Twitter has changed how I watch TV
I’m not a huge consumer of television. A few favourite shows capture my attention: House and Modern Family among them. Others, like Mad Men, I watch on DVD. But in the past year or so I’ve found myself compelled to tune into certain “huge events” on the small screen, knowing that I can share the experience with my Twitter friends.
Last night was a case in point. We chose to watch the closing ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Normally I would not pull out my iPhone while sitting on the sofa with a loved one; it seems rather rude in an ancient-school way. But this was uncommon. Halfway through the closing ceremony, around the time O Canada was being mangled by a teen pop singer, my fingers were itching. After a knowing glance from my partner, I grabbed the iPhone and tartan the Twitter stream. Sure sufficient, it was filled with witty observations from the likes of Dave Jones (aka DoctorJones)
and Jian Ghomeshi
Suddenly, there weren’t just two of us in the living room taking in the show. I felt as though we were at a neighbourhood pub, sans the drunks and the noise. I read the tweets aloud and we laughed together. Such is TV-watching in 2010.
Has Twitter transformed YOUR TV viewing?