BY the time this issue hits your mailbox, you may have already forgotten about the Royal Wedding. But for the sake of this article, let’s pretend that it was still taking over the news. And if you really didn’t care about the Royal Wedding, for the sake of this article let’s pretend that you did.

Think back: did you rely on television to offer the best coverage of the event, or did you hop onto the web? Did you check your friends’ Facebook profiles and tweets while the T.V. was on to see whether someone had a better perspective on images, sound bytes or video? Did you have some type of mobile device at the ready while the “traditional” broadcast was taking place?

Anticipating an emerging industry trend is like playing the stock market- you never know what is going to last, and what is going to fade away into obscurity.

This is where we have terms pop up like “vaporware”:A product or technology that boasts the capacity to revolutionize the way we live our lives, but then fails to catch on and ends up disappearing. There are only select few technologies that make their way into being an overall part of the foundation that props up our daily existence.

Take some of the products launched at NAB 2010, for example. Arguably, the prominent buzz on the exhibit floor was about 3D products; displays, cameras, lenses, and glasses- oh those dastardly glasses. However, flash forward to NAB 2011, 3D had evidently taken a back seat. In select circles, a phenomenon that had emerged to take its place was a concept called second screen.

SO WHAT THE HECK IS SECOND SCREEN?

As broadcasters clamor to get a handle on backing the right horse in a vociferously volatile industry, trends are taking place right under everyone’s nose that are effectively changing the way in which we interact with our media. In actuality, many of these trends have been around all along, and they are perhaps just now being packaged and branded.

One of these trends is a developing phenomenon: television viewers interacting with other people in real-time while they watch a traditional broadcast. Specifically, the model is best represented when there is a major event: the Royal Wedding, the Superbowl, the International Kennel Club Dog Show. As viewers take in the spectacle, they are furiously texting, Twittering, Facebooking, and otherwise interacting with their peer networks.

Mobile devices become in essence this “Second Screen”, the portal into a forum where viewers can convey their opinions, shock, dismay and elation about developments in the broadcast.

Traditional broadcasters are seemingly undergoing a seismic shift; entering a development stage to determine how to best merge the second screen into the traditional broadcast model.

For users/viewers, the transition has taken place gradually, and has evolved over time. Devices like tablets and smart phones (and the social apps they contain) have been seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. They have become part of our social DNA. Whether we’re out To dinner and feel the urge to tweet about a great meal we’re having, or at a sports event where we want to blast the word out to our network about being able to see a game-changing turnover happen right before our eyes, the undeniable truth is that we are becoming more active as social spectators.

As such, television is becoming less of a passive spectator event- it is increasingly encouraging people to interact and participate with one another about an event that is taking place. Not only that, advertisers are actually benefiting from the advent of this second screen phenomenon, in that it encourages viewer behavior that is complimentary to their cause. For instance, according to broadcast advertisers, viewers are less likely to switch channels during a program if they are Facebooking and Tweeting about the developments during the break. Also, depending on how the broadcaster and the advertiser have arranged the content, viewers can potentially interact in real-time with an advertising campaign, making both the program as well as the advertising that supports it, a social forum.

Imagine you’re watching a car commercial, where a small inset picture-in-picture appears, asking you to vote on what you think of the vehicle’s design. You get specific instructions about how to take part in the poll, and with your tablet or smart phone, you do just that. Then you get to see the posted results appear on your television screen in real time- giving you the chance to literally take part in interacting with the broadcast as it happens. Kind of cool, right?

WHAT DOES SECOND SCREEN MEAN TO YOU?

Consider the potential for a house of worship broadcast. Picture being able to send a message out to all the at-home viewers or “shut-ins” who are watching your broadcast to have them actively take part in a survey, or weigh in on a topic that is brought up during the service? How about collecting and displaying a real-time, textdriven prayer call that is moderated by a volunteer or staff member? Or, consider displaying video testimonials captured with mobile devices from people around the world. The concept of a “shut-in” starts to take on a different Meaning, their physical presence does not determine their ability to interact with and be part of the community; they are enabled like never before to reach out and be reached.

There are several ways in which the second screen can be integrated into the traditional broadcast method, and as in anything else, not every solution works for everyone, nor is there a product that will cater to every traditional broadcaster’s need. But admittedly, the opportunities are vast when it comes to brainstorming about ways in which this platform can be integrated into the viewer’s experience.

“In many ways the second screen has always existed for broadcast television, only it wasn’t called the second screen, it was called the water cooler or lunch room chatter.” states James Neufeld, Product Manager for never. No, a company that develops platforms for Second Screen applications. “The biggest evolution of the “second screen” hasn’t been broadcast related at all, it has been Facebook, Twitter, and social communities that enable us to share and talk about our own interests.” Neufeld says, “TV has always been social in one way or another, only now we have technology to harness that conversation.”

