SYNCHRONIZED PROVISION OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT WITH TIME-DELAYED VIDEO PROGRAM EVENTS

1 . A method of providing social media content in conjunction with the presentation of video content, the method comprising:

providing a time-delayed version of a video program event for presentation;

obtaining social media messages that reference the video program event;

temporally synchronizing the obtained social media messages with the time-delayed version of the video program event, resulting in a synchronized stream of social media content; and

delivering the synchronized stream of social media content concurrently with presentation of the time-delayed version of the video program event.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the video program event is identified by a social media handle; and

the obtaining step comprises:

accessing a database of social media messages; and

searching the database of social media messages to obtain social media messages that include the social media handle of the video program event.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the social media handle comprises a hashtag of the video program event.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the social media handle comprises an at-mention of the video program event.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

each of the obtained social media messages includes respective time stamp information that indicates a message publication time; and

the synchronizing step synchronizes the obtained social media messages in accordance with the time stamp information.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the synchronizing step synchronizes the message publication time of the obtained social media messages in accordance with an original presentation time of the video program event.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronizing step synchronizes the obtained social media messages in accordance with a local time zone.

8 . A method of providing social media content in conjunction with the presentation of video content, the method comprising:

accessing a database of social media messages;

searching the database of social media messages to identify program-related social media messages that reference a video program event;

analyzing time stamp information of the program-related social media messages to identify time-related social media messages having message publication times that occurred during an original presentation of the video program event;

providing a time-delayed version of the video program event for presentation; and

delivering a synchronized stream of the time-related social media messages concurrently with presentation of the time-delayed version of the video program event, wherein timing of the synchronized stream is influenced by presentation timing of the time-delayed version of the video program event.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the video program event is identified by a social media handle; and

searching the database of social media messages comprises searching for the social media handle.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the social media handle comprises a hashtag of the video program event.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the social media handle comprises an at-mention of the video program event.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the timing of the synchronized stream is influenced by a local time zone in which the time-delayed version of the video program event is presented.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the social media messages comprise a plurality of text messages.

14 . A video presentation system comprising:

receiver interface to receive data associated with video services;

a display interface for a display operatively coupled to the video presentation system, the display interface facilitating presentation of content on the display; and

a processor coupled to the receiver interface and the display interface, wherein the processor cooperates with the receiver interface and the display interface to:

provide a time-delayed version of a video program event for presentation on the display; and

deliver a synchronized stream of time-delayed social media messages concurrently with presentation of the time-delayed version of the video program event, wherein each of the time-delayed social media messages identifies the video program event, and wherein timing of the synchronized stream is influenced by presentation timing of the time-delayed version of the video program event.

15 . The video presentation system of claim 14 , further comprising a database of social media messages, wherein the database includes each of the time-delayed social media messages.

16 . The video presentation system of claim 14 , wherein:

the video program event is identified by a social media handle; and

each of the time-delayed social media messages includes the social media handle of the video program event.

17 . The video presentation system of claim 16 , wherein the social media handle comprises a hashtag of the video program event.

18 . The video presentation system of claim 16 , wherein the social media handle comprises an at-mention of the video program event.

19 . The video presentation system of claim 14 , wherein:

each of the time-delayed social media messages includes respective time stamp information that indicates a message publication time; and

the synchronized stream is temporally aligned with the time-delayed video program event using the time stamp information.

20 . The video presentation system of claim 14 , wherein:

the time-delayed version of the video program event comprises a recorded version of an original presentation of the video program event; and

the recorded version of the original presentation of the video program event is provided by streaming to the video presentation system.