Displaying Social Media Content

Abstract

In one aspect, in general, a method includes, at a social media playback system, receiving social media content from at least one social media service, the social media content comprising elements of social media, receiving schedule data pertaining to a media program from a media provider, identifying, at least in part based on the schedule data, social media content relevant to the media program, and storing data associating the identified social media content and the media program, the data indicating timing information associated with respective elements of social media content, at least some of the timing information expressed as an offset relative to a time associated with the media program.

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising
 at a social media playback system:   receiving social media content from at least one social media service, the social media content comprising elements of social media;   receiving schedule data pertaining to a media program from a media provider;   identifying, at least in part based on the schedule data, social media content relevant to the media program; and   storing data associating the identified social media content and the media program, the data indicating timing information associated with respective elements of social media content, at least some of the timing information expressed as an offset relative to a time associated with the media program.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data associating the identified social media content and the media program comprises data identifying at least some of the elements of social media content as determined to be accepted and at least some of the elements of social media content as determined to be rejected, wherein at least some of the determinations are based on data received from a user interface operated by a user associated with the media provider, and at least some of the determinations are performed automatically by a module of the social media playback system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  comprising generating a stream of social media content based on the identified social media content, the stream of social media content comprising a subset of the identified social media content wherein each element of social media content of the subset is synchronized with points in time of the media program, based on the schedule data and based on the timing information associated with each element of social media content. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  comprising transmitting data representing the social media stream to a user who is experiencing the media program. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the identified social media content was posted during a first broadcast of the media program, and the data representing the social media stream is transmitted during a second broadcast of the media program. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least some of the identified social media content was posted during a first broadcast of the media program and at least some of the identified social media content was posted during a second broadcast of the media program. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein a start time of the first broadcast is specified by schedule data associated with a first time zone and a start time of the second broadcast is specified by schedule data associated with a second time zone. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  comprising receiving, from an entity associated with the media provider, data specifying characteristics of social media content. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising identifying, at least in part based on the data specifying characteristics of social media content, social media content relevant to the media program. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the characteristics of social media content is an identity of one or more authors of social media content. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the characteristics of social media content is one or more keywords. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the time associated with the media program is a start time of the media program. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least some of the timing information associated with respective elements of social media is expressed as an offset from a start time of the media program. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data indicates at least one element of social media content is determined to be rejected based on a user identified as having posted the element of social media content. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data indicates at least one element of social media content is determined to have a higher priority based on a user identified as having posted the element of social media content. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  comprising transmitting data causing a user interface to display at least some of the identified social media content in a first display area of the user interface, the user interface having a second display area for displaying the media program. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  comprising identifying a first advertisement displayed in association with the media program, and transmitting data causing the user interface to display, in the first display area, a second advertisement pertaining to the first advertisement. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  comprising receiving an element of social media content authored by a user of the user interface, and storing the element of social media in a database associated with the media program. 
     
     
         19 . A computer readable storage device storing a computer program product comprising machine readable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to carry out operations comprising:
 receiving social media content from at least one social media service, the social media content comprising elements of social media;   receiving schedule data pertaining to a media program from a media provider;   identifying, at least in part based on the schedule data, social media content relevant to the media program; and   storing data associating the identified social media content and the media program, the data indicating timing information associated with respective elements of social media content, at least some of the timing information expressed as an offset relative to a time associated with the media program.   
     
     
         20 . A system comprising:
 a harvester module executable on one or more processors, the harvester module configured for   receiving social media content from at least one social media service, the social media content comprising elements of social media;   receiving schedule data pertaining to a media program from a media provider;   identifying, at least in part based on the schedule data, social media content relevant to the media program; and   storing data associating the identified social media content and the media program, the data indicating timing information associated with respective elements of social media content, at least some of the timing information expressed as an offset relative to a time associated with the media program.