In July 2011 Orange France launched TVcheck – a social media application designed to take advantage of the growing appetite for social networking while watching TV.

 

Although not a new concept, Orange believes it is able to differentiate from existing competition by using visual detection technology to simplify how users check into the programs they are watching. Orange is initially relying on advertising to monetize the application in its current form – but there is a bigger strategy here. The way we consume TV and other forms of entertainment is changing, and social media will play an increasing important role in that change.

 

Orange believes that to understand how future business models will work, it needs to be intimately involved, rather than watching from the sidelines, so that it can better understand how its customer’s needs are changing, as well as test its own new ideas and concepts. A crucial point about developing social media systems is that they have to be developed in a live environment; nobody can second guess the way social synapses grow and connect. TVcheck is an initial step, and potentially one of many, in this direction.

 

TVcheck is a social application that enables users to find out what their friends are watching on the TV, write comments in real time, and recommend programs, while taking part in a new social gaming experience.

 

Unlike similar applications such as GetGlue, TVcheck is focused purely on the TV, which fits with Orange’s wider content strategy. Orange’s solution also has the advantage of being able to automatically recognize content on particular channels, which the company hopes will be one way of differentiating the application over the specialists.

 

As is standard with such apps, users gain virtual rewards based on activity levels, which in some cases can turn into real prizes or benefits. From the pay-TV operator point of view, this can, in turn, provide a much more detailed picture of audience behavior, on an individual rather than household level, which can be used for targeted marketing.