Viggle: An App That Rewards Your TV Addiction

Viggle is a new app that insures “TV loves you back”.

“Viggle℠ is a loyalty program for television that gives people real rewards for checking into the television shows they’re watching. Available for Android and Apple devices, Viggle automatically identifies the television shows its users are watching and awards them points when they check-in. Viggle users can redeem their points in the app’s rewards catalogue for items such as movie tickets, music, gift cards or they can convert them into charitable donations.”

Viggle takes watching TV to a new level. You get to interact more with the show and receive awards for watching. Log in to the app from Facebook, Twitter, or an email and start logging your TV time. It’s super easy, while you are watching a show, simply hold up your device and click the check-in button. The app will listen to what you are watching and identify it. You get points depending on the time you logged into the show, how long you watched it, and what show it is. Some shows will be worth more due to the large audience. For example I received 366 points for watching The Oscars and another 228 for watching the Red Carpet before hand.

Me capturing an episode of Parks and Recreation on Viggle.

If you are a DIRECTV customer you can get an extra 5,000 points just by signing up for Viggle. 5,000 is a great starting point because the prizes range from gift cards to Starbucks to a Kindle Fire. Take a look at some more of the rewards here.

Watching TV is not the only way to earn points. Viggle is also an app that displays a lot of advertising. It is not the obnoxious kind that also gets in the way, but they are available for you to check out whenever you please. If you click on an ad and watch it, Viggle will give you a small amount of reward points. Every little bit counts.

Now you’re probably wondering why I would be writing about this, it doesn’t seem like a social network. Wrong. The smart creators of Viggle, added a social component to enhance the TV watching experience. When you check-in to a show there is a chat room created where viewers can discuss the show they are watching. You get the possibility of earning more reward points when you interact in the app. If you are like me, then you have your secret shows that you watch when no one is around (for example Dance Moms or Toddlers & Tiaras), but you still want to discuss the show with someone who gets you. That’s where the Viggle chatroom comes in handy. You find people with the same taste in TV shows as you, or people with a totally different insight that you might not have been thinking when watching the show. And maybe when you are chatting in the app you find someone who seems to watch a lot of the same shows or shares the same opinions and you can add them into your Viggle friend group.

This app is perfect for TV addicts like me, get the most from you shows and your time watching them.

Update: You can’t check-in to old shows you have recorded to get points. Tried it. Doesn’t work.

The Library: College’s Most Popular Social Network

It has come to my attention, through frequent observation, that the library is not used for it’s original purpose. I’m seeing more and more people going to the Library to socialize. You meet up with friends, discuss the weekends events, and chat over coffee. Even when people are alone, I still see then socializing, but through their computer. It’s very unlikely to find a person not on a type or social media. What happened to the library being a place for books and studying?
I guess one book is still very popular in the library.

Wait… I love the New MySpace

It seemed like Justin Timberlake took his role in The Social Network a little too seriously, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

We learned, back in fall of 2011, that Justin Timberlake bought a third of MySpace.com. I will be first to admit, I wasn’t sold on the idea of having another social networking site to keep up on. After trying the New MySpace, I will retract my previous thoughts and explain to you why MySpace is cool again.

Cruising around the MySpace site, I came to the conclusion that the developers decided to take the top features from the most popular social networking sites and utilize them to make one massive site.

• Spotify’s playlist sharing feature: On Spotify you can share your custom made playlists for others to listen to. With your MySpace profile you are able to create your own Mixes to listen to as you browse the site or to share with your connections. You can give your Mix a photo collection, a title, and a description of what the playlist is about.

• Pandora radio streaming and artist bio: Pandora usually is a tab we have open while going on the internet. We chose an artist and Pandora has a radio ready to play. On MySpace you go to specific artists and listen to their similar artist radio or listen to all of their songs they choose to post. You can listen freely without commercials and read their personal bios on their music page.

• Twitter trending topics and followers: When you create your account you can add certain things that describe yourself. For example, I checked that I was a writer and a fan. So in my trending part of my feed I can discover popular articles about music today. MySpace allows you to “connect” to anything. What you connect to is what shows up in your feed. Just like on Twitter, the people you follows tweets show on your feed.

• Facebook photo and personal information sharing: Just like any personal page, you can upload your own photos and post text. You can share specific songs to friends through the messaging feature. You can comment on artist’s and friend’s pictures, songs, and updates.

• Youtube video streaming : On each artist’s page, there is a section for videos. Easily scroll through all the music videos of each artists and stream them at your leisure.

• Old MySpace “Top 8” and profile song: “The most nostalgic thing about it was the different music people had on their page,” says UCSB student, Cecilia Mendez about Old MySpace. On your new profile you will be able to add a quote, show your location, a personal website, a song, and your “Top 8”. One of the features that caused the most drama between friends, but also was an honor to be a part of, was the “Top 8” friends on each page. New MySpace brought back that feature but this time you can add in your favorite musical acts.

