The Homa Files

TakeAway: TV check ins give advertisers a new way to get to know their customers even more. Some believe it to be the next big thing in social networking.

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Excerpted from Brandchannel, “Check-In, Tune In, Turn On” by Sheila Shayon, February 2, 2011

TV check-ins, aka social TV, is the newest form of online engagement. …it’s steadily growing and predicted to be a break-out trend of 2011.

Brands include GetGlue, Philo and Miso. So far, according to Clickz, GetGlue is the one to beat. Since launching in 2007, GetGlue has amassed 800,000 users, and 30,000 Twitter followers. …partnered with Discovery and HBO, and parlayed $12 million in financing from investors ….

GetGlue partnered with Fox and Fatburger … offering check-ins to the live premiere with printable Fatburger coupons redeemable for a free burger, …

Philo, … claims “tens of thousands” of users. …called it “Twitter + Foursquare For TV Fanatics.”

“[Social TV platforms are] yet another conduit by which brands, networks and sponsors can reach viewers in a contextually relevant time in a hyper-targeted way,” Levy told Clickz. “The context is relevant. They know what they’re watching, they know the demographic and they know each individual user because in general, they’re connecting [to Facebook and Twitter].”

Miso … has 100,000 users and a partnership with Oprah Winfrey’s new network, OWN.

…”People are already tying what they look at on this second screen with what’s happening on the television. The company does not have to create the habit, they merely have to co-opt it.”

Points and badges have proven their worth as social currency across virtually every cranny of the web, and now consumer proclivity for rewards has migrated back to the original screen – television.

… “Social Media and TV fanatics are ahead of the game right now and bending the rules to their will. …

Google’s Kraus acknowledges the imminent sprint for manifest destiny as advertisers are “very experimentally, viewing the second screen as an interesting tie-in opportunity.”

It’s only a matter of time before the click hits the TV screen big time – and the socialization of television becomes standard fare. It’s an evolutionary juggernaut that’s virtually unstoppable.

Edit by HH

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