[via RWW]
Yahoo’s new VideoTagGame lets users compete while generating tags within videos. Yahoo is trying to tap into that human machine through their new VideoTagGame, a game that encourages participants to tag sections within a video for better retrieval. The one-time experiment by Yahoo is now ready to be released to the public through the Yahoo! Sandbox. The objective of the VideoTagGame is to collect time-based annotations of the video which could then enable the retrieval of relevant parts in a video when a search is performed, rather than returning the entire video itself. These annotations are collected in the context of a multi-player game. To play the VideoTagGame, participants must sign in with their Yahoo! ID and join a new game. There will always be at least three players in each game. After a 3-second countdown, the video will begin to play. As it plays, participants enter tags that correspond to the various parts of the video. When two players agree on a tag (that is, they enter the same tag), they each get points. The closer together the tags were entered, the more points are rewarded. After the video ends, participants can then watch as it plays again, this time with the tags overlaid on top of the video.

Check out the Yahoo VideoTag game on Yahoo Sandbox.

Industry experts cite that approximately 40% of 20-year-olds are using the internet while they’re watching television. It’s a user behavior that I embraced several years ago given my fondness and dedication to Fantasy sports. There is no better way to watch a sporting event on your TV than with the power of the internet at your fingertips. We’re also starting to see more users adopt this type of behavior and as a result designers are looking to complement the traditional TV watching experience with some form of PC interaction.

Enter The Hills’ “Backchannel” experience where fans gather online to chat about The Hills as it happens. Users can chat about the show as it progresses. Other viewers can award points with a click of their mouse on the best comments posted. You earn points by predicting the comments you think will be the most popular. Backchannel is a next generation social game that utilizes “competitive chat”. It’s an online viewing experience that is about more than just watching The Hills, it’s about talking about The Hills. This type of interaction is something that feeds into an already changing shift in user behavior where TV watching is complemented by an online experience in a symbiotic brand experience.

Check out MTV BackChannel.