Twitter on TV a reality in Europe

Twitter can be used for as many purposes as there are types of communication, many of them of great social and political importance. But for many of us, it’s a way to discuss TV shows as they are broadcasted without running the risk of swamping a traditional message board forum with one-liners.

The one big hassle with this – and let’s be clear that “big hassle” is a relative term – is that most people have the TV show on one screen and their Twitter application on another. That can mean switching your attention between the TV and a smartphone, or switching back and forth between the TV and a computer including, in some particularly catastrophic cases, actually having to walk into a different room to share your views.

But not for long.

Viewers in France, Spain and Poland will soon be able to send and read Twitter posts directly on their television screen. That’s because mobile phone operator Orange provides integrated TV and broadband packages in which the TV signal is sent via the broadband phoneline, allowing interactive services to be built directly into the TV picture.

It’s not yet clear whether the Twitter function will be limited to particular programs or will be able to be used at any time (as imagined in our mock-up image).