Being able to communicate everywhere, to exchange with others or to see what friends are doing at the moment, are phenomena that go hand in hand with Web 2.0 and the emergence of social web communities. Facebook, StudiVZ, Twitter, Foresquare, Qype, Friendticker and many more enjoy great popularity with their users. Today, these social networks are already a basic component in the maintenance of social relationships. Thanks to efficient broadband technologies, related new interaction possibilities are now already supported by PCs, mobile phones and TV sets, and, apart from the change of the user’s needs, these new possibilities initiate a transition in technology use itself. Even if the original function of each individual device is being retained, functionalities of other devices will more and more be integrated.

Which role social web communities play in this context and how such communities are going to work out in the future, how they add value to professionally produced content like, for example, television and which technical instruments facilitate a platform overarching exchange, is the focus of the research project SocialMedia. Based on concepts that will be developed in the project, one is now not only able to exchange with friends via PC, but one can also use integrated interfaces on the TV, on mobile or other devices. The conception and evaluation of these new approaches follows a tight cooperation with potential users in practice.