Screen shot of my personal MySpace Profile

Still want more info, check out some tours on how to use MySpace to the fullest. Don’t feel intimidated by the intricate design or the fact that you scroll sideways instead of up and down.

This site’s goal is not based around connecting friends with friends. MySpace is aware that there is Facebook and Twitter for that. You can easily maintain this site without feeling obligated to share about yourself or talk to your friends on MySpace. “‘I don’t want Myspace to be who I was last night through a bunch of drunken pictures in a drunken stupor, and I don’t want it to be who I am right now on what I’m typing on the Internet,’ Timberlake said about his vision for his personal pages, clearly alluding to Myspace’s biggest competition, Facebook” in this MTV article.

Although, while I was browsing MySpace, I got a little emotional. Since I signed in using my old MySpace account, my old profile picture came along with it. It reminded me of the beginning popularity of social networking. “I liked that you could personalize your page and decorate it,” says Cal Poly student Dani Newton. Remember when we used to search for profile themes, usually a glitter based one, that we had to code into our settings. Those were the days. I think what I will miss the most about old MySpace is the one person who friended you first, Tom. If you miss Tom as much as I do, feel free to check out his Twitter and see what is up with our first friend on the web.

Tom Anderson’s profile picture on his public and verified Twitter page.

#WhyWeTweet

In my daily life, I have noticed that there is some backlash against Twitter users. There is often a negative connotation with tweeters. “What’s the point of tweeting?” “Why is it different from Facebook?”

Twitter is more than just a social networking site to connect with friends with. You can learn, search, discover, inspire, write, do anything on it. Twitter is what you make of it. People have many different uses for Twitter, but here are some of the reasons #WhyITweet

• I tweet because it’s simple. There’s only one rule, you can’t go over 140 characters. Say whatever you want just don’t go over the limit. The new integration with iPhone OS made it even easier to tweet. You log on your phone, see an article you think is cool and can tweet it right from Safari. There is no excuse for it being too difficult. Zack Hennessy (@zackofpotatoes) says he tweets “for quick responses to ideas and thought that I have at any moment in time” and “to understand other people by reading their connection from the real world to the Twitterverse,”.

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• I tweet because I have a lot to say, but don’t think Facebook is the place to share my thoughts. “No one cares what you say on Facebook anymore. That’s the glory of Twitter, you’re allowed to tweet about how you did on your test, what you’re doing, and what you will be doing,” says Zach Holmstrom (@zacoutloud), devoted tweeter since ’07. My friends don’t care about my terrible morning or the fact that I haven’t eaten in hours. But sometimes I just need to put it on the internet. On Twitter, we kind of forget who is even reading our tweets. We tweet for ourselves and not to show off like we do with our check-ins and pictures on Facebook. 

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• I tweet to share news and gather news first. I was the first in my feed to share the news that a hologram of Tupac was actually performing at Coachella, the minute it happened. Pretty soon the Twitter Feed was flooded with tweets about the festival and what was going on. I was getting text messages about if my tweet was true and what was happening. I felt that I was part of a breaking news story without even being a reporter. We are all reporters on Twitter, we can share the news and write about it, share our opinions. Some of the biggest news stories today are broke on Twitter. For example, the news of the death of Amy Whinehouse reached Twitter before it even reached her own father.

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• I tweet to connect with celebrities. I am fascinated by the Hollywood world and the celebrity lifestyle. I wish I could be a part of it, maybe someday. Following celebrities makes me feel like I am a part of their world. You can “like” the celebrity on Facebook and occasionally see them pop up in your News Feed with a PR post or something regarding their career. This is why I like Twitter, for most celebrities, they control their own Twitter. It is not a PR job or way to gain followers and money. They do it because they are just like us. It’s also their outlet to share and spam our feeds with their random thoughts. When you see that blue check mark of verification it’s the real deal. Some of the most serious actors on television could display their true funny side with their tweets. It is nice to see that they really are just like us. Plus it is always a bonus to see fan interaction and appreciation on Twitter. One day, even with millions of followers and tweets a day, @justinbieber will mention me.

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• I tweet to share. If there is a new song I’m listening to, a new book I’m reading, or just a trend I think should be watched, I will tweet about it. Most of the people who follow me have similar interests, so sharing is helping out the followers too. Professor Brady Teufel (@bradyteufel) of Cal Poly uses his Twitter account to share news with his students. He shares links to news stories on his page as a hint as to what will be on quizzes and seen great results. Students like the short burst of quick text that will reduce leisure time, which can explain why they are willing to read a few tweets as opposed to novels. Teufel’s main use for Twitter is to use it as a tool to steam and direct people to stories, even stories posted from his own students.  “It’s cool to be about to identify my students work that is exemplary and retweet it!,” say Teufel.

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Looking back on old tweets, you can reminisce about old fads or things that were happening that the time. Twitter is like our own sharing time capsule. We put a tweet in the Twitterverse world and can come back years later relive old times. Feel free to share  some of the reasons #WhyITweet in the comment section.

–@lindseyyonline