I’ve shared my vision of how our web experience will be more collaborate including traditionally solo activities such as viewing videos online in “Social Media Rooms”. I think one of the best ways to implement social viewing would be to offer it to sports fan so they can watch a game and chat in real-time as if they’re at the game. The benefits would be that these social fans would also have access to a plethora of games statistics, news and information. They would also be able to enjoy the game and the thoughts and witty remarks from other fans.
CBS has done an excellent job with their Watch and Chat area called SocialRoom on their website where you can watch CBS TV shows (old and new) and chat at the same time. The selection is rather sparse but the concept is excellent.
Ultimately, we will see an option to turn on the social feature for anything we view online. The key is to give us the option to turn it on and off whenever we want. CBS provides that option so if you get tired of your chatty friends you can click an option to watch the show in peace.
However, I think adding the ability to experience video such as news or sporting events makes a great deal of sense in these interactive times. It’s not a matter of if but when.
