Meet Viggle: The new app that lets you get stuff for watching TV

So very recently, a coworker and a friend of mine got a new smart  phone and has been pretty obsessed with it. Since she went from an old style flip phone to a brand new smart phone, I definitely understand the appeal. She has been downloading new apps like crazy, and trying out the latest and greatest new apps to play with. The latest one that she showed me, and got me into, is called Viggle. As two people who are working for a social media agency, we feel it’s our responsibility to be up to date on the latest and greatest of social media apps. Or at least, that’s what we tell ourselves.

Viggle works kind of like FourSquare in a way, where the success of one’s account is based on check-ins. But Viggle lets you check-in when you watch TV shows. As you accumulate points for check-ins, you can cash the points in for rewards like free movie/game rentals, movie tickets, and gift cards for various stores, or some really crazy prizes like a MacBook Air or a Kindle Fire. You can even trade your points in and donate money to a charity.

How Viggle works is like this – You can watch a TV show and check in. You hold your device up near the TV and it listens to the feed. Once the feed is matched, you are checked in for that particular show. Some shows give major bonuses, such as the recent Portugal/Spain Euro soccer game. Since you usually get just one point for watching a show, getting over 240 for having the Euro 2012 game on is a huge deal. There are always plenty of options for premium shows. Some shows even have a Play Along option where you can earn additional points for trivia questions, etc.

So if you’re someone who watches a lot of TV, then download the free Viggle app and start earning yourself some cool rewards today. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch “UFO Hunters” now. You may laugh, but it’s a 100 more points towards that MacBook Air.