I’m going to take a guess that you use Facebook. If you are, you are one of more than 1.1 billion active users. If you are a Twitter fan, you are one of 200 million who use the service every month. But you probably already know that there are a lot of people on Facebook and Twitter, that’s one of the reasons they are such attractive services.
A full year ago, before “second screen” became a buzzphrase, 1 in 5 TV viewers were using Facebook to chat about the shows they were watching while they were watching. Between Facebook and Twitter, TV viewers have a perfectly functioning, massive ecosystem with which they can satisfy their needs for social discussion about their favorite TV shows.
So this begs the question: Why are so many networks, broadcasters and app developers touting their social TV app as the latest and greatest for second screen activities?
The truth is the second screen industry, which has endless opportunities for innovation and engagement, has settled into a recurring habit of pulling the same tired ideas from a stagnant pool. Social media is the easy and fast way for brands to get in on the second screen movement. But nothing game changing was ever easy and fast, right?
The technology to create something new and exciting and engaging for viewers is there. The desire for a meaningful second screen experience is there. The ROI from highly engaged ad views is there. The only piece of the puzzle we are lacking is an innovator in the industry who is willing to take the leap into uncharted territory and create something TV viewers have never seen before.
Remember, people didn’t know they wanted Facebook before it was created, and now people seemingly can’t live without it. TV viewers are just waiting for a leader who will skip the social TV shortcut for the long road, and the best part is that at the end of the long road is an ROI payoff that social TV apps will never see.
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