This document provides guidance for a task on social media and television. It discusses second screening, where viewers use a second device like a phone or tablet to engage on social media while watching TV. It outlines how this was popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s but has declined as viewers increasingly watch on-demand instead of live. The document then provides examples of how second screening still occurs for time-shifted viewing and suggests using it to collect feedback on a marketing campaign launch.

1. BIG PICTURE
Task 6 – Social Media and
Television
KEYWORDS
Second Screening – Platforms –
Interaction – Streaming – As
Live – Time Shifted
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand how online and
social media products are used
SUCCESS CRITERIA
Timeline – worksheet answers
Take your seat. Bag under your desk.
Have your equipment and planner out.
Topic – Unit 6 – Social Media and Globalisation
http://www.hpocrunit6.wordpress.com
• Ten minute task - On the issue of how quickly things
change – create a timeline of changing tv
technologies, from the 1950s to the present day – one
significant issue a decade.
• Search for 'timeline of tv technology'. Read,
understand, write up. Don't copy and paste.

2. TELL ME
STUFF!
TAKE ME
THROUGH
IT…
LET ME
HAVE A
GO…
DO I GET
IT?
1 2 3 4 5 6
SETTING THE
SCENE
JOINING UP
LEARNING
LINKS TO LAST
TIME
PASSING ON
KNOWLEDGE
GUIDED PRACTICE
& MODELLING
INDEPENDENT
PRACTICE –
APPLYING THE
SKILLS TO NEW
SITUATIONS
ASSESSMENT &
FEEDBACK
PULL IT TOGETHER
JOINING UP
LEARNING
LINKS TO NEXT
TIME

3. Second Screening – the idea that whilst watching television you
will use a second screen – a phone, a tablet or possibly a laptop –
to 'enhance' the process of viewing and engaging in some way(s)
• This was a big thing in the late '00s and early '10s, as
more and more people became engaged with social
media
• Event television – new episodes of big 'reality' shows
like The Apprentice, The X-Factor or The Great British
Bake Off would attract 'live blogging' - a newspaper
column writing about the program whilst it was on and
encouraging other viewers to make comments about it
and use the comments to interact with the live blog and
with each other.
• Sports events have also attracted this kind of online
attention. Additionally, sports events are particularly
good for the viewer at home acting as their own expert
and looking up stats and player histories.
• This kind of thing does rely on a large group audience
sitting down to watch things on TV at the same time as
each other...
• And television is moving away from this model,
and away from a broadcast television model,
and towards a streaming model where entire
seasons are dumped and people binge watch
• A number of major shows during this time –
Breaking Bad, Lost, The Wire, Game of Thrones
– even when they haven't been on
network television have 'dropped'
new episodes for streaming at the same time
each week rather than dropping whole
seasons. This allows online group interaction
just like scheduled broadcast television.

4. This is a really good example of how quickly
things can change when you're talking about the
real-world social practice of social media
• 'Second Screening' as a central part of cultural
practice is only relevant if a large group of people
– and especially if a large group of committed
fans who want to get involved as more than just
passive viewers – are watching something all at
the same time. The original idea was that it was
'social media as virtual community' - people
interacting together online
• When we are much more likely to watch things
time-shifted rather than live (through a
subscription streaming service or through
a 'watch again' service like iPlayer or ITV
Player) the way it might work changes
• Examples of second screening away from live-viewing
include:-
• Checking stats and so on during sports events
(which is actually still a different use from
'community' in live screening)
• Looking up actors or actresses to work our what
else you've seen them in
• Using an app like 'TV Time' to record your
opinions on an episode after you've watched it
(and to engage in discussion – just not in real
time whilst everyone is watching 'live')
• Reading gossip and rumours, reviews and
opinions.
• Creating a record of what you've watched

5. Answer the questions on the worksheet on the
blog
• Think back to the important idea of different
social media platforms having different core uses
(for images, video, short text, links...)
• This work will help you answer short questions in
Section A – helping to give you specific details
that make sure your examples are not general and
generic but are tied to specific examples
• If the Section B question is about television, it
will also help you add specific detail, and the
theoretical idea of second screening, to your
detailed Section B answer.
• If it's not about television, then you can use
this idea to discuss ways that you might
encourage audiences to engage with your
planned marketing campaign.

6. Use the information you've been working on today to answer
these exam questions.
1. Identify two purposes of social media products
for media audiences. (2 marks)
2. Identify and explain two different ways that
media professionals and individuals use social
media products. (4 marks)
3. Explain how the term 'global village' can relate to
individual's social media use (2 marks)
• And an additional question, that would form
part of an answer to work on Section B
• How might you use second screening to
collect feedback on the televison launch of
your marketing campaign?

7. BIG PICTURE MY LEARNING
How did this
lesson fit into
your other
lessons?
What is my top
take- away from
the lesson?
Have you contributed to the lesson? Will you be able to improve
next lesson? Do you know what you need to go away and do?
o Mainly – detailed information
about social media use by
consumers of television. How
do we use social media to
interact with live and with
time-shifted TV
o Also – look how quickly the
social practice around social
media use changes!