Will Social TV Change the Media Landscape?
Posted by Kevin Gulley on Tue, Nov 02, 2010 @ 12:18 PM
For those of you have been with FuelDog for the last 13 years, you know that he's always looking at and thinking about the breaking edge of technology and media. An area that has been taking up a lot of his brain time lately is Social TV. The time has come for the intersection of TV and the Internet finally make its way into our living rooms in a big way.
In a very thought provoking blog post from The SocialITe, he makes a compelling case for how social networks are changing the TV viewing experience already.
Twitter has added an additional dimension to TV shows for some time. The BBC political debate 'Question Time' has a furiously active Twitter debate always running live whenever it's broadcast and the big competition shows such as X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing all encourage a lot of online debate and argument.
But I've never noticed a broadcaster embracing this online chatter to the extent that the very first thing on screen is a hashtag. And a hashtag with no explanation of what it is, meaning that when the
BBC started broadcasting episode 1 of series 40 of 'Have I got news for you' with
'#bbcHIGNFY' on screen as the show started, they expected their audience to understand - and follow.
And this doesn't take into consideration the devices necessary to seamlessly make the TV and Internet appliance....but they're already here.
Google TV is coming into the market in a big way, with partners like Logitech and Sony. They are making the bet that it is only a matter of time until the best screen in the house gets turned into the best connection in the house.
Will Richmond from
VideoNuze follow this space closely and had a first hand look at the Logitech Revue (the first Google TV device), and had this to say about it.
Overall, the Logitech Revue is an exciting product if for no other reason because it raises the stakes in the entire connected device category. It will pull online video viewing further into the mainstream, allowing online-only sources to gain equal footing with traditional TV and movies for on TV viewing. That's a boon to independent producers and the ecosystem as a whole. In addition, by offering new experiences like the HD video calling and voice-controlled navigation, Logitech is providing an enticing view into what the future will look like. Like all new consumer products though, it's impossible to predict how well it will sell. Regardless, as subsequent generations of the Revue are released, Google TV is poised to eventually succeed.
I think that last sentence is very telling. This first generation may suck, but users are going to eventually drive the functionality, the use case and the content, and it is only a matter of time until Social TV is a reality.
And keep an eye out for
Litl, a Boston-based startup that is workign to change the paradigm of web interaction from a lean-forward personal computing perpsective, to a
lean-back, hang on the couch approach. They will be coming to market in the 2011 and should make quite a splash.
Regardless of how you connect, get ready because Social TV is coming.