Telewebber – enhanced TV viewing

Last night I was watching Euro2008 semi-final Germany-Turkey together with a group of Germans. And for a Dutch guy that might be a bit strange, but it was for a good cause and it was only virtual

I was test-driving a new site called Telewebber.de, as they state themselves “watching together makes TV better” (this is a very rough translation of “gemeinsam besser Fernsehen“). The idea behind the site is that you tune in to a program on television and you chat with other users in a chat-box dedicated to the program.

That does not sound to revolutionary, but the smart thing is that they index all programs on the main commercial and national channels, and you literally tune in to your program and you will automatically find other people watching the program and chatting about it.

Here’s a screenshot of the site:

 

So I watched the football match last night and it takes some practice to follow the match on the TV screen while keeping an eye on the chat. But once you get the hang of it, it really enhances your TV viewing experience. Especially with a live football match and I guess most live programs like Eurovision song contest, Idols, and so on. And…you can do the good old game of guessing commercials (who knows first whose commercial it is that’s on the screen).

The service is fast enough to have a real time chat. It was amazing to see that when there was a goal or nearly a goal scored, the people in the chat went crazy in real-time. I guess that is possible now because of the limited amount of users (they’re still in beta). I wonder how that develops when they launch the service.

How sustainable is this? Well, untill we have this functionality on digital TV this is a promising new service. And I guess it will take some time since you need a return signal on your TV and not many providers have that incorporated into their systems. My only advice to the guys would be: make a mobile version as soon as possible, roll out internationally and be quick because the window of opportunity is limited.

 

Why magazine publishers just don’t get it*

 Rafat Ali writes on paidcontent.org about magazines going online. He makes an excellent point as he concludes:

At the end of the day, magazines are about communities of interest, whether professional or lifestyle driven. If magazines keep that driving mantra in mind, and use the Web for all its is worth, things could begin to look brighter and bigger on the monetary side soon.

Most magazine publishers understand the fact that their readers are a community of interest.  Then why do online initiatives of most magazine publishers not take off as they should? I think because many magazine publishers still do not understand that online publishing is something completely different than offline publishing. They are separate businesses with their own dynamics in content and advertising and they should be organized as such. Maybe the biggest obstacle for magazine publishers is that their business is still doing too well, and they are not hurt by online business enough. That’s a shame, because it is not about the end of magazines, it is about the opportunities online.

*with the exception of course of the company I work for

Web 2.0 Worldwide

Not all hot Web 2.0  startups are based in California as can be seen on this map published by business 2.0.

Facebook could rescue Business 2.0

Wow, who would have ever thought that: Facebook-group wants to save Business 2.0. Read their letter to the Reaper at the Magazine Death Pool.

Buying the magazine is probably more effective… Nevertheless: good cause and a world premiere in activism.

Go to facebook now and join!