I had an interesting engagement on Twitter earlier today. I replied and retweeted a question from Rogers that asked if I would use social media from my TV:
Not if I want to keep my followers RT @rogersbuzz: Would you tweet from your TV? @torontostartech looks at Smart TVs bit.ly/11pFkVE
— Mark Goldberg (@Mark_Goldberg) February 6, 2013
My answer has presumed an automatic twitter feed that would let me followers know about each channel selection or program change. For the record, I un-follow people who have Foursquare connect to their Twitter feed. To me, that is noise, not information. I don’t care if you are now the mayor of Burger King.
The Toronto Star video shows them testing the voice recognition capability that allows you to input a Twitter or Facebook update via the TV remote.
I don’t get it.
This strikes me as engineers building a capability because they can, not necessarily based on common sense. My social media activity is from me. It is personal. A big screen TV belongs to the household, and it is a shared viewing experience. It strikes me as selfish to interrupt a group viewing experience for a personal indulgence.
Think of security issues as well. The idea of having to log in and log-out of a TV in order to protect the integrity of my social media feed is more than I could take.
We have seen the transition from household based telephones to personal based mobile devices. We know that many people watch TV with mobile devices and tablets in hand, precisely so that they can add personal commentary on social media, from their personal appliances.
Social media on a big screen TV strikes me as an idea with appeal limited to people who have no family or friends who ever come to visit.
I doubt that would be much of a selling feature.
Hi Mark,
Interesting thoughts here about the move toward a connected home. Your idea of a TV being a household item and part of a shared viewing experience, compared to how social media activity tends to be very personal is very apt. It’s also one I agree with, my social media activity is also from me, and not often a group activity.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
Sarah