TV Viewership and Twitter Conversations
Recently, Twitter has started working with television shows on a new interactive experience for the viewer. Twitter has been saying for years that involvement on Twitter regarding television programs improves ratings and now there is substantial evidence. Nielson has performed a study that supports the claim that Twitter conversation can cause people to turn on the TV.
Nielson study’s results exemplify that an increase in Twitter conversation about television programs can increase the number of viewers of that same program as it airs live. Nielson found that tweets lead to a “significant increase” in ratings 29% of the time. This is very significant for Twitter because this provides affirmation for more television programs to use the twitter feed as the program airs. In short, the study states that the use of Twitter will put more eyes on the screen.
I think it is very interesting how Twitter enables people to make connections with others. Twitter is the social medium where conversations about television programs happen in real time. With live updates, thoughts and comments about the show can be diffused to people beyond their close personal ties. Twitter feeds and television programs combine to bridge people from across the country together.
The relationship between the television program, Twitter, and viewership of the program/ratings can be said to be an example that supports the Strong Triadic Closure Property. The Strong Triadic Closure Property exists when there are three nodes: A, B, and C; such that if a strong tie occurs between A-‐C and A-‐B, there must be at least a weak tie between B-‐C. The television program and Twitter can be viewed as a strong tie because there is so much discussion around television across it. Twitter and viewership of the program/ratings can also be viewed as a strong tie because it is said that tweets lead to an increase in ratings according to Nielson. Therefore, there must be at least a weak tie between the television program and viewership of the program/ratings, which is again proven true through evidence from the Nielson study. Hence, an increase in ratings due to twitter conversations gives hope for the more prevalent use of Twitter on television programs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/business/media/study-‐links-‐tv-‐ viewership-‐and-‐twitter-‐conversations.html?_r=1&