zeebox - TV as it should be!

I am a huge fan of zeebox. A social TV app that allows groups of people to engage about the show they are watching, with other people who are also sharing the experience - should they choose to. It's the core piece that is completly missing from the Virgin Tivo Experience. In this blog entry I said:

• What I would like is an integration with the EPG such that you can share program details with friends and also an integration with twitter hash tags for specific shows. 

Well this is exactly what zeebox provides. But it goes much further:

• The EPG layout is great giving you a clear overview of what is available currently on TV. It lacks a little with respect to what's coming up next - sure you can see on a per channel basis, but most of the time I want to see across the entire guide what is coming on next. It's a small gripe
• The iPad App can actually be used as as your remote on Virgin Tivo and various other TV's - Very cool although as yet I have not set up.
• You can immediatly  see from the EPG what people (zeebox community members) are watching, so you can actually identify TV shows that the crowd think are interesting. Sure the show might not be to your taste but it promotes discoverability in my view. It shows me whats popular and where there might be some banter to follow.
• When you click through to a particular channel it shows you a twitter feed with tweets about the show you are watching. This is one of my favourite dual screen TV watching use cases. Seeing what the masses think about a show and joining in the banter. Watching X-Factor or Strictly with your twitter feed going mental with feedback about the current show, in real time, is huge amounts of fun!
• when you want to join in the fun, you can. There is a simple integration with twitter and facebook to allow you to cross post.
• There is also a load of other information made available about the show you are watching on the channel detail page. Things such as cast information, Zeetags which are simply tags to other content on the internet that provide further detail about what is currently being discussed on the show, details about app downloads related to the current program you are watching etc...

In the past few years I have become a huge fan of the social aspect of TV that has evolved on the internet. Dual screening with my iPad in front of the TV adds a real fun factor to programming that in most cases, unintentionally, has evolved. Zeebox is a great example of creating a dual screen social TV experience which I lamented was missing from Tivo in my review. It's filling a gap that both Virgin and Sky have really missed thus far. Zeebox an acquisition target for both Sky and Virgin? It should be! zeebox really is TV as it should be.

Keep up the great work zeebox.

cheers

m