Home video and social networks, marriage of convenience

HBO has just released on Blu-ray a new installment of the popular series 'Tru Blood' whose main feature is the automatic updating of user accounts on Facebook and Twitter of those who watch the series, as well as the possibility of participating in virtual contests and other interactive experiences.

Every day television and video games coexist more closely with social networks and the Internet, offering exclusive content and forums that enhance the creation of virtual communities that strengthen the branding of the channel or an audiovisual product. Now it's the turn of home video, since HBO has just released the Blu-ray of its popular series. True Blood with a very special characteristic. The series, based on the vampire book saga, offers the possibility that if the series is played on a player connected to the Internet, such as the PS3, the user's Facebook or Twitter account will automatically update.

In this way, the True Blood Live Feed It sends updates to Facebook and Twitter at the same time that viewers are watching the episodes, publishing, for example, which episode this or that user has started to watch (with messages like 'Charly just got out of the coffin to watch episode 3') or which scenes he or she has chosen as favorites. It also offers the possibility of publishing your photo that will transform into a vampire as you progress through the viewing of the chapters, participate in virtual contests or a viewing marathon, for example.

Although this is the most elaborate experience, it is not the first, since the latest Blu-Ray editions of films like Sherlock Holmes included live events with actors or directors being able to interact and chat with them. According to an NPD study, these new features will advance as Blu-ray players support Internet connectivity.

The series, in new media

The HBO network will offer both new programming (for example, the third season of True Blood) as old (for example, all seasons of The Sopranos) especially for PS3 or PSP consoles thanks to an agreement closed with Sony to provide paid material on PlayStation Network. While an old chapter of The Sopranos will cost just 99 cents on the dollar, the new chapters of True Blood They will be offered for $2.99.

Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony, has gone so far as to state that “offering viewers another big-screen, high-definition experience, using a device other than cable or satellite, is becoming the norm, not the exception.”