KrystelleLorraine's blog

This is your opportunity to not only to be social online and on your phones, but also on TV!  Taking Social TV to a completely new level, YouToo, formerly ALN, is the very first network to be dubbed the "first Social TV network." Up until now, Social TV has included conversations online with computers, mobile devices, and tablets. YouToo expands your ability to netowrk with other fans of the show you are watching by selecting 15 seconds of submitted video to showcase a viewer's answer to a given question on national TV.

Facebook has made some new changes in the past few days and the new system seems a bit familiar. Facebook changed the way that a user updates their status messages and the options that user has when updating.

One obvious addition, is the choice to decide who receives your updates. You can chose to update the "public", or all of your friends, or select a "list" that you have created to make the status more private. This function is, oh, so similar to Google + which allows it's users to update their status messages to certain "circles".

If you weren’t one of the lucky 150 top level executives invited to attended The Social TV Summit last month, I am here to give you the scoop. The event occurred, not surprisingly, in a place which has housed many key players of whom have shaped the evolution of Hollywood. The Bel-Air Country Club was the perfect place for a summit dedicated to the discussion of Social TV and the opportunities Social Media is providing for networks, advertisers, and producers, among others, as well as the unique experience it can provide viewers.

Social Media Producers, “Are You Ready For Your Close-Up”?

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, YouTube, Metacafe, Friendster, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, not to mention Social TV apps: GetGlue, Miso, Tunerfish, IntoNow, Philo… the list just goes on and on. With all of these existing and emerging social networking sites, how do we find enough time in the day to be socially active AND eat, sleep, and LIVE?!

I must say that, as a comedy girl myself, I can’t wait until the day that Sitcoms have fully embraced the way the internet and social media are changing the game of TV. I think for the case of TV, it is easy to see how genre shows, such as ‘True Blood’, reality show, such as ‘Basketball Wives’, and competition shows, such as ‘The Voice’ can integrate social media in a way that is extremely beneficial to the show; however, the case isn’t so with one-hour dramas or sitcoms.

Katie Paine, CEO of KDPaine & Partners talks about the new wave of what companies look for when selecting where to advertise and classifies “consumers” into 5 levels of engagement based on how the individual interacts on social media:

Searchers- People who just scan online resources to find information. They aren’t users of social media.

Lurkers- People who are passive in the social media world; they watch, but never participate.

Casuals- People who will become lightly involved in conversation on social media.

I heard Peter Hyoguchi, CEO of Strike.TV speak this past weekend and I found it fascinating to hear what he had to say about web-production in this new media era. Strike.TV is an internet television website that was created during the “Writer’s Strike” that started in 2007. Strike.TV provides a network of original content from some very big names in the industry. Below I have included some of the highlights of Hyoguchi’s talk about web-production.

Have you heard of Klout Perks? If you want to receive free swag from your favorite tv shows and movies, then you should acquaint yourself with Klout Perks.

According to the Klout Perks website, “99% of consumers trust peer recommendations, only 33% trust ads.” That is why companies are starting to reward their top social influencers with free swag. Companies like, Nike, Audi, Universal, Turner, Virgin America, Disney, HP, P&G, Subway, Fox, Paramount, and many others are now turning to the “Influence the Influencers” motto.

So, if getting free stuff sounds good to you, you should probably start working on improving your Klout.

Ian Somerhalder, from The Vampire Diaries was voted in the top 5 of top celebrities on Social Media in TVGuide.com’s “The Watchlist Hot List”. Many thanks to his 1 million+ Twitter followers, I am sure.

I am sure Ian Somerhalder will be even more social after The Vampire Diaries season premiere, September 15th.

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That’s right folks, there is a new Social TV app in store for all of us and it is called Umami. Umami is a NYC-based company, founded in 2010. It is backed by Battery Ventures, NEA, and numerous other angel investors. This new app is promised to “enhance the consumer TV viewing experience, while dramatically simplifying the creation of these experiences for networks and advertisers.” The app will be making it’s world debut sometime this fall season. 

To read more, visit the Umami Website

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True Blood took home the 4th highest cable program this past week, with approximately 5.526 million viewers, which is a record high for the series. True Blood falls in behind Jersey Shore, Rizzoli & Isles, and The Closer, and just barely ahead of Pawn Stars, Burn Notice, and Royal Pains.

To read more, check out ZAP2it here.

Microsoft has released a Social Viewing app in Japan called Tele-Ping. This new app is much like our current TV Guide app, however, it allows users to search for shows to watch and share with their friends, ahead of time, what they will be watching. The product was just released, yet it has gotten 247 stellar reviews so far.

At this time, there is no public plan to bring the app to the US.

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I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Folgner, Founder of SnappyTV and winner of “Best Social Idea” at the Social TV Summit. I asked him questions about the company and his views on the future of Social TV. Let me know what you think:

Krystelle Lorraine: What exactly is SnappyTV?