NineMSN "Jump-in" to social TV

The convergence of television and social media is accelerating at an ever increasing rate, the latest evidence being the launch of ninemsn’s new app Jump-in.


The app, which is now free on the App Store for the iPad, turns TV viewers into active participants while shows are on air. 

Jump-in’s debut coincides with the London 2012 Olympics and features a range of interactive content to keep users up to date with the Games.

Users of Jump-in can see the Nine Network’s full Olympics schedule, set reminders, comment on events, check-in to shows, follow Olympic hashtags on Twitter, check the medal tally and watch video highlights.

See below for screenshots of the app in action.


My Verdict

The first thing to strike me is that ninemsn have gone down the same route as Yahoo!7 in creating an entirely new brand under which to house their app. Yahoo!7 used Fango, ninemsn have created Jump-in. I wonder if this shows a slight lack of confidence in the consumer perception of their masterbrands. Creating new platform specific brands serves to distance the second screen experience from the masterbrands (Yahoo!7 and ninemsn), something that could damage those brands in the long term if the consumer doesn't connect the two in their minds.

I haven't yet a chance to play around with the app itself, but from the screenshots it would appear that the navigation relies on an EPG format. The decision to make the architecture consistent with the way that a viewer would navigate through their TV listings is a clever one. Firstly, it ensures that it is intuitive to the target audience, television viewers. Secondly, it strengthens the bond in the viewer's mind between the app and the television screen, partially offsetting the distancing I talked about in the last paragraph. Creating an integrated and consistent experience across the different screens is vital for a second screen application to work.

In terms of the actual offering, there doesn't appear to be anything radically new here. There is no evidence of any audio-recognition or automatic synchronisation of content with the first (television) screen, so it is left entirely to the user to create their own journey. The integration of Facebook and Twitter in the application allows the viewer to share their opinion, but there's no aggregation of ongoing conversation as far as I can tell so this doesn't really create a dialogue, rather a one-way correspondence. I can't see what value this offers the viewer over and above simply using Facebook or Twitter.

While there is the ability for msnnine to publish extra background content, there doesn't at this stage appear to be anything truly interactive like polling, voting, games etc. It all feels a little bit "broadcast" rather than personalised and tailored to the specific screen. This may just be the case at launch though and I'm sure there will be scope to provide a more interactive experience in future iterations.

In summary, the app looks thoughtfully branded and well designed. The question will be whether they can truly tap into the personalisation, conversation and gamification consumer needs by designing captivating experiences for the platform. Time will tell.

 You can check the TV schedule across different broadcasters and set reminders...

Check in, find out more and add programmes to your favourites...

Tweet or post to Facebook about the show you're watching...

The app will include interactive content around key news events...

How the internet became everything...

I've just discovered a great infographic from Orcon and I was going to take the trouble to write out the key findings from it, but then I thought I should post the whole thing and let you make your own mind up.

25 million uploaded photos per month in a country of 4.5 million people. Sounds like a lot to me...

New life in Google+

Have Google finally found way of breathing life into their seemingly terminal social network Google+? Well, possibly. Just possibly.


This morning, the first evidence of some potentially deeper integration between Google Search and Google+ was spotted in the UK. A new option in the search results that showed up next to the URL, displayed a “Share” link.  Upon hitting the button, users are prompted to share directly to Google+ from the results pages.  The result is included as a link and users are given the ability to add a comment:

This is the first time that Google have integrated their full "sharing" function within their search results and could spark a take up of the social network among Google's search users. And as we all know, there are plenty of those.


This is the first time that Google+ has really found a way of differentiating itself from Facebook by leveraging their core search asset. Time will tell whether or not it's enough to drive a change of consumer behaviour, but it's certainly an intelligent move for a company desperate to tap into Facebook's 900 million strong population. 



Google’s Product Manager Sean Liu confirmed that this is an official product rollout. He wrote:


"Starting today, we’re rolling out a new experiment to show a Share link in Google search in place of the +1 button, making it easier for you to share a great website with your friends. Now when you click the Share link next to a result, you can add a comment about why you found it useful. You can then choose if you want to share it publicly or just to your Circles and it will post to your Google+ stream, making it easier for you to share directly from the search results page. This will appear for those searching in English."

How Facebook works - the mystery of EdgeRank

I've realised that sometimes I talk about the intricacies of the social and anthropological drivers of social media without actually stepping back and making sure that everyone understands how the platforms themselves function. So here's a very brief explanation of how Facebook works and what it means to brands.

As I'm sure you'll all know, Facebook is social utility that allows people to create an online identity through which they can build connections to their friends, family, associates, campaigns, businesses and brands in which they're interested.

Most of the activity within Facebook happens within the News Feed. This is a constantly updating list of stories from the friends and pages that a user chooses to follow. A story is anything that happens in Facebook that creates an update - this can be a new post, comment, like, share or any action within the platform. Facebook calls these updates "Edges".

