Miso Continues To Forge Ahead In The Social TV Arena

Back in April, Neil Vidyarthi let our readers in on a cool service called Miso that brings a fun social aspect to television viewing. Six months later Miso, which lets users check-in to television shows as they watch, share what they are watching with their friends, earn badges and keep track of their own viewing habits, has grown by leaps and bounds. Katie Smillie (Marketing/Product/Partnerships at Miso) and CEO Somrat Niyogi told me about what's new at Miso via email. Read on to find out how Miso is working to make television more fun and social. Katie told me that Miso has "been busy working on a ton of new product updates that have been in high demand from [the site's] users and that reflect [the company's] million to make TV watching better." The following product updates were recently launched: Focus on specific episodes - In earlier versions of the service, users were able to check-in to a certain show. Check-ins have now been expanded to include specific episodes. Each episode has its own dedicated page on the Miso site, including title, synopsis, and episode-specific image. Users can edit shows - Miso users are now able to update and edit the metadata for specific shows and movies, including adding posters and editing information. It sounds a little bit like the Wikipedia of Social TV. Facebook Connect - Users can now sign up and sign in to Miso using Facebook Connect. Expanded profiles - Miso user profiles have been expanded to include bio, location and website. This information will be displayed alongside the shows that you are following. Notifications - Notifications have been added to the Miso mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android to keep you updated as soon as someone likes or replies to your content. Check out the video below to see some of these new Miso updates in action. The video is from the end of September, so it doesn't include all the new features, but it gives you a good idea of how the site works. In addition to these new features, Miso has also been keeping busy with promotions. They teamed up with QVC this year for The New Black Friday, offering Miso users the opportunity to check-in to QVC on Miso over the Thanksgiving weekend to earn The New Black Friday badge and exclusive Miso-only product deals. Miso also kicked off a campaign with Universal Home Studios Entertainment to promote the DVD/Blue-Ray release of 'Despicable Me'. The promotion, called 'Minion Madness', gives users the opportunity to earn exclusive Minion Madness badges by checking into shows where the Despicable Me minions make an appearance. The first check-ins started during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Miso isn't the only site of its kind. We've covered several other Social TV services here at Social Times including Starling and Tunerfish. However, Miso is doing a good job of standing up to the competition, and I also think it's important to note that they are the ones that got the ball rolling in the Social TV arena in the first place, so it's no surprise they are forging ahead. Personally, I think the service is great. I like the interface and the promotions sound addictive. I can see all sorts of users trying to rack up the badges by checking in to the shows they are watching as often as they can. I definitely think that Miso is doing a great job of making the whole experience of watching television social, which is becoming more and more important as viewers are getting more and more accustomed to being able to comment, react to and share content with their friends. If you are in the Bay area you can find out more about Miso Meetup tomorrow night (December 7, 2010) in San Francisco. If you aren't in San Fran, check out the service online, or on your mobile phone, and let us know what you think in the comments!

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Miso Continues To Forge Ahead In The Social TV Arena

Megan O'Neill

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Megan O'Neill