ScreenTribe is a free application for the iPhone and iPad that allows you to share what you’re currently watching on television with your friends, family and the world. Yes, you can do the same thing with Twitter, but the difference is in the reward system. The more you “tune in,” the more points you earn, and the more prizes you can claim. It’s sort of interesting, but not very practical.
The interface is nicely laid out, with a summary of your activity, a list of trending shows and a stream of what everyone is tuned in to. The purpose is to search for a show or movie that you’re currently watching, and tune in. You earn points for every show you tune in to. It’s odd, but you can tune in to shows that aren’t even on. I also couldn’t figure out how to tune out of a show, and watch something else. It just says that I’m already tuned in to a show.
You can connect with your Facebook account to see what your friends are watching, or you can follow anyone who has a ScreenTribe account. Privacy is a bit of an issue, as you have no options to display a screen name instead of your real name. When setting up your account, it asks for your phone number as an optional entry to display. Why would you want to display your phone number?
After you’ve earned enough points, you can redeem them for real prizes, such as Amazon gift cards or movie tickets from Fandango. This is pretty interesting, but you’ll need to tune in to a great deal of shows to actually earn enough points for anything good. You get five points for every show you tune in to, and you need 7,520 points for $10 in Fandango Bucks.
This app is very similar to GetGlue, and both are interesting ideas that aren’t very practical. Who is actually going to open up this app every time they watch a show just to share what they’re watching with the world? It’s just not something that people will consistently participate in. It might be fun at first, but the excitement will quickly fade.
