Tweeting with the telly on!

Despite the ever expanding forms of digital entertainment, there are still Television (TV, telly) shows and events that create an audience desire to be part of a mass shared experience. In the past direct inter-audience interaction of such events has been restricted to either a shared location at the time of broadcast or later discussions amongst friends and colleagues often described as `water cooler moments'. With the advent of online social networks that facilitate status updates these moments can be instantly shared in real-time, creating a second screen for direct interaction with TV. In this paper we investigate the role of social media as the facilitator of second screen for TV, through the analysis of tweets for weekend primetime UK TV show the X-Factor. The results highlight the rich source of information that can be extracted in real-time and its enormous potential for broadcasters and producers both in terms of reinvigorating live TV viewing and creating new forms of audience interaction.