Organizing thoughts around the SecondScreen Space

I spent a lot of time lately discussing where I think the 2nd screen space might be headed and what its impact on consumers might be.  I find that most of the people I engage with, even those very adept in this space, don't have enough of a sense of what's out there to understand if some new announcement of a company, service, or app is meaningful or not.  So, here are some ideas on how to organize our thoughts around this space:

• Making the 1st screen easier to navigate (Simple).  I will write about the various apps out there that perform functions like an advanced remote (finding shows in your channel lineup, your DVR, etc).
• Integrating the various social networks into your viewing experience (Social).  There are many apps today integrating Twitter and Facebook into your experience.
• Integrating multiple services into the experience such as Hulu, Netflix, and your operator's VOD service (Seamless).
• Creating a more in-depth and richer experience with the content itself (Stimulating).  There are services today that provide additional content, sports stats, related news events, commerce experiences, and relevant advertising.
• Providing relevant and meaningful suggestions to content you might enjoy in a "lean back" way (Discovery).  Search is a "lean forward" experience.

A few examples to think about:

• IntoNow (recently acquired by Yahoo).  They provide an app that does not provide any control function for your video device (ie you cannot change the channel), but provides great social interaction with Facebook and Twitter and provides a little bit of the extra information for sports, news, and some major shows.  So, high on the Social axis, medium on the Stimulating axis, but low/zero on the Simple, Seamless and Discovery axes.
• Clicker.com.  A great app for seeing what other people are watching and which service they are available on and for telling people you are watching a particular show, but nothing to manage your video device, to help you discover new content, or to provide a richer content experience.  So medium on Seamless, medium on Social, but low/zero on Simple, Stimulating and Discovery.

I'll start reviewing the apps and services in this manner over the next few weeks.

For more thoughts on the Digital Video Space, follow me @ChuckParkerTech