Social Media has transformed existence as we know it. However, The technological advancement that made it possible was the development of the screen. The screen, gave us an interface with every aspect of our lives, it became a window to a world outside much larger than our physical and geographical, cultural and linguistic space.
It makes sense then that the major points of convergence would center around the various screens in our lives. APple realised this earlier and decided to create a closed system monopoly of the various screens in our lives. As we saw iniTV – A Window Into Apple’s Endgame, the final frontier is the Largest screen in our lives, the Television. It was first in the market, but of late, has fallen by the wayside because of the one-way delivery nature of its programming. However, inserting it into the Apple Ecosystem, it suddenly changes everything, again.
Given the nature of this change, I would like to introduce 2 new concepts along with their definitions – Screentegration and Screenvergence
Screentegration – The act of creating content requiring the use of multiple platforms to consume. The Idol empire is a good example of an early implementation, where the audience could vot for their favourite acts. As we progress, we will become increasingly dependant on the multiple screens. One could watch a basketball match on Television while using a tablet device to keep track of all the stats. As the game progresses, there might be opportunities to scan a QR code for a special offer with a handheld Phone.
Screenvergence – Where content and data is formatted in such a way as to be able to be accessed through any ‘screen based’ device in the users posession. The Network is the platform and the screens simply serve as the interface. Gmail, Facebook, Twitter and youtube were all designed to be screendependent of platforms and with SCREENVERGENCE in mind.
The concepts will take off and play out in the New wave, that I am sure, whether these terms do as well remains to be seen 🙂