I actually got myself an early birthday present today – even though my birthday is not till the end of this month, I thought this was as good time as any to buy something fabulous. So, what did I get? I got myself an Apple TV. So many of my friends and family members got one and have since raved about it, so I thought I should explore this. Now, I can’t imagine how I lived without it for so long! 🙂
Apple TV = fabulous device to combine storytelling and social!
One of the other reasons I decided to invest in an Apple TV is for research/teaching purposes. One of the areas I am focusing in is in mobile technologies, and social TV is one topic that I will be covering this upcoming Spring semester in my Social Media and Mobile Technologies class at the University of Louisville.
We are seeing a rapid increase in multi-screen use among individuals – meaning, they are using their smartphone or tablet to follow conversations, updates, and discussions that are happening in real-time while watching a television show, reality show, or even an athletic event on television. The London 2012 Olympics was one of the recent athletic events that we saw a huge emergence of use of multiscreen devices for audiences through apps while watching the traditional broadcast coverage of the Olympic events.
There are clearly some shows that have been dedicated to engage their users when it comes to social TV. USA Network has established this across their various shows as as others like Bravo. Of course, there are some shows that dominated social TV during their premiers like Dr. Who (I come from a family who loves scifi, and this show is pretty fabulous!)
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There are some good lessons PR professionals can look at when they are looking to possibly incorporate social TV into their client practices from USA Network. Other suggestions including opportunities to connect with others who are fans of various shows, inclusion of rewards and gamification practices, and targeting audiences and fans of shows with social activities.
Lewis PR has a good blog post outlining what are some of the lessons we can take away as PR professionals when looking at some of the shows that have been successful in engaging their fans with stories as well as engagement. Social@Oglivy also pointed out for a lot of television shows is to determine what are the other competitors are doing in terms of engaging their audiences through social and mobile media while watching the shows.
So, what is social TV important to consider? There are several things that we have to take away from a PR perspective. First, social TV involves the opportunity to provide dynamic content to engage users to be part of the story. Audience members can use social apps to have conversations with characters, which puts them in the same social ecosystem unlike anything that was available before. Second, the audience is not the receiver of the storytelling, but also the one that can have an equal playing part in the story by sharing these experiences with others in their social communities.
Lastly, real-time analytics can be viewed instantly by the networks to determine what people are discussing and sharing based on what they are seeing and reacting to through these various apps.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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