Here’s an example of a question I hear frequently and have heard twice in the past week alone. “(A client) wants some examples of ‘social media-driven newscasts.’ Do you have any good ones I could point them to?” That’s right, TV people are catching on to the idea that social media matters, so much so that they want to include it in their newscasts. On the one hand, that’s good thinking. However, the question also reveals the greatest weakness in contemporary professional media — the need to copy rather than innovate ourselves. We set aside ideas that bubble up from within in favor of completed products developed by others, and in a time of incredible innovation, that’s not always the smartest way to go.

This is how ideas that are often parochial in nature get spread across the country, which results in the bland homogenization of television news. Everybody wants to know “what works,” and there’s absolutely no fault in that. But at some point, stations must simply take up the task and go for it themselves. We don’t seem able to trust ourselves; we trust the other guy.

This is why I’m so struck by the innovative concept unveiled last week in Columbia, Missouri at KOMU-TV, the NBC affiliate associated with the University of Missouri. U_News begins with a simple premise, that news is a conversation, and uses every form of social media to involve viewers in that conversation. Its use of the Google+ application “Hangouts” is refreshing, unpredictable and informative. There’s a little bit of “how cool is this?” in the program, but I give it high marks for authenticity, originality, interactivity, and especially tone. The program flies by with the very real sense that the presenters are excited about what they have. KOMU delivers a highly complex production with ease, and even those in much bigger markets would have production difficulties emulating the intricacies KOMU has developed.

Much of the credit for this goes to host and veteran news anchor Sarah Hill, who says the show is challenging, because everything about it is different.

It’s a lesson in multi-tasking. I used to just read. Now I read, cue and give my live cyber couch standbys, tweet, post on G+ and Facebook, run a live chat on our website and change my own graphics in our touch screen monitor. We use our breaks now to engage our audience. Even a 9 second sound bite is an opportunity to personally connect with a viewer, as that one viewer now has multiple platforms on which to share your content.

This is a statement from a veteran journalist who understands the difference between an audience and the network. It takes a unique journalist to captain this kind of ship. Pretty face (only) readers need not apply, because you have to think on your feet when everything is real time.

One of the show’s main features is its “cyber couch,” the Google+ hangout from which 50 different live guests from around the world participate in the show as “co-hosts” each week. Hill now counts Google Translate as her “new BFF,” because messages come in from foreign countries looking to participate in the cyber couch. “While we screen the co-hosts ourselves,” adds Hill, “a fellow co-host in Canada handles the scheduling. Co-hosts in England, France, St. Louis, Boston and New York have taken up U_News promotions by blogging and using their platforms to say hey, you need to check out this worldwide cyber couch.” Everybody gives their “share your U” sign, a refreshingly real signature of the program.

KOMU news director Stacey Woelfel green lighted the program and reminds everybody that it’s a work-in-progress, adding that “the show you watch six months from now will look very different from what you see today.”

“It’s our goal, he says, “to keep evolving and be sure we change to fit what people want and need. And I know that what we learn on this newscast will also become part of our more traditional newscasts, modernizing and changing them as this one grows.”

Woelfel says there’s the show is getting a lot of attention outside the station (see my opening paragraph), but nobody has called just yet, although he expects they will. “I think many people are trying to figure out what sort of programming can break new ground,” he added, “and they want to see if what we do might work.”

KOMU is a unique television station given its association with the University of Missouri, whose students now have the opportunity to participate in and learn from something this novel. Woelfel calls U_News “the perfect teaching lab,” because students get to “design, test and implement new ways to reach people.”

I like U_News, because it’s a courageous and refreshing blast into the future. I agree with Stacey that it’ll evolve, but KOMU is trailblazing, and there’s always a reward for that. Sarah Hill is a unique talent, but there are many others who could handle such a challenge, although they may not currently be in news “anchor” roles. The personality of the host is critical in this format, as is their capacity for multi-tasking.

Now if everybody could just get on this page, it might accelerate the reinvention of local media.