Investigating the Use of Voice and Text Chat in a Social Television System

We tested a social television system with both voice and text communication in the field for one week, in four households. Participants expressed a preference for the freeform communication features over an earlier system with restricted communication options. Use of the communication features was nevertheless sporadic. Text was used more often than voice communication. However, both were usually used in combination. The in-home context had marked effects on the usage patterns, and we observed issues of privacy and identity verification.