There has been some buzz about the launch of CBS viewing room. Chris Albrecht suggests that TV shows are meant to be passive. I disagree with Chris but I do agree with Allen Stern who says that the service is ultimately an “IRC with video player”. I logged in to one of the shows on the new service and there were no people watching the same show. That’s a pretty significant problem.
One thing that I concluded after checking out the CBC “Social Viewing Room” was that these services should simply integrate a Twitter feed for each show. There is already a ton of conversation going on so why not grab the existing conversation rather than try to get other people to come chat somewhere else? That’s going to be the biggest hurdle for this service.
The most vocal people tend to be attracted to other vocal people. Online the most vocal people are on Twitter so you might want to go attract the most vocal people. I believe that the future of television could very well be more interactive. Then again, the television is a different sort of medium then the internet so perhaps it should stay that way.
Have you had the chance to check out CBS Social Room? Do you think that this service is designed well? Do you think the future of television is interactive or is it going to remain as a passive medium?
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Nice article. I agree with your primary point. Social interaction around TV shows online tends to be more of an asynchronous experience and it's likely going to be tough to rally enough viewers real time to make for interesting social experiences within the rooms. Sports may be a completely different animal and I think some sort of social viewing room for ESPN360 or CBS Sports could be a little more interesting.
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Thanks for the link! I meant "passive" as in you can't do anything with TV shows (currently), they just are. The experience I share with others watching them can be interactive. But I still believe that the energy created by watching something live with friends in the same room can't be matched with IM conversations. I like your Twitter feed idea, that plays on what some companies have done with the debates.
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