It’s that time of year again—my favorite week of television—Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. In case you’ve been out of the loop lately, Shark Week is the Super Bowl of nature shows. I have every episode recording on my DVR—we don’t play around.

In the middle of an episode, Discovery began promoting its Shark Week mobile app, and as a new iPhone user, of course, I had to download it. While watching, my phone vibrated and asked a shark facts question—which I answered correctly and got 200 points. I quickly realized that I was competing with other people from all across the country who were playing along while watching the show. The app also allows me to chat with those users in a real-time live message platform.

In addition to the app, Facebook is integrated into nearly every page of their website and mobile web. You can share photos on Facebook which also show up on the Discovery website and filter into the mobile app. There are “share” links for Facebook and Twitter on every page, links to live Ustream footage, and an option to download full episodes on iTunes.

This year’s Shark Week is the best yet because producers have successfully created an online community of Shark Week geeks by combining their social, TV and web strategies. It’s an integrated approach to a toothy and fabulous week of television.

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