“Most of us are already comfortable with the idea of second screens in church,” explains Jeff Otero of Acoustic Dimensions, a group of technology consultants for houses of worship. “We might tweet quotes from the pulpit or look up the day’s text on our Bible app.

“[It] would be cool if the church could push information to your mobile device during a service,” Otero continues. “Say the pastor is talking about the temple, a link could come up with the option to ‘explore now or save for later.’ This is less of a technology challenge and more of a cultural one. We have to be willing to allow people to customize their own experience during a service.”

“I think there are a lot of cool ways [houses of worship] can use this [technology].” Neufeld says. “Why not integrate audience responses from mobiles (SMS, Twitter, Facebook) to the big screen, prayer requests, praise items, announcements, whatever is beneficial for the congrega- Tion. And the opposite; have the individual people in the congregation broadcast the happenings to the outside world. Or, create a companion follow-along app to the service. Why does the PowerPoint have to be on the big projector? Allow users to check-in to the service, follow the sermon (scriptures, slides, etc.), allow the audience to engage the speaker, and have the information stored for support groups to follow up on.”

“The caution is against ‘gratuitous technology,’” Otero warns, “If there isn’t a mission to its use, then it distracts rather than adds to the experience.”

This is of course, the age-old conflict when it comes to incorporating new technology in a worship setting. However, there have been several examples of what is now seen as integral technology being reluctantly adopted into the worship setting. Prime example is the Internet itself, or church websites. There was in fact a time when many churches were reluctant to make the jump to establishing an online presence with a website. Now, there is still a Question as to whether a house of worship should invest in building a website, but it isn’t because the leadership teams do not think they need to be on the web; it’s because social platforms like Facebook and Twitter have facilitated the process of an organization establishing an online presence. This second screen phenomenon is essentially an extension of this overall shift in thinking.

Any new product implementation should be accompanied by a vision about the use, and a clear goal for how the technology will fit into a given scenario, to move the mission of the worship team forward.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

We may have only scratched the surface when it comes to understanding and implementing this potentially powerful tool. The more “smart” mobile devices become essential parts of our lives rather than mere novelties, we will likely see increasing integration of real-time interaction with traditional broadcast models.

“Moving forward I believe the second screen experiEnce will be synchronizing and intertwining the interactive and social experience people know and love about television.” Neufeld says. “We are only now, after much trial and error, seeing best cases and uses of the second screen in conjunction with traditional broadcast. I suspect the real interesting technical innovations will be how to incorporate the real-time second screen into real-time television. People will (and do) want more than just static video content pushed to their devices; [the content] needs to be complimentary to other viewing experiences around them. Hopefully in 3-5 years we [will see] broadcast content tightly integrated to this philosophy.”

“The trend is away from a linear experience (broadcast thinking) and more toward a user-customized experience,” says Cathy Hutchison of Acoustic Dimensions, an active writer, speaker and blogger on the subject of integrating social media. “I believe that as long as the technology allows the user to customize/participate/hack their experience of the service-- giving the individual an active role-- the technology will take off and become an integral part of the way we experience worship, but if we take away that control and use it simply as another passive broadcast channel, it loses its power.”

Regardless of whether it ultimately helps or hinders traditional broadcast, it is undeniable that mobile devices, and subsequently “second screen” platforms are changing the way we interact with broadcast media. There may come a time when we look back with some incredulity at the notion of simply “watching” television. We are fast becoming disinterested with passively having our media fed to us- we want to be part of the action. We want our peers and colleagues to be able to share in the experience with us; to have the water cooler right in our living rooms as opposed to waiting to get to the office to exchange our opinions. We endeavor to merge with the media in a tactile way; physically participating in the gathering and distribution of information about something that catches our interest, our attention, or our capacity to empathize.

While the second screen is still in its infancy we can foresee both promising and foreboding futures. Perhaps an iteration of the second screen trend will see the ability to literally determine how a program will play out. Viewers could vote on whether a character should accomplish their goal, get the guy, or more ominously- live or die. The modes and degree to which we are able to participate, and the ways that interaction is framed will inevitably condition the role second screen plays in the changing landscape of media broadcast.

Perhaps we can no longer consider the concept of the “water cooler” as we once did. The idea of the passive spectator, storing opinion and excitement about a broadcast event overnight, has effectively evolved. We are perpetually living in the media moment, as events happen in realtime. The water cooler travels with us, and we are imbued with new purpose, empowered with the capacity to participate, and in some cases even have a profound effect on how certain events will unfold.