As if watching TV, while talking on your land line, and cooking dinner wasn’t enough multitasking, now we have the SECOND SCREEN to add another layer of distraction to the already fragmented media mix.
What is it anyway? According to Wikipedia…
“ Second screen, is a term that refers to an additional electronic companion device (e.g. tablet, smartphone) that allows a television audience to interact with the content they are consuming, such as TV shows, movies, music, or video games. Extra data is displayed on a portable device synchronized with the content being viewed on television.”
In the good old days a bunch of friends would all get together to watch TV shows like General Hospital, Dallas, or even Melrose Place. We actually “talked” to each other about the t.v. show and presented our own interpretive version of how we thought the storyline would play out.
Now with the phenomenon of “second screen”, who needs to socialize in person anymore?
The second screen has taken watching TV to a whole new level. A level that no longer requires friends to gather together in the same room in order to watch TV in social groups. The second screen lets us have these same conversations with our friends on Facebook, tweet with thousands of strangers who share a common passion for our favorite shows while simultaneously communicating with the actual television characters in a live real-time format.
Is this a good thing or not? From a technology perspective, it’s our future so we should embrace it. The second screen also offers network programmers new creative ways to deliver content to us. For example, a user watching Saturday Night Live and participating in a live chat of the show from their iPad, might see a Dominos Pizza ad on TV and simultaneously view an interactive digital ad with a menu and ‘order now’ button on their device. It also allows advertisers another avenue to reach consumers, and most of all it offers all of us a more personalized viewing experience. What are your thoughts about the second screen evolution?