CBS CEO Les Moonves broke with big-media tradition this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, where he announced that Slingbox users will soon be able to record snippets of CBS programming and upload the content to video-sharing sites such as YouTube.

The move represents a shift in how media companies view social media - as a tool to allow viewers to expose others to a network's programming, rather than as a threat to revenue, Ad Age writes. With video-sharing sites booming in popularity, networks are beginning to accept that their content will be passed among such online communities. Moves such as the CBS-Slingbox partnership will empower users to effectively promote a network's offerings.

"CBS is interested in how new media solutions can help build communities around content," Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive, adds. "As we move forward into an increasingly digital and interactive future, that capability will sometimes come from unexpected places, products and services that in the past might have been seen as disruptors, instead of enablers."

CBS and Slingbox have yet to finalize the advertising component of the partnership. Any content clip that a Slingbox owner uploads will fall into a pool of inventory that CBS can sell against. The business model could involve a revenue-sharing agreement, with CBS selling the bulk of the ads or splitting the inventory.