When I watch TV, I have the remote control perched on one arm of my chair and my smartphone on the other.
That’s because I love tweeting while watching television. (And clearly, I enjoy being in control).
Tweeting while watching TV means I get to discuss the show with others, make new friendships and fill in the time during boring TV commercials.
I generally don’t enjoy commercial TV because of the intrusive and repetitive ad breaks, but Twitter has encouraged me to get past that. Twitter gives me something to do during the breaks, and I enjoy the banter with tweeps who are watching the same show. Occasionally I’ve discovered a show because I’ve seen so many others tweeting about it and I trust their recommendations.
This means Twitter presents opportunities for TV stations to 1) gain more viewers 2) listen to viewers 3) tell advertisers that TV is still a valid medium. We know they’ve cottoned onto this – particularly in the reality TV genre – because TV producers are showing tweets on-screen, they’re asking the Twitterverse for their opinion, encouraging discussion and putting resources into their social media channels.
I recently asked the Twitterverse if they like tweeting and watching TV at the same time, and why. Here’s a snapshot of some of the responses from those who do:
I received a few comments about Australia’s timezones and the frustrations this causes when the nation usually can’t watch online together:
What about you? Do you have The Second Screen in your hand while watching television?
Related posts:
Twitter encourages live TV viewing
I usually have my iPad on my lap whilst watching TV, but it depends on what I’m watching (if there are no ads generally not). I don’t watch any of the shows people tweet live about so I don’t tweet while I watch. I use it to occupy myself during ad breaks mainly 🙂 (oh how intolerant of boredom we have become!)