The new BBC iPlayer launched this week to a chorus of applause. You may take a look at it and wonder what makes it so special. The truth is on first glance, you might simply think this is simply a slightly more polished video player, but with plans to share the iPlayer further abroad the social aspects of the player are suddenly much more apparent.
My view on the old player was simply that it wasn’t social enough. There wasn’t much, if any, sharing functionality, it didn’t profile me or my interests and I found it hard to get recommendations. The new iPlayer is much more social. Although I have to log-in via a BBC iD rather than the seemingly standard Facebook Connect, the connection allows me to post what I am watching through my status update on Facebook and Twitter… effectively meaning that BBC is allowing users to show they are “checking-in” to programming, something that GetGlue have been trying to kick-off in the UK recently.
Fast Company have done a really good piece on this:
“The watchwords for the new site are convenience and personalization. Hence, the BBC has arranged the user landing page for so that it’s easier to find TV shows one wants to see. The player module can now be launched in a stand-alone window, meaning you can continue to watch a show while you do other things on the site, or elsewhere on the Web, much more easily. It’s also a neat way to power your TV directly with iPlayer content, if you’re one of those connected souls who’s TV is hooked up as a second monitor for your PC. Meanwhile, integrating the iPlayer profile with Facebook and Twitter accounts is now simpler, to facilitate sharing info about your shows with your friends or followers.
But this social net interactivity isn’t fast enough for the BBC, so soon the network will be building in Windows Messenger powers to the system, enabling real-time chats during program viewings. The Beeb is obviously envisaging TV show catch-up parties, with excited folks IM-nattering about this week’s goings-on by Doctor Who or whatnot … though the jury is still out over whether this is actually a good idea (check out Fox’s disastrous attempts at the same thing). In a move something akin to Facebook’s “like” button or Amazon’s “wish lists,” you can also now build lists of your favorite shows to share with people.
The revamped system is also cleverly rigged up so you can download TV show content before it’s had its first terrestrial broadcast, and although you can’t watch it during this period, it means you can do so instantly upon its TV airing. In some sense, this is the BBC enabling a Tivo-like “live TV pause” power into its service.”
The reason I find this interesting as a benchmark is that the iPlayer has made some really simple changes to a product which was already fundamentally very strong. What they have done by adding sharing functionality is to create multiple advocates, linchpins, or collaborators for every single bit of content that is screened on the iPlayer. This is something that all business should be thinking about socially… how do I turn every consumer touchpoint I have into an opportunity to create advocacy for my brand?.
As with every network my handle is: mattbambow
