Friday Fun: Must-Tweet TV




Like all social activities, television-watching demands compromise. People may have strong ideas about what they want to watch, but what they really want to do is watch together. - The Economist

I am a huge Grey's fan. So are my friends. We don't get to watch it together. But we watch it together. Chirping Blackberry phones, FB status updates and comments, tweets. The experience of watching tv with friends all across the country and around the world has the ability to create an almost cult-like experience, in real time and in post-time. You can collectively cheer, gnash teeth and cry because you're connected and it no longer is a solitary experience with you and your ice cream. It's that whole communal element that made tv so popular in the first place.

NBC recently revealed its new social initiative on its MyNBC platform. ABC, which is the network which created Grey's Anatomy needs to get us on board!!! Ah. No need to get off the couch and go anywhere. And though we don't get Hulu videos here, the idea of social tv is one which works for this generation of social networkers who love tv and who live for exciting season finales. I thoroughly enjoy sharing my fave shows with friends who feel the exact same way about the show, because it's not the same when your husband or boyfriend is forced to watch it with you because of blackmail. It's just not the same.

Does the lean-forward expe­ri­ence, inter­ac­tiv­ity and backchan­nel chat­ter of social net­works have a place in the tightly con­trolled, lean-back world of tele­vi­sion? - JD Lasica

The answer is a resounding yes!

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Agreed agreed agreed!!!

Of course, nothing can beat that energy of face to face presence, but SM is a very close substitute... rather like margarine to butter... 95% there...

I don't watch Grey's Anatomy (don't watch much TV at all), but watching the tweets flying by at every twist and turn, and who was dying and who would survive was quite engaging and made even I who have no interest in the show, interested in what happened, and engrossed in the plots and sub-plots.

While, i cannot see the SM experience totally replacing a big lime (for example the UCL final or World Cup final) it is certainly a great way to connect with friends, and strangers who are also watching the show.

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