My review of ViEWer as a SecondScreen Experience

When I saw the recent article on Entertainment Weekly launching a new SecondScreen "app" for the X Factor, Surviror, etc, I was intrigued.  However, they may be a bit premature in their announcement that they are ready for the world (to be fair, they do have a "Beta" on the logo for the app).

First, the "app" so far only exists as a web experience (no iPhone, iPad or Android experience).  And to summarize the actual experience: it's a curated Twitter experience.  To be fair, the app does let you view the Tweet stream for recorded shows as if you were watching it live (you click "Replay" when you hit play on your DVR).  They also have their journalists Tweet along with you.  However, if all you are looking for is a curated Twitter feed (sans the journalist) there are plenty of iPad/Android apps in previous blogs that do that job with sync'd audio content so you can pause, rewind, etc.

Simple.  No control of the 1st screen.  In fact, the app itself is only tied to it when you click play on the TV and website at the same time.  Also, this is a web-only experience.  None.

Social.  The ability to follow recorded, time relevant Twitter feeds and to follow journalists in the process (assuming you read Entertainment Weekly) is a good experience.  Medium to high.

Seamless.  They only curate a few shows and offer no guide or other method to find content.  None.

Stimulating.  Other than the Social portion, no evidence of richer content or synchronized experiences.  None.

Discovery.  No evidence of offering up recommendations.  None.