The average NZ FBer has 203 friends and follows at least one brand. That means their News Feed contains a lot of updates. So Facebook has worked out a way of making sense of these updates to ensure that a user gets the information that they would be most interested in at the top of their feed. This is called "EdgeRank".

EdgeRank orders "Edges" (or stories) according to three values - Affinity, Weight and Time Decay. It's important that brands understand how to make EdgeRank work them so that they can get into users' newsfeeds.

Affinity is how close the user is to the generator of the "Edge". Affinity is built by repeat interactions with the brand's posts - the more often they interact with brand updates through liking, commenting, sharing, clicking etc, the higher the affinity value. It's therefore important that brands only post what they think their users will be interested in. Every post that isn't of interest and therefore doesn't get engagement reduces this affinity rating.

Weight is dictated by the type of "Edge" that is created. The easiest way to think of this is that the longer it takes to create the post, the greater the weight. So a photo or video post carries more weight than a text or link post. A comment carries more weight than a "like". Don't get confused by this - it doesn't mean we should be writing essays. The length of the post is not important, it's the type that makes the difference.

Time Decay is the most self-explanatory of the EdgeRank values. This is simply how old the post is. An Edge has a fairly short lifespan, so it's important that brands only post when their audiences are likely to be active on Facebook.

It's important to understand that thanks to EdgeRank, a branded page will never reach 100% of its "likes". In fact, the proportion will often be fairly low and one of the metrics that a brand should use to track its success on Facebook is the interaction rate (number of interactions per post per thousand fans). This is a good way of tracking how much of your audience actively engages with your content and therefore whether you're posting the right content at the right time.

Here's a good infographic I've found explaining how EdgeRank could apply to different situations:

This could change our world...

Isn't it amazing how prescient science fiction can be? Do you remember the computer interfaces in Minority Report and the way Tom Cruise was able to pull pieces of content around on a screen simply by swiping his hands? We now all take it for granted that we can do that on tablets and smartphones, but even that relies on touching a screen and allows only a two dimensional interaction. 


Well Leap Motion is about to change all that. An amazingly clever little gadget, when this is released in December it will allow users to interact with content in a 3 dimensional space in front of their monitor. This means you'll be able to produce three dimensional images, moves things around and navigate through content with just fingers or any other objects you care to pick up. The possibilities are boundless.

Take a look at the video below for a clearer picture. There are desktop mice all over the world fearing for their future...

Social Media Sets the UK News Agenda

Social media is the news source of choice for Britain’s under 25-year-olds.

According to the first Reuters Institute Digital Report, 43% of people between 16 and 24 get their news from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook rather than search engines such as Google.

Over 45-year-olds’ use of social media for getting news pales in comparison to the younger demographic — just 11% say they get news from the social web. For 33% of British people over 45, search engines are the online method of choice.

Between different social networks, Facebook is the most popular place to share news. More than half (55%) of people share news on Facebook, beating email, where 33% of people share, and Twitter, where 23% of people share. Few people responded that they share frequently to Google+ or LinkedIn.

The report’s editor, Nic Newman, found that Europeans are generally less interested than Americans in sharing news or engaging otherwise digitally.

As far as what they like to read goes, UK readers are more interested in science and technology news (23%) than business and financial news (19%).

This clearly makes for interesting reading for organisations in which news distribution is key. All news outlets will have to find new ways of reaching their audiences to keep up with consumer behaviour. It's a move from news as a product to news as a process. Where traditionally news has been dictated by production and distribution within a one-size-fits-all methodology it is now an always-on, transparent and collaborative process.

This is not all bad news for traditional media companies. While there may now be a need to change workflows to ensure that consumers are included in the process, there are benefits to the new news environments. Traditionally news content has had a short shelf-life. Now, value is being found in the archive as consumers find that timeliness isn't the key driver for conversation, but rather quality of content. Shareable, engaging, entertaining and interesting news remains that for a longer period.

There's an argument that being first is no longer the key objective - rather it's being the first credible and accurate source. News brands are becoming curators rather than creators and it's only once this transition has taken place that news organisations can make the most of the new news platforms.

Where do you get your news? Search engines, media outlets or social networks? Take part in my online poll here

Heineken Second Screen app

Second screen genius...

Okay, I confess - I'm a huge football fan. And I mean that in the British sense. In other words, "soccer". Which probably makes me slightly biased about the below example of second screen innovation. However, over an above the application being based around the world's greatest sport, there is plenty to applaud in this brilliant activation.

Firstly, it proves that there is a place for brands in second screen and social engagements. Heineken are plastered all over this app, but they never feel like they're distracting or irritating. Instead, they supply the user with an engaging experience that evokes a positive emotional response to the brand.

Secondly, this is a great example of consumer led second screen engagement. It doesn't try to change viewer behaviour, it just taps into the existing behaviour. Football fans (trust me, I know about them) have always watched the game making predictions like "here comes a goal" or "they'll win this easily". This app simply let's them do that, in a really fun way, with a competitive perk and communal experience.

The consumer and the content comes first - the platform is just the method of delivery.