Article
The Emergence of Social TV via ‘Check-in’ – The Good and Bad | eHomeUpgrade
My comments
The Web has become increasingly integrated with our TV-viewing habits, whether through the use of “official” or fan-generated Websites for particular shows or events or users using Facebook to post information about shows that they watch from a laptop or netbook while watching TV. Some of the “official” or fan-generated Websites have integrated bulletin boards were people who like the show can chat with each other regarding the show or particular characters / actors.
Recently, there have been various sites like www.epguides.com which provide comprehensive information on many TV serials. In some cases, these can help out with environments where a broadcaster may show some seasons or some episodes of a particular series or simply to know how “behind” an overseas broadcaster is on a TV serial compared to the show’s home country.
Now the social Web is being further integrated with the likes of Miso and Tunerfish which are like a social network based around favourite or currently-viewed TV shows. In some cases, these sites have some form of integration with the main social networks like Facebook.
This has been brought about through the ubiquity of the home network with the attendant arrival of IP-enabled TVs and set-top boxes as well as the popularisation of laptops, netbooks, MIDs and smartphones that are connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi wireless links.
The real issue nowadays is whether many of us are likely to use these sites and are likely to have the laptop, netbook or iPad on the coffee table and logged in to one of these sites while we watch our favourite TV shows? Also would the experience work better if the user interface for these services was integrated in to one of the new IP-capable TVs or set-top boxes like the upcoming Android TV platform?
Now this is showing that the TV and the Web are becoming not just competing media but complementary media in the age of the home network.
