Social TV fuels race for ’second screen’ dominance: 13 disruptive companies | SmartPlanet

Not too long ago, consumers had one screen in front of them at a time, and it was either a PC, or a standard television set. Now, consumers are surrounded by a “swarm of devices” that are increasingly interacting and overlapping one another. Lately, tablets have been the device of choice serving as the second screen of choice, and the race is on to capture big pieces of this vast new real estate.

I want my social TV: 'The old mode — watching the plain vanilla standalone TV, and perhaps talking with others actually in the room — is dead.'

That’s the gist of a new report by Stowe Boyd of Work Talk Research. He refers to the trend as “second screening,” but it means a lot more than simply having another screen present while watching television. It opens up a new era of interaction — the rise of “Social TV.” This Internet-TV convergence now taking place has implications for a range of industries, from broadcasting to content delivery to advertising.

As Gerd Leonhard of The Futures Agency describes it in the foreword of the report:  “Social TV and second screen business models… will bring up all of the tough issues inherent in any kind of convergence: who is allowed to do this or that, when and where, how will new revenue streams be invented and realized (as traditional revenues may decline or at least fragment), who will be the gatekeepers, when and where, and so on. Food-chain conflicts, galore,” Leonhard relates. “To me, it looks like we are moving towards an era of utter interdependence rather than continued or increased independence.”

via www.smartplanet.com

Stowe wrote a great report - go get it while the PDFs last:)

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• This is beachfront real estate. Buy In Now. (futureof.biz)