“Social TV” and the iPad
GeneralPublished May 12, 2010 at 2:37 pm No Comments
iPad - Social TV
Social TV is a fast-growing trend where people use social media to interact with others about television programmes as they are watching them.
It’s a open social media take on the “When Harry Met Sally” late night telephone call to chat with a friend while both watching the same programme.
Telephone and SMS messaging are the old-skool (sic) interaction methods which sowed the seeds of Social TV. But mobile internet applications such as Twitter and Facebook are fast taking over – providing access to a larger like-minded community.
BBC’s Click Programme featuring Social TV
As interesting as the “Social TV” concept is it has yet to reach the tipping point or critical mass for main-stream adoption.
Some hardware and display manufacturers are trying to incorporate the social media capability into the television set. This is incompatible with most domestic viewing arrangements – compromising the television viewing experience and not conducive to family viewing.
Yes, it’s astounding to think that your kids would rather interact with their friends about Eastenders while you’re sat there in the same room watching the same programme with them – but that is the way things are.
So mobile phones, smart phones more specifically, are more commonly used. The only problem then is the small screen and slow text entry (even with predictive Txt).
Apple iPad to the rescue!
When Apple announced that the first release of the iPad was WiFi only I couldn’t understand why anyone would buy a mobile internet device that can only connect to the internet if you’re within range of a WiFi hub. But perhaps my early dismissal of such a device was missing the case for Social TV.
Here is an interesting YouTube video showing an iPad TV remote application.
