Over the past few months, many people have suggested that social viewing is the next logical step for online media. Social viewing simply means consuming content with your friends and interacting with other like-minded people while watching content.
While social viewing has certainly been successful for large-scale events such as the Presidential Inauguration and the Oscars, it won’t be successful for a majority of the web for a few reasons:
- No advantage: Currently, social viewing does not offer any benefit to the end user. None at all. Social viewing might be beneficial in a learning environment (example: a corporate training course), but there is no distinct advantage otherwise.
- Distraction: Social viewing is a distraction for most people. There’s a reason why movie theaters dim their lighting and specifically mention users to lower their voices.
- Analysis: Many fans and analysts talk about the movie/content after it has aired or is published. No one likes to talk while a movie is going on. Furthermore, independent online properties have been created to support individual shows or a group of shows, proving that analysis is best done after the fact.
- Time-shift: Many people watch content at different times. Even in the United States, there is an East Coast feed and a West Coast feed, ensuring that people won’t have access to the same content at the same time. Our community is also moving towards a time-shifted viewing model, which makes it convenient for people to watch content anytime, anywhere. Social Viewing is a step in the opposite direction
While social viewing may offer some benefits for an event that is extremely popular, it will continue to be a myth for most content.
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