Is Watching Television a Social Experience?
29 Oct
Posted by: Bryan Bennett in: Social Media, TV Networks, Video
Who doesn’t like sitting around with friends and family to discuss the craziness of Lost plotlines? Whatever happened to those polar bears anyway? Now, thanks to Internet properties such as TVLoop, consumers don’t have to limit discussions to the people around them, but can bring them online for a more wide-scale and interactive experience. As social media and social networking in particular continues to permeate all aspects of our daily lives, it was only a matter of time before it impacted our television viewing behavior.
In retrospect, it’s really just a new slant on an old idea. The birth of the Internet allowed people to start fan blogs and discussion forums for their favorite shows, extending the viewer experience through conversation. But social media is not only transforming the way you discuss TV, but also the way you consume it as well. For instance, ABC recently won a Webbie award for its online video player by Move Networks while CBS.com has announced the implementation of Social Viewing Rooms where viewers can chat it up with other CSI fans while they’re watching the episode in real time. And of course at TVLoop, we make it easy for members to view full-length episodes of ABC, NBC, FOX and other broadcast network shows within our individual applications.
The key question is whether viewers want to be social while actually watching an episode, or should that come in the post-episode discussion? Personally, it drives me crazy when my wife wants to discuss the intricate details of Kate and Sawyer’s relationship while I’m trying to watch John Locke kill something. Are there more people like me, or are there plenty of social butterflies looking to multi-task? Which brings me back to my original question: Is watching television a social experience? There is no right or wrong answer there, but we’ll continue to explore that question and others dealing with the role of social media in television on this blog.
[...] few months ago I wrote a blog post over at the TVLoop Blog asking the question: Is watching TV a social experience? My opinion is that because of the synchronous relationship required, the CBS social viewing rooms [...]
[...] in October I asked the question here about whether watching TV is a social experience. The context of that question was directed at CBS and their launch of social viewing rooms for [...]