Part sci-fi drama, part massively multiplayer online game, Defiance gives the phrase “social TV” a whole new meaning. Premiering in Spring 2013, the the entertainment hybrid is a collaboration between game publisher Trion Worlds and the Syfy cable network. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Defiance.
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. 
Have you ever heard of the “lean back” connected TV experience? It is the idea that most TV watchers don’t want to have to do anything while they’re watching TV, so digital and interactive elements should be minimalist enough so that a viewer can continue to lean back and relax while consuming this new flow of information. Well, a study by Viacom related to social TV called “Viewers C’s the Moment” has revealed that there may be a shift from a “lean-back to a lean-forward experience.” The study showed that viewers engage in an average of seven types of social TV activities.
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Facebook is Getting its Own App Store for All Devices, All Platforms, All Prices (VentureBeat)
Facebook is launching a new App Center, “a place to find social web, desktop, and mobile apps” — and not just Facebook apps. The App Center will bring Facebook’s 900 million users all the best in iOS apps, Android apps, web apps, mobile web apps and even desktops apps. Facebook Developer Blog Many developers have been successful with in-app purchases, but to support more types of apps on Facebook.com, we will give developers the option to offer paid apps. This is a simple-to-implement payment feature that lets people pay a flat fee to use an app on Facebook.com. CNET The challenge, for a platform like Facebook, is that it has to build a store on top of other existing stores. It is especially tricky to build on top of the Apple App store, which remains the only legitimate channel for users to get apps onto iOS devices. AllThingsD Ironically, on Wednesday, the company submitted another amendment to its S-1 filing to the SEC, further outlining its weaknesses in the mobile realm. The company’s daily active users has grown fast over the past year. But the corresponding number of ads delivered isn’t matching the pace of the daily-active-user growth. CNN Money Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg won’t be the only one collecting billions from Facebook’s initial public offering: Uncle Sam and the state of California are also poised to cash in big. Tax collectors will be taking a giant bite out of the paper millions that thousands of Facebook employees will soon gain. The average tax hit: $1.1 million per employee. Read more
Anne-Marie Roussel, a Sharp partnership and venture executive, has put together a great summary of the various different startups and businesses within the Social TV ecosystem, and for anybody interested in the intersection between social and TV should take a look at her work.
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LinkedIn Spends $119 Million on SlideShare — the YouTube of Slide Shows (Mashable) Professional social network LinkedIn on Thursday snagged presentation-sharing platform SlideShare for $118.75 million. SlideShare now attracts 29 million monthly visitors, while LinkedIn sees 107 million unique monthly visitors. GigaOM The acquisition, which involves 45 percent cash and 55 percent stock, gives LinkedIn another way to connect its users, who are often communicating and promoting themselves through PowerPoint presentations, slide shows and other content. TechCrunch The move makes a lot of sense from a product point of view. SlideShare recently deepened its integration with LinkedIn, and the two companies have compared their relationship to chocolate and peanut butter for professionals. The San Francisco Chronicle The Mountain View-Calif. based company, whose shares have more than doubled since its initial public offering last May, said membership increased to 161 million from 150 million in the fourth quarter. The company is signing up more professionals for its subscription services and attracting advertisers who want to reach the growing user base. CNBC LinkedIn reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The company posted first-quarter earnings excluding items of 15 cents per share on revenue of $189 million. Net income rose to $5 million, from $2.1 million in the same quarter a year ago. Read more
As viewers increasingly turn to Facebook and Twitter to talk about television, advertisers have been looking for a way to translate online engagement into ratings. According to AdAge, ComScore is ready with a new standard for measuring online audiences that could rival Nielsen’s.
The line between television and mobile Web is getting blurry, which the industry experts at yesterday’s NBCUniversal SocialTV Symposium said is great for ratings. “People are watching over an hour more of television than in past years,” said Stacey Shepatin, SVP, director of national broadcast at Hill Holiday. It looks like social TV is here to stay. Here’s what this means for advertisers.
Bravo's Lisa Hsia, Andy Cohen and Michael Davies
Today at the NBCUniversal SocialTV Symposium, Bravo’s Lisa Hsia sat down with Andy Cohen and Michael Davies for a keynote interview called “The Whole Package: Social TV Personality.” If you have ever sat white-knuckled through a live tweeting situation and wondered why you are even bothering, you should take notes from these two, who are the executive producers (Cohen is also the host) of the late-night interactive talk show, “Watch What Happens: Live.”
Social TV has been blowing up over the past couple of years, but there has been no really great way for networks to monitor the social media buzz surrounding their networks, series, and episodes…until now.
This week Producer Mark Burnett, whose franchises include Survivor, The Apprentice & The Voice announced that his company One Three Television LLC has taken an ownership interest in social TV network Youtoo and is seeking to integrate the technology into One Three Television LLC series.
