What's the fun of watching TV without using social media to catch up with other fans?
Facebook's got some new tools aimed squarely at grabbing the "second screen," a fan experience that fast-moving Twitter has so far locked down.
The social giant has announced a bevy of features that look to attract TV broadcasters by offering the chance to receive immediate feedback and content from their viewers.
The goal: Deepening its relationships with a part of the media world that still holds the keys to very big advertising bucks.
Bob Morgan, partner engineering director at Facebook, wrote in a blog post that the tools boil down to three particular areas: Engaging fans, polling them for their input, and curating photos and videos that can then be shown on TV.
"Our own researchers discovered that Facebook usage peaks in primetime, in every country, and that the maximum daily Facebook audience occurs during maximum TV viewing," he wrote. "With all of this in mind, we want to enable broadcasters to create great experiences for their viewers around the programming they love, drive real-time participation and engage their audiences 24/7."
The new tools come just as Twitter introduced Moments, it's own curation tool that allows media companies to compile pictures, video and public sentiment into a coherent stream.
Among the tools is a new way for viewers to submit pictures and videos to broadcasters, which Facebook billed as a way to solicit anything from audition videos to questions to be answered on air. Facebook noted that Fox News used this feature to take questions during its Republican presidential debate.
Immigration, national security, the economy... What do you want to ask the 2016 presidential candidates? Submit a video with your question by clicking here: http://bit.ly/1H4seMV YOU could be featured during the Fox News-Facebook debate August 6th on Fox News Channel.Posted by Fox News on Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Facebook is also introducing the ability to take audience votes via hashtag, as well as a media polling tool that will be specific to TV show pages on Facebook.
Twitter also recently introducing a new polling tool.
Facebook has been making a full-court press to attract a variety of different media companies. In late September, it announced the wider rollout of the much-anticipated Instant Articles, which will let media companies publish stories inside the social network.
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