Social Media Convergence Continues

Consumers’ rapidly growing interest in social networking has resulted in many looking beyond the computer and mobile screens to the living room, according to a new study by ABI Research. A recent survey revealed that today’s consumers are looking to extend their social networks to the TV, as 36% of those who currently use social media on a regular basis say they’d like to access their networks on the TV screen.

“Just as video entertainment is moving fluidly across various screens, so is social media,” says senior analyst Jason Blackwell. “We’ve seen that consumers find increased value through shared entertainment experiences and want to explore and deepen these experiences through communities of interest; and that’s what social TV will ultimately do.”

Younger consumers were more interested in engaging with their friends through chat and messaging, while middle-aged respondents were more likely to be interested in more passive social networking behavior such as checking status updates. The most popular potential application for those over 50 who expressed interest in TV social networking was being able to see what their friends were watching on TV.

“Today we already see tens of millions of consumers engaging in communities in the living room through online console gaming services,” adds Blackwell. “Just as this interest community has seen rapid growth in the past few years, we expect the extension of Web 2.0 technologies to the living room to propel growth in new communities of interest.” There’s been talk for years about when this convergence will really occur, kind of like the talk for decades about transitioning to video telephones. But this one looks like it’s really starting to happen, creating enormous business opportunities to create exciting growth companies to build and take public!

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