Digital Media Buzz > TV Gets Personal: Social Networking Through Set-Top Boxes

TV Gets Personal: Social Networking Through Set-Top Boxes

By Ron Callari

In the last year, “social T.V.” has emerged as the new technology that supports communication and interaction in the context of watching television and its content. It’s a general term that was spawned as a result of the popularity of our current fascination with social media and user-generated content on the Internet. Interpreted in a lot of different ways, social television systems can integrate voice communication, text chat, presence and context awareness, TV recommendations, ratings or video-conferencing with the TV set.

Some see social television as the melding of both technologies, i.e. the Internet and TV. It can include television-related social behavioral patterns and data that can be fed to one’s desktop computers as is currently being developed by BackChannelMedia’s Clickable TV.

This year’s BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing series, which can be viewed live on the BBC’s website, elicits direct interaction with the viewing audience. Their ‘Strictly Social‘ website allows fans to predict judges’ scores, post their text comments in a real-time chat box and answer quiz questions pertaining to the Brits’ version of “Dancing with the Stars.”

But to date, according to Gurminder Singh, CTO of the award-winning social networking software-based service MoSoNex, “there’s been no other service currently on the market that offers live streaming of videos, photos and actual programming to TV,” that is user-generated.

The widely popular SNL sketch Wayne’s World of the ’90s comes to mind. In discussing user-generated programming with Singh, he noted that using the MoSoNex software-based service anybody, “can set up one’s own TV broadcast that can go on the air, on a scheduled basis.” However since this is the next dimension in social media, Singh sees a lot of competition entering this space quickly. “We’re probably going to see this on a broad scale  - just as the Internet turned everyone into a content publisher, just as blog networks expanded rapidly, we believe consumers everywhere will build private TV networks,” Singh says.

The Way It Works
MoSoNex, based in Singapore, Honeoye Falls, New York and the Silicon Valley, has developed proprietary, patent-pending technology to deliver photos and video directly from one’s mobile smartphone to the TV via an Internet TV set-top box. The TV set-top box allows MoSoNex’s technology to bypass cable operators, telecom providers and other intermediaries. Since most consumers are already connected to an off-the-shelf Internet TV set-top box, the connectivity channel is already in place.

Singh asserted that where they do have partnership deals with cable companies, the consumer will not need to have access to the TV’s set-top box, and MoSoNex is in the process of presently developing those joint collaborations.

Fees
MoSoNex is a low-cost, subscription-based service. Consumers who subscribe to MoSoNex directly can expect a monthly subscription cost of less than $20, depending on the level of service. The software is free. The only other fees for the consumer are those associated with the set top box and a 3G smartphone service, which many consumers already have.

Social Connections
By incorporating the TV into the social networking mix, MoSoNex is providing a unique service to the consumer. Singh says, “the possibilities are literally endless for individuals and companies alike.” For example, “bloggers can in effect become broadcasters, telcos can gain a major competitive advantage and TV manufacturers can build new interactivity into their offerings,” he adds.

On a personal level, ‘MoSoNex Family Connect‘ allows families to stay connected with this service. Parents and grandparents can receive photo and video transmittals sent by their loved ones directly to their TVs and then access them by simply using their remote control. According to Joy M. Schellentrager, an 86-year old grandmother who resides at Dominican Oaks, a retirement community in California, “MoSoNex Family Connect enables me see photos of my family moments after they are taken.”

However since MoSoNex will not officially launch until 2010, the beta technology hasn’t been out long enough for consumers to build the kind of private networks that will eventually become prevalent next year.

Regarding future user-generated content, in querying Singh on the potential transfer of X-rated photos and videos via MoSoNex, he indicated that “MoSoNex is not a broadcast medium. It simply relies on the existing technology of TV and the Internet and the opt-in option of the consumers.” Consequently MoSoNex “is a technology enabler of private social networking channels that include TV as a device, and [as such] we’re not in the business of regulating the content our customers choose to send,” he says.

In November, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced its International Best of Innovations 2010 award honorees and MoSoNex was named the best in ‘Social Networks,’ which distinguishes the company as one of 36 firms that have made significant advancements in design and engineering.

Singh believes MoSoNex is “the next dimension in social media, and just as the Internet turned everyone into content publishers, just as blog networks expanded rapidly, we believe consumers everywhere will build private TV networks.” When that occurs MoSoNex is primed to be the go-to social networking channel that will have pioneered its way in becoming the first service to bridge the gap between user-generated content and television broadcasting.