- Social viewing
Social viewing describes a recently developed practice revolving around the ability for multiple users to aggregate from multiple sources and view
online video s 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.The term in this context originated with the
Toronto and Los Angeles-based company View2Gether [ [http://www.view2gether.com/ View2gether – Welcome to Social Viewing ] ] which has created proprietary technology for aggregating content from sources not controlled by the user for synchronized play and inclusion in commonplaylist s by multiple participants with a commensurate instant messaging chat function. Other sites which provide similar functionality include Oortle [ [http://oortle.com/ Oortle home page] ] , SeeToo [ [http://www.seetoo.com/ SeeToo home page] ] and development of social viewing for existing portals such as Yahoo have recently been announced. [ [http://timetags.research.yahoo.com/zync/ Zync from Yahoo! Research Berkeley ] ]The term has been used in some cases to describe online viewing within the framework of a social network [see NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/paidcontent/PCORG_316848.html?ex=1352869200&en=781fd3f653cc207d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss] , however View2gether and similar sites have reconfigured the term to mean a common viewing experience as a social activity.
Social viewing has also been used in the past to describe activities such as gathering for the viewing of particular
television program s, such assoap opera s. [ [http://search.sabinet.co.za/images/ejour/comcare/comcare_v23_n2_a2.pdf Soap opera viewing in a communal context : an ethnographic examination of the viewing experiences of black Zulu-speaking students living in university residences ] ]Notes & references
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.