Small Talk Makes a Big Difference: Recent Developments in Interactive, SMS-Based Television

Abstract

The article discusses key features of SMS-based television. It has a particular focus on the shift from one-way broadcast communication toward two-way interactivity, and on new forms of user participation through SMS-based television's interactive design interfaces. The article presents a multimodal analysis of design in SMS-based television formats, a discourse analysis of their roles and interactions, and a typology of their degrees of interactivity. It also draws on interviews with industry decision-makers and on relevant statistics. The article develops a conceptual interest, introducing some neologisms to account for the original textual features of SMS-based television. Its designs are analyzed using a concept of “zones,” while its roles and interactions are seen as linking these zones by means of “axes.” In closing it is suggested that SMS-based television presents us with interactivity as a realized, albeit mundane, fact rather than as a future promise.