Co-viewing live TV with digital backchannel streams

Social media services and microblogging applications, such as 'Twitter', are changing the way in which many people consume traditional broadcast media. Real-time backchannel conversations are now common-place as audiences simultaneously watch TV whilst using social media to broadcast their own thoughts, sentiments, opinions and emotions related to what they are watching. This individual behaviour, when aggregated, results in a new social experience comprising of mass, real-time, co-consumption of TV services. This paper describes a study which aims to understand user behaviour in this emerging area and provides some preliminary analysis of viewers' Twitter postings during the UK TV shows, The X Factor and Question Time. Our findings show that the postings expose audience engagement with TV shows and support the assertion of Twitter's growing confluence with broadcast media.