Most Searched Word on Boxfish Today: Apple

Noise About iPhone 5 Dominates Our Search Queries

9.13.2012—In just a day after the iPhone 5 was officially announced, everyone has been inflicted with a voracious appetite for info about the coming mobile device. Even now, the most searched term on Boxfish in the last 24 hours is “Apple.”

Likewise, here are the mentions that “Apple” has received on TV since the beginning of the month:

That spike occurred during yesterday’s iPhone announcement.

In a time when Obama and Romney are going at each other’s necks about foreign policy, U.S. embassies and consulates in Yemen, Egypt and Libya are being barraged with protests and assaults after an anti-Muslim video by an American was aired on Youtube, the iPhone buzz is raking in search query numbers, tweets and articles like no other. 

Facebook Aims to be 2nd-Screen of 2012 Election

CNN and Facebook Team Up to Cover Social Activity Surrounding Election

7.9.2012— As we get closer and closer to November’s presidential election, discourse about which candidate is best suited for the office of Commander-in-Chief heats up, just as much on the web as on TV. Facebook and CNN have taken note and, according to Mashable’s article by reporter Zoe Fox, are working together to curate the social buzz circulating about this year’s election.

The two companies plan to measure and present opinions expressed on Facebook, writing that they plan to “aggregate users’ sentiment and CNN will incorporate the findings into its coverage.”

As the new word-of-mouth conduit is social media, it is only right that news agencies pay attention to what social media traction a story or issue receives. Al-Jazeera created a show titled “The Stream,” which displays the social media response and citizen journalism encompassing key issues around the world.

The move by CNN to go beyond sensational tweets and give a proper overview of the social media reaction to political happenings regarding the 2012 election via Facebook could be the happy marriage between Old Media and New Tech that boosts viewership engagement and boost ratings.

Disagreeing With TV Content in the Modern Age

Pro Al-Assad Group Hacks Al-Jazeera’s AJStream Twitter Account

7.5.2012—In the new internet age, when TV shows occupy the same communication space as the voice against the content on that show, voicing opposition to that show could mean a very different thing. The “Syrian Electronic Army” showed just that when they hacked the twitter account of Al-Jazeera’s TV show, “The Stream,” a daily news program revolving around the social media activity and citizen journalism of current issues. 

The Syrian Electronic Army tweeted messages and links in support of Syria’s president, Bashar Al-Assad, using The Stream’s twitter handle, @AJStream. The Stream is just the latest of a list of 40-plus targets the hacker group attacked for sympathizing with Syrian rebel forces. 

As TV shows move toward a heavier presence online, this type of “speaking out” against certain programming may become par for the course. Even last year, the hacker group Lulzsec hacked the PBS News homepage in response to the Wikileaks story that Frontline broadcasted before the site was hacked. Lulzsec published a story on the homepage claiming that deceased rapper Tupac Shakur was actually alive and living in New Zealand. 

While the more notable examples of hacking in opposition of TV content has revolved around TV news, as TV content moves into the future, the twitter account of TV show celebrities, a disagreement about the decision of reality-show judges, or a distasteful commercial could earn content creators and all involved the ire of a hacker. The days of the angry letter sent to the TV station could be at its end. 

Social TV Utilities Expand

The 2nd Screen and the Social Space, Becoming More Integral to TV

6.13.2012—There are some intriguing things going on with the 2nd screen and social TV. Two Lost Remote articles point to how ConnecTV, a social TV app, and Reddit may become integral to connecting viewers with TV content. 

While broadcasters are looking to Facebook and Twitter to expand their viewership and online presence, Reddit’s community boards are a more distilled example of how a show/channel is being received by the viewership and what kind of impact it is making online. I think we are starting to see the space for social connectivity regarding TV fanfare spilling over to other platforms. Or maybe it was already there, and the industry is only now taking notice.

That is probably why ConnecTV is emphasizing on being able to be interactive with as many TV channels and affiliates as possible. One major point they bring up in being successful with engaging users via the 2nd screen is, according to the article:

“Local partners don’t want the same thing to happen on the second screen that’s increasingly happening on the first. And there’s a strong argument that viewers don’t want to fumble around with a half-dozen second-screen apps, but engage with one that works across the full palette of TV. ‘We operate the way you watch TV,’ said ConnecTV’s Aaron in an interview with Lost Remote in February. ‘No matter what channel you tune to, you’re going to have an experience.’ “

It’s pretty interesting to see how others are seeing the value in streamlining how users/viewers connect to the TV content they care about.

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