It’s a question that has interested me in the past, but the SocialTV Forum has really pulled this into focus for me. There seems to be a real issue about what SocialTV is? Is socialTV about watching TV on your PC with interaction around it, is it widgets on your TV delivered by your CE device, is channel or platform linked?
So I’m going to try (with you) to answer that question – through this blog I’m asking you to let me know what you think socialTV is or what it should be? Once I have these answers (qual research) I’ll pull together a survey (quant research) and then publish the results here.
My wife is a Snr Director for a major media research firm, I’ll get her to help with the survey and results to make sure that they have some real value to us all.
So – what is/should SocialTV be to you?
Agit8or 
I thought the best answer this morning came from Tom McDonnell at Monterosa who said Social TV is a set of behaviours around TV content rather than a technology. There was a bit too much talk of widgets at the Forum for my liking.
I’d agree that Tom McDonnell was the best of the morning speakers – and certainly his definition of socialTV was the only real attempt to put the industry in any context. Problem is that technology is so key to building up the industry that it is bound to lead, but people like Tom need to be heard to ensure we dont build technology that does not meet or create a consumer demand. The NDS presentation in the afternoon was fantastic in my opinion – a very technology led company, showing a real understanding of how consumers may actually use this technology in the future.
Interesting indeed to see how much talk there is about SocialTV without a common understanding of the essence; there’s really a great parallel in this respect with social media in general; a lot of talk by many, without really getting to the essence.
I agree that SocialTV is about behaviour, and yes I agree we need enabling technology to make social tv happen.
I’ve done about a year of research in the area of social media and TV consumption and needs from both the side of the consumers, and the stakeholders in the media industry. (on a side-note my company did this to create a new technology platform to integrate social media, mobile and a.o. TV into new propositions for media consumption and thus behaviour; the idea being to more engage the consumers by offering them the opportunity to take part, feel more a part of a story; contribute to it rather than just consume and talk about it. On the flip-side we had to understand the needs of Brands as being the sponsors of the media eco-system, and all relevant players in this system; both on- and off-line. So we took a rather fundamental look at the whole market before we even started to design and implement our solution)
So this is how I would see it now: social TV offers streaming content to users that can choose what they want to see when, where and how (big screen, mobile, IPTV) and how they want to interact with it; not at all, talk about it or even contribute to it before, during or after distribution. Contributions can be content creation (UGC), qualifying content and opinions and even distribution.
For brands this sort of stuff would enable them to engage consumers with their brand on various mediaplatform into an integrated and compelling experience – thus making consumers more receptive to buy their goods; rather than push the message.
My 2 cents for now… should be shorter I think.
Cheers, Dick
I agree with you Dick – I think there is a distinct differance between ConnectedTV and SocialTV which I think many are getting confused. ConnectedTV I think will remain a 10ft experience, but SocialTV is really more about how consumers interact with video in a social manner, no matter where/how the video is delivered!
BTW – have you seen latest on GoogleTV announced in the NYT today, still think they’re the ones to watch this year!