Enhancing Use of Social Media in TV Broadcasting

Traditional linear TV is decreasing in popularity and the broadcast industry has identified the need to change communication with their audience as a way to counteract on this. Especially younger generations are using social media twenty-four-seven and would like to continue doing so while watching TV. The VisualMedia project accepts this challenge by enriching the TV experience with elements and information from social media in real-time during live broadcasts. It enables broadcasters to select and distribute posts and stats from various social media sources in a fast and reliable way. With the help of VisualMedia, posts and stats can be shown within live programs using enhanced graphical representations or on the second screen, with minimal latency. The goal of the project is to deliver a framework that combines all necessary steps from retrieving posts to delivering them into a live TV show. This gives broadcasters the opportunity to react fast on their audiences, and facilitates audiences to interact with their broadcaster.