So what is social TV? Mashable defines social TV as “technologies surrounding television that promote communication and social interaction related to program content.” I’m sure that most of us have live tweeted during a television show or a sporting event, or at least followed the twitter timeline to get the reactions and thoughts of a show’s audience. Due to the popularity and enormity of social TV conversation, networks have begun to utilize this phenomenon to create a more personal relationship with their fans.

“Pretty much every single television network has to have a social TV strategy or they won’t be able to survive. Since social networks…have become so big, these platforms have become the number one way for the networks to reach their fans directly and engage with them. Networks are definitely creating what the call ‘bridge strategies’ in between episodes and season and have employees dedicated to organizing the fan communities and creating content in partnerships with the fans,” explained Natan Edelsburg, Sr. VP Social TV Write Shorty Awards and Muck Rack.

When speaking with Mr. Edelsburg, my biggest question was how do organizations implement all of the data and information they receive from social conversation chatter about their programs, or competing programs. He stated that one of the best examples is that YouTube entertainers are now gaining more recognition through social conversation, something that the networks follow. Todrick Hall, a YouTube star with over 185 million views of his content now has a show. Networks are also using social TV to get feedback on their shows.

Social TV conversation has been most impactful for live events such as The Oscars, Grammy Awards, Super Bowl, State of the Union, amongst others. During Edelsburg stated that “for scripted TV the conversation will happen among niche fan groups and binge watchers.” As social media continues to grow, networks will more closely monitor the conversations users are having about their television programming. Learn about the future of the social TV conversation at the Beyond Live, Why the L+3 Social TV Convo Matters.