Almost three-quarters of us broadband users "surf the internet" while watching TV, said Ovum research the other day. My first three reactions. "Surf the internet": is it 1998? What's "TV"? And, like, der!
The very fact that in 2011 Ovum can draw attention to this factoid -- that we use the internet while watching TV -- and deliver it as news highlights the vast disconnect between the decision-makers in industries like television and advertising and, well, everyone else in the civilised world.
First, we've always been doing other things while watching TV, from reading the papers, eating breakfast and arguing with the family in the morning through to homework, dinner and arguing with the family in the evening. Television has long since become part of the background ambience. Modern program formats reflect this by endlessly repeating the basics of the plot before and after every ad break.
Second, the internet has moved on from being a special, separate place. We no longer sit up in our chairs and "go online". With ubiquitous broadband, pervasive Wi-Fi networks in the home and office, and 3G phone networks and beyond everywhere else, we're always online.
At least we've moved beyond the simplistic survey questions of just four years ago. "In total, about how often do you access the internet across all locations at home, work, and elsewhere?", with the most frequent option being "daily". "What do you mainly use the internet for (choose one)?"
In an always-on world, questions like that make about as much sense as "How many times per month do you use electricity?" or "What do you mainly use energy for (choose one)? Lighting? Heating? Entertainment? Communication? Home maintenance?"
Today we are constantly washed by the internet's gently lapping waves of information. More importantly, the internet allows us to be constantly immersed in gentle waves of connection to our friends, family and colleagues, wherever they might be.
In 2007 Leisa Reichelt coined the term ambient intimacy to describe this newly-enhanced ability to keep in touch with a level of regularity and intimacy that previously time and space would conspire to make impossible.
"Surfing the internet" while watching TV is a classic example of what Linda Stone in 1998 dubbed continual partial attention.
And as researcher and futurist Mark Pesce points out, this drive for constant connectivity with our social network is a core part of being human -- to the point where we're now sometimes too busy responding to messages to focus on people in our immediate presence.
Add ambient intimacy to continual partial attention and a TV screen and, quite naturally, people talk about TV. Social media such as Twitter make this phenomenon all rather obvious.
Popular TV programs like The X Factor regularly trigger between 8000 and 15,000 tweets, according to Leslie Nassar, proprietor of social media monitoring outfit TweeVee TV. The ABC's Q&A, which actively promotes discussion, triggers even more: up to 25,000 tweets per episode. And the numbers are rising fast.
Ovum's research puts some hard numbers on this phenomenon too, or at least part of it.
"Overall 51 percent of the consumers [we] spoke to use the internet to access further news or information related to the TV content they are viewing. Meanwhile, 38 per cent said they use the net to discuss the TV programme on social networking sites such as Facebook, an element of the so called 'social TV' phenomenon," they write.
"These figures rise to 59 per cent and 53 per cent respectively for 16 to 23-year-olds."
Ovum reckons this is good news for advertisers, because 35 per cent claim to access further information related to the adverts they see on TV. Provided, of course, there's a clear and simple way for them to do so -- an obvious message there for both advertising and website design.
Some advertisers already get it, of course.
"Yeah, the [tweet] numbers are going up fast, but so is the spam," Nassar told Technology Spectator. "A lot of traffic, particularly from the US, is check-in spam like Miso and GetGlue; it's content-free."
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From idiot box to idiot internet
Almost three-quarters of us broadband users "surf the internet" while watching TV, said Ovum research the other day. My first three reactions. "Surf the internet": is it 1998? What's "TV"? And, like, der!
The very fact that in 2011 Ovum can draw attention to this factoid -- that we use the internet while watching TV -- and deliver it as news highlights the vast disconnect between the decision-makers in industries like television and advertising and, well, everyone else in the civilised world.
First, we've always been doing other things while watching TV, from reading the papers, eating breakfast and arguing with the family in the morning through to homework, dinner and arguing with the family in the evening. Television has long since become part of the background ambience. Modern program formats reflect this by endlessly repeating the basics of the plot before and after every ad break.
Second, the internet has moved on from being a special, separate place. We no longer sit up in our chairs and "go online". With ubiquitous broadband, pervasive Wi-Fi networks in the home and office, and 3G phone networks and beyond everywhere else, we're always online.
At least we've moved beyond the simplistic survey questions of just four years ago. "In total, about how often do you access the internet across all locations at home, work, and elsewhere?", with the most frequent option being "daily". "What do you mainly use the internet for (choose one)?"
In an always-on world, questions like that make about as much sense as "How many times per month do you use electricity?" or "What do you mainly use energy for (choose one)? Lighting? Heating? Entertainment? Communication? Home maintenance?"
Today we are constantly washed by the internet's gently lapping waves of information. More importantly, the internet allows us to be constantly immersed in gentle waves of connection to our friends, family and colleagues, wherever they might be.
In 2007 Leisa Reichelt coined the term ambient intimacy to describe this newly-enhanced ability to keep in touch with a level of regularity and intimacy that previously time and space would conspire to make impossible.
"Surfing the internet" while watching TV is a classic example of what Linda Stone in 1998 dubbed continual partial attention.
And as researcher and futurist Mark Pesce points out, this drive for constant connectivity with our social network is a core part of being human -- to the point where we're now sometimes too busy responding to messages to focus on people in our immediate presence.
Add ambient intimacy to continual partial attention and a TV screen and, quite naturally, people talk about TV. Social media such as Twitter make this phenomenon all rather obvious.
Popular TV programs like The X Factor regularly trigger between 8000 and 15,000 tweets, according to Leslie Nassar, proprietor of social media monitoring outfit TweeVee TV. The ABC's Q&A, which actively promotes discussion, triggers even more: up to 25,000 tweets per episode. And the numbers are rising fast.
Ovum's research puts some hard numbers on this phenomenon too, or at least part of it.
"Overall 51 percent of the consumers [we] spoke to use the internet to access further news or information related to the TV content they are viewing. Meanwhile, 38 per cent said they use the net to discuss the TV programme on social networking sites such as Facebook, an element of the so called 'social TV' phenomenon," they write.
"These figures rise to 59 per cent and 53 per cent respectively for 16 to 23-year-olds."
Ovum reckons this is good news for advertisers, because 35 per cent claim to access further information related to the adverts they see on TV. Provided, of course, there's a clear and simple way for them to do so -- an obvious message there for both advertising and website design.
Some advertisers already get it, of course.
"Yeah, the [tweet] numbers are going up fast, but so is the spam," Nassar told Technology Spectator. "A lot of traffic, particularly from the US, is check-in spam like Miso and GetGlue; it's content-free."