Grown Up Thinking

I remember when watching TV used to be a sociable experience.  My friends and I would base our Friday night plans around ABC’s TGIF line-up, a bowl of popcorn and our parent’s carpool schedule.  These days watching TV is my “me” time, curling up in my bed with my laptop and catching up on a week’s worth of TV via Hulu.

I’m happy to report your TV viewing experience is about to, once again, revolutionize with a so-called “second screen” experience.  The concept is being fueled predominately by the growth of mobile and sites like Foursquare and GoWalla, and will take your on-screen viewing experience to your social networks where you can connect with friends (and strangers) who share similar viewing interests.

Two start-ups forecasted by Mashable caught my eye:

Miso, the self-described “Foursquare for TV”, allows users to check into the show they are watching and push notifications live to both Facebook and Twitter.  Badges and check-ins work very similarly to Foursquare which in turn, socialize your TV viewing experience.  A simple concept, but does it have the ability to take-off like Foursquare?

i.tv takes socializing television to a whole new level.  The app aggregates conversations happening around shows and can provide the user with these conversations no matter what time they are watching.  This is particularly helpful for people like me who watch TV shows several days after they air, and then wants to see what everyone has to say about the latest episode.  The app allows for additional functionality such as remotely scheduling your TiVo, using your iPhone as your remote control, manage your Netflix and more.

No matter which startup wins this war, I think it’s safe to say things are about to change.  As social media evolves and more and more people jump on the bandwagon things we’ve become accustomed to, like watching TV or a movie, are going to change.  Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing?  Well, that’s up for you to decide.

Tags: social media, TV, Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.