Learn about Watercooler - Automated Social Media for TV
Posted by Larry Mincer on Fri, Mar 11, 2011 @ 11:30 AM
We are very happy to let everyone know about Watercooler, the first rules-based automated social media tool for television.
What is Watercooler and how does it work?
Very simply, Watercooler is a suite of very sophisticated software from VDS packaged in a compact, efficient computer. Watercooler continuously looks at the station automation system in your facility or NOC and sees all the information in the daily playlist of media clips, including programs, commercial spots, show bumpers or segments. Within the Watercooler database we record and keep other information about all this content, including the start times, duration and key time codes for events that take place during the content playback.
Using the browser interface, and without interfering in engineering or operations, you can see all the events scheduled and playing on the playlist. You can create rules for social media triggers by just applying some simple logic in the Watercooler interface.
For example, a rule might be:
Generate this prepared Facebook post or Twitter message exactly 12 minutes after the start of our 9 pm show. We might want to do that because it’s a key or funny point in the show.
Another example might be:
Generate a Twitter message 5 minutes before every McDonald's commercial so that customers can respond for coupons.
The applications for broadcasters, media companies and content providers are limitless and really help engage many more viewers and fans.
If you’d like to learn more about Watercooler, for broadcast automation of social media, please click the Watercooler image to the right and we’ll send you more information.