New apps let couch potatoes and bookworms check in, too

apple Apps

By Doug Gross,

New apps let couch potatoes and bookworms check in, too

Intrigued by Foursquare, or Facebook’s new Places feature, but not sure anybody would be interested in where you go every day?

Take heart, couch potatoes — a gang of new mobile applications are starting to emerge, and . GetGlue claims to be several times bigger than its competitors.

GetGlue also is the most wide-ranging tool in the space, with apps for the iPhone and Google’s Android operating system (the Android app was released on Tuesday) and applications for the iPad and BlackBerry devices on the way.

While others stick with TV, GetGlue ranges as far as video games and music. Users can earn “stickers” as rewards for checking in. First offered are the virtual kind that will be familiar to Foursquare users, but if people are loyal enough to Showtime’s “Weeds,” for example, they will get real stickers mailed to them.

 The app also lets users rate books, movies, games and TV shows. Using those ratings, GetGlue then recommends other entertainment users might like.

The concept is in its infancy. But social-media observers see a huge upside.

“Philo, Miso and GetGlue provide services that allow individuals to make social connections to culture, and that’s what sets them apart from the Twitters and Facebooks of the social networking world,” wrote Jennifer Van Grove for social-media blog Mashable, a CNN content partner.

“It’s this cultural relevance that will create digital bonding experiences and will propel this trend to television watchers outside of the web-tech bubble.”

Miso’s CEO, Somrat Niyogi, agrees.

While people in the United States may all have different hobbies and engage in different activities away from home, “we know most people do three things — they eat, they sleep and they watch TV,” he said.

“We think the market is massive. We think this is going to be a much bigger market” than location-based apps, he added.

Unlike GetGlue, Miso, which is also available on iPhone, iPad and the Android system, focuses exclusively on TV shows. The app was created by Austin, Texas-based Bazaar Labs, founded by three former University of Texas classmates.

Niyogi and others in the emerging field point to recent surveys that suggest as many as three out of four adults use an internet-connected “second screen” — usually their mobile phone — while watching TV. In a similar study, nearly all iPad users said they use the tablet-like Apple device while watching television.

To be sure, the entertainment industry is interested.

For producers of TV, movie, music and books, the appeal of having tens of thousands of people telling their friends about your product is obvious.

GetGlue boasts at least a dozen partnerships with entertainment entities like HBO, Showtime, Universal Pictures and Barnes & Noble.

Miso, whose investors include Google Ventures, launched with an exclusive partnership with TNT (which, like HBO and CNN is owned by Time Warner) and recently announced a deal with WE TV to promote the show “Bridezillas” — complete with the chance to earn “Cake Smasher” and “Veil Thrasher” badges.

CBS and Comcast also have launched their own social TV apps. Comcast’s app is called Tunerfish; their general manager, John McCrea, says what is offered now is just the beginning.

“I see Tunerfish as a social TV service that ultimately will be a great social discovery engine when we get to scale,” he said. “Social TV should bring a mix of ‘sticky’ features together in one cross-platform package — sharing, discussion, discovery, game mechanics and recommendations.”

It’s too early in the game to know which of the entertainment check-in apps will emerge as the leader in the field. But they all think that by tapping into mass entertainment, they’ll eventually have an advantage over those bar-hopping Foursquare devotees.

“Let’s be honest,” Niyogi said. “Even in Manhattan, if it’s Sunday night, you’re probably watching ‘True Blood,’ too.”

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Twitter signon button
Twitter signon button
Powered by WordPress | Buy Free Verizon Cell Phones Online. | Thanks to anti-aging skincare, Free Online MMORPG and best credit card
Twitter signon button
Bohdan Ruzicka
TechTechy
Brno Czech Republic

      Copyright © 2012 New Technology 2012 News Headlines · All rights reserved