What will your TV look like in five years' time? The screen in your living room may be about to be transformed by the union of television broadcasting and online social networking.
This week, Google's chief Eric Schmidt announced that in the next month or so Google TV will go live in the US.
Google joins a host of other internet companies that want to transform our viewing habits by integrating TV with interactive web features. So far, all have failed. The trouble is, services like Apple TV and Roku tend to allow us only to stream stuff on-demand from the internet, but without any live TV. Others, such as TiVo and Microsoft, provide live TV, but with only limited access to the web. Google claims it will bring together live TV and unfettered access to the web for the first time.
Yet many researchers and tech analysts say the most profound change to our TV habits will come via technology that allows us to share and socialise via our screens. The winners of the battle for digital domination in our living rooms, they argue, will be those who work out how to draw on the success of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. New Scientist has spoken to some of the activists of this potential social TV revolution to get a glimpse of what will be on the box tomorrow.
Goal!
The premise of social TV is simple: allow people to easily share and discuss the shows they are watching, no matter where they are – be it recommending the next episode of True Blood or participating in a goal celebration.
Some people think of TV viewing as a solitary experience. But, says Marie-José Montpetit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is developing an experimental social TV system called Nextream, ever since the birth of TV we have been talking to each other during broadcasts. And now we're using online social networks in the same way. "The Twitter servers were brought down by the World Cup because people were exchanging views about it," she says.
Social TV could soon usurp TV guides, because the huge number of channels is so overwhelming to navigate, says Greg Goldman of Philo, a social TV application launched in July.
According to a 2008 study by consultancy Parks Associates, based in Dallas, Texas, 20 per cent of people in the US want TV recommendations from friends and to chat with fellow viewers. What's more, a quarter of them are happy to share the stuff they watch.
This week, Google's chief Eric Schmidt announced that in the next month or so Google TV will go live in the US.
Google joins a host of other internet companies that want to transform our viewing habits by integrating TV with interactive web features. So far, all have failed. The trouble is, services like Apple TV and Roku tend to allow us only to stream stuff on-demand from the internet, but without any live TV. Others, such as TiVo and Microsoft, provide live TV, but with only limited access to the web. Google claims it will bring together live TV and unfettered access to the web for the first time.
Yet many researchers and tech analysts say the most profound change to our TV habits will come via technology that allows us to share and socialise via our screens. The winners of the battle for digital domination in our living rooms, they argue, will be those who work out how to draw on the success of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. New Scientist has spoken to some of the activists of this potential social TV revolution to get a glimpse of what will be on the box tomorrow.
Goal!
The premise of social TV is simple: allow people to easily share and discuss the shows they are watching, no matter where they are – be it recommending the next episode of True Blood or participating in a goal celebration.
Some people think of TV viewing as a solitary experience. But, says Marie-José Montpetit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is developing an experimental social TV system called Nextream, ever since the birth of TV we have been talking to each other during broadcasts. And now we're using online social networks in the same way. "The Twitter servers were brought down by the World Cup because people were exchanging views about it," she says.
Social TV could soon usurp TV guides, because the huge number of channels is so overwhelming to navigate, says Greg Goldman of Philo, a social TV application launched in July.
According to a 2008 study by consultancy Parks Associates, based in Dallas, Texas, 20 per cent of people in the US want TV recommendations from friends and to chat with fellow viewers. What's more, a quarter of them are happy to share the stuff they watch.
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