Can Event-Based Social Networks further diffuse Social TV?

Can Event-Based Social Networks further diffuse Social TV amongst mainstream TV audiences?

An extensive article on ReadWriteWeb elaborates on the rise of Event-Based Social Networks (EBSNs) that borrows elements from Location-Based Social Networks (like Foursquare and Gowalla).

If we take these advantages and developments from this type of Social Networks and relate that to Social TV and content, it certainly is a platform which can advance the acceptation of Social TV.
Not only from the user point of view, but even more, from the advertisers point of view, which is an accelator.

The article presents us audience data from some of the most widely-known live-broadcast sports and entertainment events from this year:

• Golden Globes (January): This year's television audience was 17 million, 14% higher than in 2009.
• Grammy Awards (January): Almost 27 million viewers tuned in, a 35% increase over last year's broadcast and the highest TV ratings for the event since 2004.
• Super Bowl XLIV (February): This became the most-watched television program in U.S. history, beating the finale of the TV show "M*A*S*H" with a total audience of over 150 million and an average of over 106 million viewers.
• Academy Awards (March): The Awards had over 41 million viewers, up 14% over the 2009 Oscars.
• NBA Finals Game 7 (June): The deciding game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics pulled in a viewership of over 28 million, the largest basketball audience since 12 years ago, when Michael Jordan won his last of six NBA championships
• World Cup Final (July): The finals between Spain and Netherlands became the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history with over 24 millionviewers, topping the previous record of 19 million viewers during the United States' match against Ghana in the elimination round only weeks earlier.

With figures as these, the potential for well developed EBSNs that have certain game elements incorporated, is huge.
Think of Miso and Tunerfish, think of Fanvibe and Hot Potato which all can tap into the millions of watchers.
The ReadWriteWeb article provides enough examples to show that real-time communication around events is a hit, two examples are:

"Facebook has shared that about 30% of all status updates on the site during the U.S. versus England match included a World Cup-related term. More impressively, Twitter saw the number of Tweets per second (TPS) it handles top 3,000 as a result of the Lakers beating the Celtics in the NBA Finals."

Where the mobile is key and the unique asset behind Location-Based Social Networks, the television (as the medium) is a driving force behind ESBN's. Surely WebTV is rising, but for entertainment and event purposes, the television-screen is still reigning.

How can EBSNs drive further diffusion of Social TV?
Two conditions that easen it are:
By tapping into the interoperable platforms like Facebook and Twitter for the present userbase and a two-screen experience which has low or no barriers.
A two screen experience avoids proven irritation of consumers, as mentioned on Technology Review on a MIT Social TV system:

"[...] and lets users and the people in their networks send comments and ratings back and forth via an iPhone app. It avoids using the TV screen for messages, something that has proved irritating to consumers who don't want clunky text obscuring the pictures on their 52-inch HDTVs."

No habituation is needed before a suitable experience is reached.
The lack of creating again a profile and network is the second important condition for a faster adoption.

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, having a sustainable business model is a constraint for Social TV to thrive.
Could advertising be a revenue stream in relation to EBSNs?

There's a big and common misunderstanding about advertising, it's not the advertising an sich that is not wanted, but the irrelevancy of it.
Targeted audiences on EBSNs annuls irrelevancy.
In a short period of (lineair) time, a large concentration of like-minded people are gathered on a platform, what does a brand want more?
Facebook's Open Graph can add extra intelligence to it so targeting gets even more refined and relevant.

More sophisticated revenue streams can be data-driven and Social Network Analysis (SNA) kind of models that provide brands with valuable -real-time- information on their target groups.

The challenge of Time is solved as well. Television is becoming less and less lineair, on demand and time shifted viewing is becoming a normal part of watching TV. The focus and interest on a particular topic (in time) is fragmented and hard to reach a critical mass. Lineair events don't have this challenge.

The type of content and purpose are key in Social TV and any other convergence challenge.
If EBSNs can combine a easy-to-use two screen experience in combination with highly suitable content for television, they can become the next big opportunity in Social Media and be an important force behind Social TV adoption.

Do you think any kind of content is suitable for Social TV?

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