Hello, all. It's been quite a while since I've posted, but I'm back. I was trying to think of something interesting to talk about for my first post of the new year, when I found this article in my Google Reader. The confusion that ensued is documented below.
The Las Vegas Sun article linked above talks about Myspace's and Panasonic's new deal that will change "how people interact with their televisions." From what I can gather, MyspaceTV* will use social networking to connect people while they are watching TV. After reading the article, I was still fuzzy on the "how" here; I don't really see what makes this unique. When you and your friends are watching something in different locations, can't you just use Twitter, Facebook, Skype, et cetera to be connected to them while you're watching?
Digging a little, I found out that MyspaceTV actually came about in 2008. Why I'm just learning about it now, I don't know. Maybe some of you reading this already know all about MyspaceTV. If so, please comment and explain it to us who are in the dark. Anyways, I came across a Q&A with the vice president of MyspaceTV, Jason Kirk, dated April, 2008, from gigaom.com. But even after reading this, I still don't really understand what it's all about. I got the impression that it's similar to TV shows and other media having social media profiles (like the Glee Facebook page, for example), but with content and interaction exclusively for Myspace.
Next, I found another article from pcmag.com discussing MyspaceTV's premiere...with Justin Timberlake? Turns out Justin Timberlake and Tim Vanderhook bought Myspace and are launching MyspaceTV as a live "social television viewing" experience. Because of the deal with Panasonic, you must have a Panasonic HDTV with Viera Connect to use it. Here is a paragraph from the article that I think best explains what MyspaceTV is:
"The service will focus on music at first, with music channels on Myspace TV using the company's rights to 100,000 music videos and 42,000,000 songs. Users will be able to watch/listen to these songs and comment on what they think about them simultaneously, creating an audience experience. It will be expanded to television and movies, with additional channels featuring news, sports, and reality TV."
Is it just me, or can't you do this on YouTube, Facebook, and any other website that allows consumer interaction and/or comments? Is the appeal here that it will be exclusive content all in one place?
Maybe I'm just not technologically inclined enough to see why this "innovation" (quotation marks for sarcasm) is so one-of-a-kind. Or maybe MyspaceTV is just masquerading as being the next cool new thing. But please, someone clue me in.
*note: Variations of "MyspaceTV" that I've seen are "MySpaceTV," "MySpace TV," and "Myspace TV."
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