User Research: Social Media

We collected a sample of Facebook status' and tweets that were based around television, in order to see how users discussed their favourite TV shows on social media. We found that generally the aim of the status/ tweet was to gain a response/ spark discussion between other viewers. On Twitter, this was generally done via the use of the hashtag, enabling anyone who searched for that show to join in the conversation. We found that Facebook status' hi-lighted some of the main issues that are apparent when users watch TV and use social media simultaneously, namely the issue of 'spoilers' as well as if TV subscription services should be sold to families or individuals, these are issues we can take into consideration in our concept development phase. We found that Facebook users also really like to share what they're watching with friends and may even recommend shows via a social media link. We also noticed that users may address a TV show cryptically in order to gain more of a response and curiosity amongst users. Overall we think that social media has become a vital part of the TV viewing experience and that this is definitely something we will take into consideration when coming up with a concept.