How Twitter is Surfing the Social TV Wave

Social TV has finally reached the stage where it’s no longer on the fringe of the conversation and Twitter has taken a key role in integrating Social Media and TV. While Facebook is still testing timelines, tickers, music integration, etc., Twitter has set its sights clearly on TV and is leading the way by partnering with other technology companies, sharing data, and working with content producers.

I am impressed with the foresight that Twitter has shown around TV. Here are the seven things I feel they are doing right, and what other social media platforms should emulate:

1. Re-Syndicating Twitter Content for Display:
Twitter has begun partnering with technology companies such as Mass Relevance who put real-time, curated social content and interaction into engaging brand experiences to web, mobile and TV. Mass Relevance’s technology is valuable because it filters the stream that comes gushing out of the Twitter fire hose so that only the highest quality tweets about a given subject are displayed. This, in turn, makes the user experience richer and encourages more engagement.

2. Focus on Analysis:
By Partnering with Crimson Hexagon, Twitter is making it easier for advertisers, TV shows, and news organizations to understand the meaning behind tweets. What Twitter users are thinking, feeling, and how they are reacting are key components to using social data to inform future decisions.

3. Working with Nielsen:
For now, Twitter is working with Nielsen, instead of against it. That’s a smart first move – collaborate rather than compete, as Twitter is still establishing its credibility as a reference to compare the popularity of various TV shows. But I expect that with time, Twitter data will actually become more relevant than traditional Nielsen ratings and replace them altogether. I have seen this happen with other data-driven businesses in the past, when I was an analyst with Gartner. The power of what I would call “crowd-sourcing ratings” – i.e. ratings by actual users rather than by “experts” – is widely underestimated. (More on that in an upcoming post.)

4. Becoming Part of the Infrastructure of TV:
Hashtags, Important words and terms, and usernames need to be in place on the Twitter platform before showing up on the screen. According to Twitter’s research, simply showing them on-air can double the online chatter. Twitter is working closely with advertisers and content producers to make sure that the structure is in place for them to take advantage of these opportunities.

5. Working with Apps Developers:
Second screen apps developers such as GetGlue and Miso enable TV audiences to easily engage on Twitter while watching TV. Research shows that between 60%-80% of TV viewers regularly are using a second device, so being able to automatically tweet on a second-screen while watching TV is an important element.

6. Working with Content Producers to Make TV Shows More Interactive:
With agreements such as one with The X Factor that created voting features to drive the program’s outcome, Twitter is working directly with show producers. Fans of live television events have been using Twitter to voice their opinions for quite a long time. This type of partnership enables the audience to now communicate directly with the show and legitimately affect the outcome.

7. Evangelizing to the Developer Community:
Twitter seems to understand what I would call “the power of the ecosystem.” They are making it easy for developers to leverage the opportunity by including on their developers’ site a “Best Practice Guide” which clearly explains how to integrate Twitter with TV programs. Smart move to win support.

Kudos to Twitter for showing an innovative approach to Social TV. These are good first steps. Let’s see if they can build a sustainable (as in “monetizable”) long-term business strategy based on these early building blocks.

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