September 2012

Creating Encounters with TV Programs via the SNS Function

From the Demonstration Experiment of “teleda” - a TV Review SNS Site

Koji Ogawa / Masaru Miyazaki / Akitsugu Baba / Go Ohtake

NHK (The NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute and the NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories) have developed an experimental website “teleda” that is equipped with VOD and SNS functions and have conducted a series of experiments. In order to expand the so-far limited communication space, we newly added a function to link to twitter and other external SNSs as well as a real-time function that enables users to chat simultaneously while watching a TV program. With these new functions we carried out the third demonstration experiment. The result of the experiment indicated a possibility that the link to external SNSs would increase young users and would allow more energetic communication while it also revealed challenges such as the difficulty in linking to different SNSs that have different features and a possibility that users’ reluctance to register their addresses and names for participation in “teleda” might serve as a barrier. Regarding the real-time chat function, although some mentioned the problem of time constraint and some said they would rather concentrate on watching television, it is indicated that there are certain needs for sharing viewing experience and that the service may offer the users opportunity to encounter with new TV programs. As the number of SNS users is growing, the meaning of “encounters” on the social space is carrying more weight. Given this, it is indispensable to repeat trial and error by responding to changes in the external media environment and by expanding the communication space, and it is continuously requested to further examine the challenges that were revealed from the latest experiment and to work by adjusting the changing media environment.

The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research