Digital Convergence: Facebook & Twitter on TV.

Summary:        Now we have a new form of convergence:  social networking and (cable) TV.  Not a bad move.  Verizon announced two new “products” in its “social TV” initiative.  One is a set of widgets that enable viewers to connect with other viewers through various social networks—while watching TV.  The second enables viewers to watch user-generated content from certain websites.  One more step in convergence.  Of course, it is a bit like the Zeno’s Paradox of digital convergence.  You could also say:  It’s about time. (Full disclosure:  We also posted this at globalstrategic.wordpress.com)

Through its FIOS TV service Verizon is taking a few bold steps towards digital convergence.  First, Verizon will create an application store with widgets developed together with some notable social networks—Twitter, Facebook, Veoh and a few others.  So, a FIOS subscriber can follow tweets they select from a list—including the programming they are watching.  They can log into Facebook (but not yet Twitter) to update their profile as to what they are watching at that moment.  An SDK will be launched soon.

The second new product permits a subset of subscribers to start searching and viewing UGC from certain video sites, including Veoh and Blip.TV.

So What?

Well, it is another step closer to digital convergence.  Using TV programs to tweet is an obvious stimulus to that convergence, when you consider how often TV shows are the subject of tweets.  Tweeting about these programs is of course nothing new and these widgets do not (yet) enable tweeting through the TV.  What it doespermit is to enable a viewer to see whose twitting what and when.

So that’s why it’s like Zeno’s Paradox.  Remember:  Walk halfway across the room, the half the remaining distance, then half the remaining distance—and so forth.  This is a little like that:  closer, closer, closer, but not quite there.

But the move is just the first and we can expect more.  The application store will propel developers to pay attention to crossing the chasm between the TV, the PC and the mobile phone.  Think about it:  Twitter is (largely) phone-based and Facebook is (largely) PC-based-platform.  This appeals to the developers.  FIOS competitors will figure out their own way to merge social networks with TV programming.

OK, now the gears are churning.  Think of characters using Twitter in the programs—and they are matched by Twitters available to FIOS users.  And so forth.

Stay tuned.

TV Ad Innovations—Embracing Multiple Platforms?

Summary:  CW will launch an ad campaign that encourages viewers to communicate with each other through social networking—texting, Twitter, Facebook and the like. 

Among the more interesting approaches to respond to advertisers’ demands on networks, CW will launch an ad campaign that acknowledges and embraces the viewers’ use of other platforms.  Called “TV to talk about,” the tagline will change with each ad to things like “TV to text about,” “blog about,” “chat about” and “tweet about.”  The New York Times published an interesting article on this point at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/business/media/21adco.html?emc=eta1

CW is probably better positioned than other networks because its programming attracts younger audiences who already interact across digital programs.  What was interesting (according to the NYT article) was that CW had to send researchers to the homes of viewers to find out that viewers do this.  Now that’s funny.  What are they reading?

So here’s an idea:  Let viewers opt in to a scroller that shows the most popular Tweets (or other feeds of comments of other viewers) during the show.  Of course, the scroller will be sponsored by an advertiser. . . .

New Experiment in News & Coffee

Summary–Newspapers Innovate:  An innovative approach to newspapers is being launched in the Czech Republic:  A (very) well-funded group will open cafes linked to the newsrooms of hyperlocal papers (to be published by the group).  Many Europeans like their espresso with their newspaper (and vice versa) so why not?

Yes, we have promised that this blog is not about newspapers, but we cannot help but look for innovations while all around us people are singing dirges.  The New York Times reported that a new venture has launched in the Czech Republic to publish hyperlocal newspapers in four cities and to open associated cafes.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/technology/internet/11iht-papers.html?8ad&emc=seiab1

PPF Group will soon publish multiple local newspapers on a weekly basis, in addition to multiple websites (can you say “repurpose?”), plus they will open cafes that will be next to—we mean right next to—the newsrooms for these papers.  Literally, the door will be open to the newsroom of each paper.

In addition, visitors will get help on such matters as building their social network profiles or other training on Internet skills.  The entire project will be branded “Nasa Adresa” or “Our Address.”  They may try to scale the model to elsewhere across Europe.

Oh yes, a couple of minor bits of information:  PPF Group has about a gejillion dollars (though they are putting about $13.4m into it).  And, oh yeah, I knew we forgot something:  Google is a major participant, providing the training and, of course, the advertising.  It just so happens that Google is not first in search in the Czech Republic.

So What?

So, it might be a good model.  The cross-platform approach adds the “real world” to demand for news plus Internet access.  It is a recognition that a “Café Society” is an optimal place to create an intersection of social practices.

Then again, its “goodness” as a model may depend largely upon the unusual circumstances there, to wit:

1. Czech is not spoken by a large number of people, so there is not a lot of space for competition, especially from major players who need large scale;  only those who take localization seriously—e.g., Google—would have a chance.
2. The Czechs have a kind of “Cafe Society,” which in this case means that they like to sit at the cafe while sipping their latte and reading.  It is like Paris.  However, other European countries are not quite the same:  The Italians named their coffee espresso for a reason.  Most coffeehouses there do not even have chairs (only in the restaurant part of the place).
   
3. People in European countries tend to like their newspapers, very much.  The hyperlocal approach, though novel, could be appealing, especially in new democracies, where the local politics are a hot topic.  Think of the broadsheets and pamphlets of London over the centuries.

Flash (not Gordon) in Your TV in 09

OK, file this one under “convergence in the home.”

At NAB, Adobe announced that they were working with partners to get Flash into home TV sets, with sales of such units to start later this year.

Snore, you say?

Well, it is quite a movement forward.

1.  Flash drives about 98% of all video on the Web (e.g., YouTube).

2.   It is a lot easier to make content in Flash than it is in most other authoring tools.  Hollywood likes that.

3.  True multi-platform migration (create once, distribute over many platforms) becomes possible.

We often under-estimate the importance of tools;  this one brings us closer to the mantra:

Any content any time anywhere any platform.

Repeat that twenty times as you go to sleep.

And get out those “Flash for Dummies” books now and polish your skills.  Hollywood will find a shortage.