Just about two years ago, WTSP-Ch. 10's new 10 Connects rebranding was a bold effort to link old school TV newscasts with all the new social media stuff percolating in the culture.

Anchors traded instant messages with viewers during broadcasts. A crowd of citizen journalists were handed cameras and asked to shoot video which could land in a newscast. And the station developed a range of online efforts to signal an attempt to reach viewers in new ways.

But on Monday, WTSP called an official halt to that initiative, changing its on-air brand name from 10 Connects to the simpler 10 news.

The reason? Viewer confusion.

"At the end of the day, we found it really wasn't resonating with people," said WTSP general manager Ken Tonning, who noted the station conducted focus group testing of 30 different slogans. "They didn't understand it. there wasn't a broad acceptance of what the 'connection' was."

As I noted back in 2008, the big question about online based initiatives for local TV stations is whether the effort winds up developing too few fans or fans who live so far away they can't help ratings. The 10 Connects effort was championed by former news director Darren Richards, who left the station late last year, so such a change isn't necessarily a surprise for those who know how the TV biz works.

Since Richards' departure, WTSP has slowly become a more traditional news station, re-establishing its 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. newscast block. The resurrection of 10 News, a slogan the station used in 2002, seems to complete that move back to the future.

Tonning couldn't give an exact figure on how much it will cost to make the change, but it's likely to be significant, since everything from stationary to the graphics on the news vans will have to be updated.

H/T to FLNewsCenter.com for the YouTube video below of the new graphics: