Jumping between devices and services: towards an integrated concept for social tv

Television and video belong to the most important media in domestic environments. Nowadays, television means more than the classic reception at the TV set, it also provides new manifold opportunities for on-demand media consumption. The technical infrastructure grows extremely fast whereby an increasing number of options of how to use rich media are being offered. Functionalities from the Internet, such as e.g. communication, sharing and other information services enrich the TV experience. The convergence of media is not only visible in broader functional sets at one device, e.g. broadcast and online access at Media Center systems, but is also reflected in the interconnectedness of the device itself. In order to understand the design dimensions for further SocialTV applications, we conducted different kinds of empirical work including a diary study, interviews and creative workshops. Results indicate that several forms of parallel and convergent media usage have already been established. We identified flexible changes between devices and services related to TV and video content (cross-media jumps). We also discussed several mockups for integrated, cross-platform Social TV applications. It turned out that the identified needs relate to both a better interconnection between devices and services.