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Last month, Nielsen released a study suggesting that the volume of tweets related to a given broadcast “caused significant changes in live TV ratings” 29 percent of the time.

“There are calls to action in all sorts of programming that are encouraging people to get involved and continue the dialog with that programming,” says Youngling. “For brands, the data is really showing that it’s incredibly impactful and meaningful. When you give audiences the opportunity to interact, they will.”

“If shows don’t get good ratings they don’t stay on the air,” says Bugbee. “You see television encouraging social activity with hashtags on shows. Ostensibly, if I’m not watching Dancing with the Stars and I see a lot of posts from my friends who are talking about it, maybe I should tune in.”

Earlier this month, Facebook unveiled a new program to allow select media partners, such as CNN, to tap its public feed and see activity related to certain keywords. The new television data report will tally all posts, including private ones, but Facebook says the data is collected anonymously and will only be shown in aggregate to protect users’ privacy.

recent episode of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” generated more than 1 million interactions from some 750 thousand people.

In order to calculate chatter, Facebook had to create a library of keywords for each show, such as the names of main characters.

the data shows the Twitter TV audience for an episode is, on average, 50 times larger than the authors who are generating tweets.

In its IPO filing, Twitter said the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will “not directly generate revenue” but said, “we believe (it) will enhance our attractiveness to users and advertisers.”

Facebook, which has a total user base more than five times the size of Twitter’s, is playing catch-up to Twitter in trying to provide a similar guide for how social activity on its service relates to TV. Last week, Facebook began sharing weekly data about interactions among U.S. users for about 45 broadcast shows in primetime with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC and a few other partners.

"If TV is a monologue then YouTube is a conversation," says Benjamin Cook. "The communal side of TV has been outdated for 10 years. Something like Doctor Who, The X Factor or the Olympics will suddenly get everyone crowded round the TV again, but in general TV just feels more distant to me. I will sit in bed and watch Charlie McDonnell's latest vlog and you feel far closer – like you're watching a friend."

at the end of 2010 when the site introduced TrueView, a system that allowed users to skip almost two-thirds of its adverts easily; the innovation being that Google could now charge much more for the ones people did watch to the end

"One thing that's completely different is that a lot of creators involve their audience in the creative process," says Sara Mormino, director of YouTube content operations in Europe. "So they ask the audience questions, they ask them to comment and they are also able to look at the stats of exactly who is watching.

Feedback is immediate and unfailingly honest, and they tailor their performances every time they post a video. Such an environment has given rise to rabid fandom.

When you speak to the YouTubers, it's hard not to think that old-style broadcasters should be concerned by the lack of interest in and sometimes disdain for their product. What this generation (and their audience) loves about the platform is that they grew up with it; it feels like it belongs to them. They make the videos, unmediated by grown-ups, and put them out into the world where they are judged by their peer group.

n January 2012, Elisabeth Murdoch's production company, Shine, bought ChannelFlip, a media agency that represents some popular YouTubers, and is expanding rapidly

“What it tells me is that Twitter is going to be a player in video distribution,” said Erik Flannigan, executive VP of multiplatform strategy and development at Viacom Entertainment Group

For Twitter, the advertising opportunity has come in an area that skeptics early on thought was inviolate territory: inside the stream of tweets from each user’s followers.

While Twitter has always been an effective springboard for TV, the platform previously strictly sent users to the TV set or to a link in another browser or app via retweet. That changed in June 2012, with the introduction of Twitter Cards, which essentially expanded a space once restricted to 140 characters to accommodate anything from a still photo to a video player — all without leaving Twitter.

For Twitter, Cards also paved the way for Amplify. Twitter first tested the initiative with ESPN last December during telecasts of BCS college football games. Thirty-second game highlights were targeted at sports fans in the Twittersphere just moments after they occurred in real time as a means of drawing more viewers from that segment of the audience most interested in the content, as well as to retain those already watching.

Twitter began bringing together other networks and advertisers for Amplify campaigns, including Turner Broadcasting with AT&T and Coke Zero for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament; and with Sprint, Taco Bell and Sony Pictures for NBA postseason games.

To wit, BBC America used Amplify for the season premiere of “Top Gear,” seeding Twitter with all sorts of video extras synched to the show’s airing but not available in the broadcast itself.

Having introduced TV Ad Targeting in beta mode in May, last week Twitter touted engagement metrics that should help encourage more advertisers to sign on. Among the first brands to experiment included Jaguar, Samsung and Holiday Inn.

Video can be intertwined with photos and text. It’s not entirely different from the model of so-called alternative reality games, but it is rooted on the social network instead of an array of websites. “I call it ‘disembodied media,’ ” said Mark Ghuneim, founder and CEO of social media tracking service Trendrr. “It’s a disembodied TV show taking place in disparate parts, times, and sources. It’s crazy in a great way.”

Interactive or participatory TV has been on the margins of the business for so long that it seems like it’s never going to happen. But Twitter may be just the soil where a long-delayed germination could actually take root. Let’s not forget that the average member of any audience has a device in their pocket capable of transmitting quality video — how can that not disrupt the traditional understanding of what programming is?

During the Super Bowl in February, Twitter was on fire. The game and its commercials generated some 1.8 billion tweets that were seen by 15.3 million Twitter users. The esurance spot prompted the most Twitter chatter, with 1.2 million Twitter users posting nearly 1.9 million messages about it.

not everyone can afford a TV ad, and this new option may be aimed at the have-nots

on the TV front – we work with connected TV ecosystem companies like Shazam, Cisco, and others that are building Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) into HD and 4K displays. In the increasing model of TV/mobile co-viewing/browsing, a sponsor could deliver a message that is first seen on the TV but is also sync’d to become a Call-To-Action (CTA) on the mobile device of the viewer.  And as the ad will know the location of the user, they could tailor the message to direct the customer to the nearest retail location of the brand advertiser.”

In 2011 we worked with Fox TV and our member company Loopt on the show 'Bob’s Burgers.' They approached us with an LBM idea –they wanted to build a fanbase as the show was just starting.  So, we partnered with the California-based chain Fatburger in 64 locations to rebrand them as Bob’s Burgers.  On one of the episodes, one of the animated characters checked-in on their mobile device.  We’re also worked with Bravo on shows like Real Housewives and Top Chef – to drive viewers to real-world retail locations that the characters on the show frequent.”

Let’s take a big retailer like The GAP – they spend $$$ on great TV ads with great music.   Instead of The GAP saying 'Check in on Foursquare today at the GAP and save 20% on a pair of jeans'  – essentially giving their margin away, wouldn’t it be better if I could say 'Hey, you know that great commercial you saw that got you into the store? Let me give you a free copy of that song as a download right now.'  So we’re seeing a shift from just discounts and coupons and moving toward an exchange of valuable content.  The producers and broadcasters of that content have a huge opportunity to participate in that.”

Regarding the potential for backlash against location-based marketing, Khan is optimistic:  “The way we look at it is, if you can demonstrate real value and relevance to an individual user, they will be willing to share their location data. It’s almost a mathematical equation.  You have to articulate opportunities around the value exchange.   Four years ago, the stats for Foursquare showed that more than 82% of the location data (check-ins) were driven by men.

The thinking goes like this: Cable customers are watching Netflix anyway on other devices, so why not plug the service so they don’t have to switch over to an Apple TV or Roku?