Twitter account knew they were dealing with professional comedians, and she maintains that blocking with no response was the right course of action since “the tweets were excessive and became a distraction on our account.”

Too many tweets. Mentioning their show. Absorb that for a minute. A show that encourages people to tweet at them (“whether you agree with us or not”), to tweet them segment ideas, a show that sends out a media release with the headline “No topic is ever off-limits!”, can’t handle a handful of jokey-to-civil tweets from Canadian comedians and their fans in a day.

@TheSocialCTV still hasn’t addressed any of the tweets, including my question asking directly why they were blocked. They have apparently unblocked the performers, and @CTV_PR set a far better tone with good-natured peace offerings … after John Doyle of the Globe and Mail retweeted the question to them.

The Social’s season three has been picked up in some US markets, but Crespi claims the show has not had to change its focus for an American audience and estimates that 85% of guests are Canadian (she’s counting the hosts, and to even approximate the math she must be counting them daily). She also says she’s proud to showcase Canadian talent to an American audience now.

With every media release they send out, they list some of the notable guests who have appeared on the show. That list in its entirety is “Jessica Alba, Drew Barrymore, Zach Braff, Kelly Clarkson, John Cleese, Lena Dunham, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Daniel Radcliffe, and Chris Tucker.” Spot the Canadian? Trick question – there are none. I’m told they will rectify that on the boilerplate soon.

Is the show reflecting what Canadians care about by talking about Obama not wearing his wedding ring or if you judge Tom Brady for supporting Donald Trump, and nothing on the recent Canadian leadership debate? Maybe. But the day after the debate they discussed an Ohio teacher’s porn career, an American company marketing makeup to men, how to mimic red carpet hairdos, cake decorating tips, and finally, an Amazing Race Canada recap. (Also a host saying “On this show all of us are big fans of social media.”)

I don’t know that Mark Forward would make a great The Social guest. But if you have to be Jerry Seinfeld to have weight on The Social*, and American politics takes precedence over Canadian, and if the social media aspect is a farce, why do we need The Social as well as The View?

The show is indisputably a Canadian series — it’s an in-house CTV production featuring Canadian hosts, crew and experts. It does have Canadian performers as guests — particularly featuring Bell Media talent or Canadians on American shows. But it could learn a lesson or two on social media, and on being more social to Canadian talent and Canadian viewpoints.

* The original version of the post implied Canadian comedian Nicole Arbour appeared on The Social for her fat-shaming video, but she was simply a subject of a best dressed list.