Socially Interactive TV Is The Future
The problem with watching television is that it can be a lonely experience. At times, watching a show with only a hotdog for company can be a little sad. Well worry no more because the the future of tv is social interaction.
Already in everyones daily use are sites like video chatting service Skype, Facebook and Twitter. These services are no longer the preserve of technogeeks, but also mums, dads and grannies around the world. In fact Facebook was recently named the third most popular video site, and it is these services which will make it possible for families and friends miles, or even Countries apart to watch shows together, even if they cannot share the same hotdog.
social network tv
The media companies are all toying with making the television experience more of a shared social interactive experience. Online tv streaming site Hulu for example has already toyed with using interactive systems during streaming but has still to fully roll them out.
If your a user of Verizon Communications FiOS Internet service, then you can use your Facebook account and send messages whilst watching a show. Microsoft and Sony make use of their online console services which have come closest to supplying a fully interactive experience with voice chatting and messaging services.
“The cable companies and marketers have shown us what can be available and given a glimpse of what’s possible,” said Elizabeth A. Vandewater, a scientist at the research group RTI International, who has studied TV viewing habits for years. “Now people are acting on those ideas and extending them.”
Viewers are also finding ways to synchronise watching a show with friends in other Countries and time zones who want to watch a show as soon as it airs on tv. Byusing readily available adapters that cost less than $100, people can connect their cable and satellite TV connections to a computer, grab streams of live television and broadcast it straight to a website such as Justin.tv.
Christopher Yoo, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania has been studying the rise of live television streams on the internet:- “This is part of a ‘can’t wait’ culture that gets frustrated when it takes more than two seconds to load a Web page. It’s certainly becoming more mainstream.”
There are other signs of its growth. A search of the social networking website Twitter shows viewers arranging Skype tv watching appointments. Justin.tv, which lets anyone broadcast live video from any source, has also capitalized on the growing demand for internet streamed interactive TV.
Viewers on the Justin site swap more than 100 million messages a month while watching video. In October alone, Justin.tv viewers watched 50 million hours of video, said Michael Seibel, the company’s chief executive.
“We have certainly stumbled upon something there is lots of consumer demand for,” Mr. Seibel said.
Mr. Seibel acknowledged that his site traffics in pirated material, but he contends that the Justin.tv site would do just fine without the stolen programs, and wants people to focus more on the interesting things users have started to do with live video.
He argues that this generation of TV watchers, who want a more interactive experience, could create opportunities for advertisers trying to find a more engaged audience.
Starting this year, Justin.tv will make it possible for anyone to create their own pay-per-view video show on the net.
“People are in a different state of mind, and it opens up interesting business models,” Mr. Seibel said. “What we see is that people pay a lot more attention to the programs.”
The proliferation of internet enabled television sets and mobile tv platforms will also speed up the social interaction we get from watching tv.
Incoming TV searches:
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I do agree with your viewpoint. Communication between people is one of the most important ways we get along and succeed. The future of Television Broadcasting is only going to get bigger and more important as the world continues to grow.
A TV that picks up every channel in the world and is fully interactive, allowing viewer to become one with the TV.
Social Interactive TV is one of a handful of social technologies I approach with trepidation. For some kinds of programs, such as the news, I’d love to be able to interact with other viewers and share opinions about the day’s events.
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