2Screen from Mint Digital

Last night Mint Digital ran an event as part of Digital Week. Called 2screen, it focused on the trend of watching TV at the same time as using a computer. The team had invited 4 people to give an overview of experiences they had built or been involved in.

Overall, this was a great evening. Although the principles weren’t new for me, I got some lovely examples to add to by case studies, for when I’m talking about Appointment Social Media which focuses on the same area. In addition, Mint had done a wonderful job of catering, with decent food – and champagne (or equivalent fizzy stuff) flowing all night.

I took a few notes.

Gerred Blythe, Lighthouse Experience

• A laptop user watching the TV is a ‘viewser’ (a neologism that Gerred made up)
• There are 4 main activities that prompt interactions
  • Prompt. A call to action on an ad or a programme; looking for a song; looking at IMDB.
  • Conversation. Twitter, IM, usually around a specific event
  • Programme Support. Looking up characters, background, episodes, TV shedule. could be on officila sites or fan support sites.
  • Enhanced Viewing. eg Test the Nation. Adding value, engaging or interacting.

Noam Sohachevsky, Mint Digital

• The are 9 components in theory of flow: Clear goals, Feedback, control, balance of ability and challenge, focused, lose feeling of self, distorted time, rewarding, actions and a merged awareness.
• A designer needs to thin about these to promote an engaging experience
• The first 4 are the key challenges for the 2 screen human/PC/TV interaction
• Examples include The Hills and Backchannel, Football3s (done by Mint) which is ‘live’ fantasy football for a game. Gives you direct and immediate feedback. Question Time using Twitter.
• You also have to consider the ebb and flow of programme activity.

Adam Gee, Channel 4

• Surgery Live, done in conjunction with Welcome Trust
• They combined Twitter with Live TV -there was a direct interaction between tweets and the editorial in the programme. They used a hashtag to monitor the conversation and then respond, both in Twitter or on screen. The tools were also used to cover the action before the live broadcast
• There was also a facebook group
• having it off the official sites meant you did not have to moderate
• Updated the site later with editorial, curated content, summaries and more answers to questions.

Tom McDonnell, Monterosa

• Did Test the Nation about 5 years ago, Also did Apprentice Predictor
• Also Living TV 4 Weddings. This was about rating and voting for weddings, plus a comment stream. There were about 3-4k people posting with about 20k posts,
• So why? it was cool and fun, Only 0.5-2%. People who get involved have a higher chance of talking about it.
• 84% are more likely to watch live when playing, they loved the on screen continuity, they are more positive about the channel. People seemed to like the interaction more than the game elements.