When Zeebox debuted in 2011, the idea of “social television” revolved around creating live second-screen activities. Be they games, trivia, or simply interactions with other TV fans, the idea was to supplement the on-air broadcast as it was happening.

But already, two fundamental shifts in TV viewing habits were emerging: 1) People were rapidly ceasing to watch TV during the actual broadcast of it, and 2) Twitter and, to a lesser extent, Facebook, were becoming viewers’ go-to source for all the latest real-time chatter around television.

To those ends, Zeebox, and several other related apps that emerged with it (GetGlue, Viggle, etc.) were outdated almost before they even got started, and things haven’t gotten any easier for social TV apps looking to engage viewers while they’re actually watching TV. A recent study by Nielsen’s Council for Research Excellence suggests that only 16% of online Americans currently use social media while watching primetime TV. And within those results, only 7.3% of primetime viewers actually use social media to talk about the TV show they are watching at that moment.

It turned out that Zeebox and its kin were solutions in search of problems. Turns out, no matter how connected we all are now over our second-screens, most of us still like just watching our favorite show, without being interrupted by bonus content, real-time conversation, or anything else pinging up from our mobile device that distracts from the riveting story. This is the Golden Age of TV after all – no bells and whistles are needed to enjoy its bountiful offerings.

Undaunted, Zeebox has evolved, rebranding itself Beamly and shifting its focus from content during shows to pre- and post-show content presented on a TV-focused social media platform and discovery tool. The on-air interactivity has become the app’s lowest priority, though it is still a feature. Now, Beamly is hyping its personalized TV news and social feeds, the ability to connect with fellow impassioned fans of a given show, and the continuation of its one true innovation: customizable, sponsor-friendly TV “Rooms” where show-specific chatter can take place. To mark its launch, Beamly has welcomed on board more than 100 TV and pop culture influencers who are hosting their own live TV Rooms and profiles in the app. Personalities include Grammy-winning singer and reality star Kandi Burruss of “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” and YouTube sensations like Tyler Oakley and Sawyer Hartman.

“People’s emotional engagement with TV spans the whole day,” said Ernesto Schmitt, Beamly CEO and founder, in a statement. “They want to read up on stories about the shows and stars they love in the morning, discuss plotlines over the water cooler in the afternoon, and carefully plan what to watch in the evening – long before ever switching on the TV itself.”

That may be true, but the question is, do people need a dedicated platform on which to do all that other than Twitter and Facebook? Sure, Twitter may not have a personalized TV guide built in, but when was the last time you found yourself thinking, “Gee, I sure wish I had something to tell me what to watch right now”? In this era of binge watching, a guide might be useful to find one or two items (assuming word of mouth hasn’t done the trick already through Twitter or Facebook or good old fashioned talking to people), but once those items are locked in, a typical viewer is set for weeks because that’s all they’re going to watch.

What Beamly really seems to be offering nowadays, above all else, is simply TV-related editorial content, which places it in a very crowded pool indeed. The company now employs more than 140 employees worldwide, several of whom are entrusted with populating it with up-to-the-minute news and gossip clearly targeted at young people. One example of a recent hot topic headline: “10 TV Characters We’d Love To Get Stoned With on 4/20.”

There might be a little evolving still left to do.

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