Twitter was in the news  this week for the acquisition of social TV company BlueFin Labs.

It marks a fascinating chain of events that has seen Twitter invest heavily into the social TV field.

Late last year , they announced a partnership with TV ratings company Nielsen to monitor the social TV charts based on the buzz around particular shows.

Nielsen  then released some research showing how influential social media was on our viewing habits, with around 50% of our viewing influenced by social media.

Leading business school Wharton have also launched a Social TV Lab  to monitor how social and television are interacting.  You can see an interview with Shawndra Hill, the founder of the Lab, below.

Thus far it seems most television companies are using social media for advertising purposes, but with investments like the Twitter/BlueFin one it will be a fascinating field to observe.