Small talk makes a big difference: Recent developments in interactive, SMS-based television

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 inter-activity. It also draws on interviews with industry decision-makers and on relevant statis-tics. 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