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Twitter, Facebook, Google, Amazon – these are where most of us are spending our time on the second screen. The second screen is the chronic TV watcher’s dream. Commercials come up? Back to Facebook. Boring plotline? Buy those headphones you’ve been eyeing on Amazon. Plot twist? Talk about it on Twitter in real time.
Marketers have been hard at work creating apps to take over the second screen – using it as another touch point for their TV shows, and another opportunity, of course, for advertising money. But, it’s taking some time to crack the nut… the app has to be engaging enough to keep people interested, but it’s important for it to connect to outside networks, particularly Twitter, to continue the global conversation.
The first TV show to do a clean, good job with a second screen app is the 
Tonight Show. The key? It’s simple. It doesn’t try to do too much.
This is what I like about it:
1) Direct Twitter integration: Twitter integrates live within the app, providing fun opportunities to follow his hashtag games. Jimmy announces his favorites during the show. Want to tweet? Just scroll to the bottom and tweet without even having to leave the app.
2) Highlighted videos: Swype across the top to see highlighted videos of the week’s previous episodes. Nice.
3) Upcoming guests: Across the top of the app, you can see photos of the week’s upcoming guests. Tap on their photo, and the app prompts a tweet with the guest’s handle or hashtag along with #TonightShow.
Sometimes, it’s not all about complexity and information overload. It’s so refreshing to see an app that’s simple and effective. That’s exactly what this second screen delivers.