How and Why Users Use Social TV Systems? A Systematic Review of User Studies

The development of social TV systems has gained momentum in the past decade. However, it is unclear how and why users use social TV. The goal of this systematic review is to identify trends in social TV user studies and understand how and why users use it following Geerts and De Grooff's social TV features. After searching for articles in major engineering and social science databases, we found 10 user studies that are mainly exploratory. They are predominantly qualitative and lack theory-based research and system design rationale. In general, users have positive reception on the usability and sociability of social TV systems despite expressing privacy concerns and insufficient control. Text chat is preferred than voice chat as a mode of communication. TV show genre and plot structures influence system usage. This review contributes to social TV research by offering a comprehensive understanding of social TV features that influence system usage.