Social viewing
This article needs to be updated. (July 2022) |
Social viewing (also known as Watch Party[1][2] or GroupWatch[3]) describes a recently developed practice revolving around the ability for multiple users to aggregate from multiple sources and view online videos together in a synchronized viewing experience.
Typically, the experience also involves some form of instant messaging or communication to facilitate discussion pertaining to the common viewing experience.
History
[edit | edit source]The term in this context originated with the Toronto and Los Angeles-based company View2Gether[4] which has created proprietary technology for aggregating content from sources not controlled by the user for synchronized play and inclusion in common playlists by multiple participants with a commensurate instant messaging chat function. Other sites which provide similar functionality include Oortle (Photophlow),[5] SeeToo[6] and development of social viewing for existing portals such as Yahoo have recently been announced.[7]
The term has been used in some cases to describe online viewing within the framework of a social network,[8] however View2gether and similar sites have reconfigured the term to mean a common viewing experience as a social activity. Websites such as Rabb.it utilized a virtual computer with a shared browser, allowing for access to sites outside of the ones whitelisted by other viewers.[9]
Social viewing has also been used in the past to describe activities such as gathering for the viewing of particular television programs, such as soap operas.[10]
Some examples of modern social viewing sites include Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Zoom, and Twitter.
It was also officially added as a built-in feature in some over-the-top media services in various names. While Amazon and Hulu both call it Watch Party,[1][2] Disney+ (which offers it only in some countries) calls it GroupWatch,[3] which launched in 2020, but in 2023 was removed.[11]
Social viewing experience
[edit | edit source]With social viewing technologies, media can be watched live alongside other viewers. Features such as built-in chats allow for communication to be sustained, facilitating real-time discussion of the content.[12][13] A limitation that could be improved upon is the synchronization between users, as a mismatch in position of media may cause issues in understanding scenes between users in the same instance.[14]
Notes and references
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ View2gether – Welcome to Social Viewing Archived 2007-12-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Oortle home page Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Zync from Yahoo! Research Berkeley Archived 2008-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- How to Host a Virtual Watch Party September 29, 2020 Wired article by Boone Ashworth