
If social TV is really going to take off, it’s all about adding to the core TV experience, and not just putting social websites on TV. This is one of those deals where the parts are greater than the sum. By stripping social TV apart, integrating it with an excellent navigation system, and pairing it with the cloud as an intelligence source, we can create new social experiences that we haven’t yet seen on a PC or other device.
What kinds of experiences? Well, I’m glad you asked. You’re a good egg. Here are a couple:
Impulse recommendations: On a PC, you often put a recommendation in your video queue for watching later on your TV. Even interactions with friends are usually not in real time because the nature of PC—and even mobile—usage is entirely different for everyone. But even with the advent of DVRs, people tend to watch TV at around the same time. It’s inherently social, which makes it kinda weird that it’s the last medium to join the “social” revolution.
This means significant changes to how recommendation engines work. What are you watching right now, and how might that affect what you want to watch next? What are your friends watching and chatting about right now (assuming all interested parties have opted in, of course)? Throw in Smart TV apps, and all of a sudden, it’s not just “what are your friends watching”, but “what are they doing”…browsing an ad showcase and taking advantage of a limited time offer, playing a game of poker that you may want to join, etc.
Your TV viewing habits can influence your PC and mobile viewing: This one is really cool. Your “big” TV experience can influence your “small” (PC) TV experience. When your viewing history is plugged into the cloud, you begin to develop a portable profile that learns from your behavior. Ever wonder why Netflix’s recommendations aren’t always for stuff you’d like to watch? Imagine if Netflix knew what your actual viewing behavior was, instead of trying to predict it based on some algorithm. Netflix would love that, and you probably would too.
Imagine your YouTube queue automatically delivering you content based on what you were channel-surfing the day earlier. Imagine playing a game that’s embedded in an ad showcase and winning a killer coupon, and when you go to shop online, it’s already been applied to your shopping cart.
Notice how all of this stuff is way more “lean back” than “lean forward”? Notice how little if any on-screen typing you’d be doing? Marry the cloud to social TV, deliver an awesome and easy-to-use interface (let’s call it “iVOD”), and this whole category gets way more interesting.



