Digital Hollywood opened up with interesting panel discussions about the current state of content delivery and consumer experiences, and how to create more immersive consumer experiences in the future. The interplay between consumer experiences and respective evolution of software and hardware products was talked about as well, along with ideas for Social TV and second-screen experiences. The following is a summary of some of the key trends that emerged from the panel discussions during the opening day, attended by Arktan.

The physical TV viewing has changed, yet it has come a full circle: In the past families sat together in the same space, watching the same programming. Later on family members sat in separate locations around the home each watching their own programming. Now again families oftentimes share the same space, but this time each watching their own programming, and increasingly on mobile devices.

TV viewing has always been about a story. Storytelling is at the core of TV. How to augment that storytelling is the key question to be answered. Social TV, too, is about storytelling. TV networks must focus on enhancing TV conversation by telling great stories via TV programs and combining viewer interaction with them. 

Social TV is much more than what people are talking about on Twitter and Facebook. For example, X Factor Digital worked with show producers to first really understand how they wanted to tell the story, and then the digital and creative parts got integrated in a top-to-down approach that proved very successful.

The content still has a long way to go to make it truly interactive and engaging. Relevant content will be a key trend now and going forward, and the value of the shows depend on the content that is created. Curation of content therefore is increasingly important as a way to create audiences, to keep them engaged long-term, and in helping to build a social following. The power of social media is very measurable, and includes use of social media intelligence. Shows are frequently changed based on change in engagement metrics; for example, time spent watching the shows. There is huge potential for creating second-screen apps that would deepen the engagement. 

The technology is the way to bridge content with community, but creating isolated digital experiences is not the goal, rather, technology should make the experiences social, and part of community. The goal remains to create compelling, engaging experiences, and deliver augmented reality on digital, providing the right content at the right time at the right place.

The above shows just how interconnected the digital space has become, and the trend will continue to evolve towards increasingly seamless integration across the space.

The Social TV world will gather tomorrow at the annual Social TV Summit in San Francisco. This highly anticipated, sold out event is expected to feature exciting presentations and panel discussions by many leading brands, TV networks, and product companies in the Social TV and Social Media space. Arktan is a proud co-sponsor of the event.

Social TV Summit has set up a designated page on their website for the real-time social conversation taking place on the Social Web around the event. The page is called Social Chatter, and it’s powered by Arktan.

Social Chatter is a destination site for those unable to attend the event. It allows page visitors to interact with the real-time speaker presentations and attendee conversations, and all other conversation taking place on the Social Web around the event. The different page tabs allow visitors to choose the content to view, and engage in chat. Event participants can also use Social Chatter to share their experiences in real-time.

At the event location, Social TV Summit will have multiple big screens, powered by Arktan, that will display the real-time, curated conversation taking place around the event on the Social Web. The screens will give event participants a very unique experience of being at the event, while being simultaneously able to view the conversation taking place about the event on the Social Web.

We are very excited about tomorrow’s event, and will write much more about it in a future blog post, so stay tuned!

The Social TV landscape continues to evolve. The space is rapidly becoming a magnet for innovative companies and their products. Everyone is competing for the attention of TV viewers. In the not so distant past, viewing of the shows was possible only on TVs, and shows were broadcast at specific times dictated by TV networks. Now the choices for TV viewing have proliferated, ranging from TVs to mobile apps to web. The addition of social networks to this new Social TV landscape have completely changed the rules of engagement between TV networks and viewers.

According to a recent survey by TV Guide, TV viewing habits are greatly influenced by social media buzz. For example, positive commentary about TV shows on social networks have been shown to translate into increased viewing of TV shows, and there’s a significant correlation between positive social impressions about the shows, and whether people decide or continue to watch the shows.

A Nielsen study has documented this as well, noting a correlation between social media buzz and TV ratings across all age groups, most notably among 18-34 -year-olds. A ReadWriteWeb study in the meantime noted that a whopping 94% of U.S. adults e-mail, talk on the phone, send text messages, or chat on social networks while watching TV, while 38% of them on mobile devices search the mobile web for content related to the shows they’re watching.

How can TV networks integrate their programming with the social media landscape that is now part of the Social TV landscape as well? How can they engage their viewers with programs that capture the viewers’ attention not just for one show, or for one season, but for a long term? How can they build an interaction so engaging that it would turn viewers into loyal fans of the shows? The roadmap for monetization in the Social TV space starts becoming clear, when these questions are addressed.

These are among the questions that will be discussed by an expert Social TV panel during a webinar on Wednesday, March 30. The webinar is titled “Monetizing Social TV: Bolstering Returns in Real Time”. The presenters will be Arktan CEO Rahul Aggarwal, Jennifer Kavanagh, SVP, Digital, Oxygen Media, Jeff Weber, VP, Video Products, AT&T, and Gayle Weiswasser, VP, Social Media, Discovery Communications. We’re pleased to be part of this exciting Social TV panel discussion. Please join us! Here’s a link to register for the event.

The SXSW conference in Austin, TX, earlier this month was a success by any measure. According to data provided by eCairn, SXSW ranked as the No. 1 social media event in 2011, and the event may be able to hold onto the top spot again this year.

Here’s a graph courtesy of Kred that illustrates just how much SXSW has grown as a social media event from last year.

The graph shows the number of mentions at SXSW Interactive festival during the first four days of the event, indicating an average increase of over 600% from last year, and over 500,000 #SXSW tweets during the four days. Arktan, eCairn, and SBV Solutions co-hosted the “Social Media and Brands” cocktail party at SXSW, where many leading brand executives came to share their social media experiences, and to learn from the social media experiences of other brands.

The event had a good turnout, and provided a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of SXSW. Arktan CEO, Rahul Aggarwal, who was present at the event, said that the event had been a success. It had provided the brands a venue for exchanging ideas and tools for the social media space, and opportunities to learn from other brands’ social media experiences. The brands were also able to share their thoughts on the growing importance of finding and curating relevant content, reflecting a key theme at this year’s SXSW.

Technorati just published an article that features Arktan among upcoming, innovative technology companies providing cutting-edge Social Web content aggregation, curation, and sentiment analysis products for brands.

The article described how leading brands are using these products to set them apart from their competition. Among these brands is Universal Music Group (UMG) that uses Social Web content aggregation, data filtering and curation products to provide engaging, interactive Social Music experiences for its customers. Reuters in the meantime has launched a new social media hub called the Social Pulse, and is successfully utilizing sentiment analysis and data filtering products to build engagement with their audience. The Daily Beast is also using sentiment analysis products for its “Election Oracle” during the presidential election year.

Who can benefit from these new products? Brands across all industries that want to benefit from cutting-edge technologies to grow their business, and get ahead of the competition.

Here’s a link to the full article, and a link to the article author’s personal blog.