Thoughts on "Social TV"

Simon Dumenco, writing on The Media Guy blog on Ad Age, suggests there are seven things you need to know about monitoring social media chatter about TV and its programs.

1. TV Owns Social - in six years of monitoring social media trends, it seemed clear that TV was defining social media topics.  During prime time hours in both the U.S. and the U.K., Twitter's trending topics list is dominated by TV-related chatter.  Networks are using social media tracking data for both real-time audience research on demographics and as a measure of their marketing effectiveness.
2. Social TV is, at its core, incredibly old-fashioned - it is enabling old behaviors of watching TV with other people, at least virtually.  "Only now the living room has gone national."
3. Twitter is definitely not the only game in town when it comes to social TV - a number of big networks are partnering with GetGlue to drive up check-ins, prompting TVGuide.com to add its own check-in service; USA Network's Character Chatter platform has seen as many as 35,000 concurrent users on its program specific site.  Syfy (the renamed Sci Fi Network) is integrating character-based Twitter accounts in its Haven series plot lines
4. .Social TV is a form of self-expression - and a form of peer-to-peer peer-pressure marketing - "A network can drown you in endless promos for a new show it wants you to watch; maybe you'll succumb, maybe you won't. But the influence of social-media messaging about that show from a friend whose taste you trust can't be underestimated. An enthusiastic tweet about "Ringer" is not only an endorsement of the show but an implicit call to action; it says, 'This is what you're missing out on.'"
5. Social TV has slowed down time-shifting for some of TV's biggest shows - a survey of one large panel of viewers found 20% saying that they watch more live TV to avoid "social spoilers."
6. Social TV is not primarily about predicting hits - it's more like previous examinations of fan reactions.  It can indicate whether your promotions and marketing is effective, and track the reactions of fans to what they're watching.
7. The Couch Potato is a dying breed - the rise of social TV is another indication of significant and growing changes in television audiences, from passive receptacle to increasingly active, even involved, consumer.  It's a shift that networks and programmers need to keep in mind in the increasingly hyper-competitive universe of TV and entertainment options.

The points are well made - but the one caveat is that, for now, we're still talking about a fairly small share of total potential audience.  Social TV is perhaps pointing the way to a potential transformation of television, but we're still in the early stages and there's a lot more potential factors and changes to face along the way.

Source -  7 Things You Need to Know About 'Social TV' Right Now,  Ad Age Mediaworks