Hi, I'm Rich Anderson and I've recently joined at Gravity. I'll be writing this 'One's to Watch' blog as a regular update for all things digital, social, technical and mobile. Enjoy! 

Social TV

If you've ever seen Made In Chelsea or The Only Way is Essex then you might be familiar with #MIC or #TOWIE. If you've more taste about your TV then you may recognize #thisweek or #bbcqt. These are Twitter hashtags which allow like-minded users to communicate, gossip, and speculate about about their favourite shows.

It appears that TV shows are increasingly

utilizing social media on screen; the potential to generate buzz is quite alluring for both stars of the shows and spectators alike - with season 4 of TOWIE generating an average of 60 tweets per second whilst airing. Strangely enough, Twitter's presence in this media space appears to have developed accidentally, with the high traffic, ease and cost effectiveness likely to be the key drivers. However, it wasn't built for this and thus it's potential to provide a rich accompaniment to TV seems limited.

Companion apps such as GetGlue and Into Now (recently acquired by Yahoo) offer a substantial service that allow a high level of interaction via analysis (for sports perhaps), extended trailers, cast interviews, and chat with friends. The apps can even recognise what you're watching just from the audio, Shazam-style. Check out Into Now's promotional video here.

It may well open social doors for those less experimental TV programmes. Though it begs the questions, does social media need to be specifically designed for TV? Is their a market for it, or are we satisfied with Twitter? Needless to say, I'm #excited.

Google Ripples

Frequently lauded as a 'Ghost Town', Google aren't prepared to roll over with G+ anytime soon, with some citing it as a 'bet the company move'.

I've spent a lot of time on the platform and grown quite fond of it. However, I shan't speculate on its future nor preach why you must switch over (view here), but instead I want to talk about Google Ripples, G+'s interactive visual analytics.

Every time someone makes a public post on G+, there is the option to analyse how the post has spread through the platform, by clicking 'View Ripples'.

You are then presented with a visual map of the post and how it has been interacted with by friends or followers. Larger circles indicate heavy sharing, effectively spreading the reach more than others. For a more extensive explanation, check out 'Ripples Explained'.

It's worth having a play around with, since it's more than a simple static diagram. By hovering over a circle, you can reveal how their actions have fared with the number of reshares and who these people are. There is also the option to view their profiles and subsequently follow them. Check out this tutorial for how to use ripples.

From a user perspective, ripples can be a fun and effective way to interact with like-minded people. However, the real potential is for brands who can look to identify those making the most noise and subsequently develop their relationships with these brand influencers.

Why hasn't more been made of Ripples in the media? It's a great tool that eclipses Facebook analytics, but until G+ drives significantly greater traffic then there's not much to measure and the tool is effectively redundant.

by Rich Anderson @rich_anderson9