Zeebox: Combining social networking and real-time viewing of live programming seems like a no-brainer, but
Zeebox may be the first to do it seamlessly. With the knowledge that
more than half of their target audience consumes multiple media channels simultaneously, the creators of Zeebox built an integrated service that delivers a real-time feed of related social media and digital content to viewers. When logged on to the Zeebox site or app, users can see what everyone else is watching and are provided a live-stream of tweets, chat and commentary. Additionally, Zeebox provides users with “zeetags” (aka links) that lets them search, download, and even buy relevant products.
GetGlue Conversation: The idea of capturing TV viewers’ undivided attention is becoming outdated. Indeed, successful shows have acclimated to the current digital climate by incorporating social media cues into their programming. Social TV platform
GetGlue, a
powerful tool for
predicting ratings, recently enhanced its
check-in platform with
Conversation, a real-time chat tool that connects people who are checked in to the same show. The new tool displays comments and tweets from viewers’ friends and filters through relevant jabber from other fans. Users can even reply to tweets without leaving the GetGlue site, making it perhaps the ultimate mode of social TV for digital couch potatoes.
IntoNow: As more television programs integrate online content, the rapport between TV and the web is becoming increasingly codependent, and search engines generally serve to support this relationship most effectively. In this regard, Yahoo’s recent acquisition of
“ambient computing” app IntoNow may give the company an edge. The high tech application uses an audio fingerprint to recognize what show a user is watching. Then, without requiring a specific search,
IntoNow broadcasts related content onto a second screen. While Yahoo currently curates all of the content, there’s no doubt that advertisers will soon
plug in their own two cents to the ambient computing experience.
