Americans with mobile devices are getting adept at multitasking, at least when it comes to the number of screens they manage. According to a mid-October report from Nielsen, 40 percent of American tablet and smartphone owners use their devices while watching television.

Most of that use has nothing to do with what’s on TV. They’re checking their email, surfing for unrelated content, dropped by Facebook or Twitter, looking up sports scores. But around 30%  percent of mobile users looked up information related to the show they were watching, some daily, some several times a week and some several times a month.

Some are just spontaneously searching for the content. Some follow prompts on the TV screen, a hashtag superimposed over the bottom left or right of the screen. These are sometimes just the name of the show, an encouragement to speak your mind about the program. Some include conversational prompts. A caught one of these on the USA series Covert Affairs: When one of the characters was shirtless in a scene, a question about whether he should be shirtless more often on the show accompanied the #covertaffairs hashtag.

GetGlue, the app that lets you check in to entertainment instead of locations (and get access to exclusive content and interact with other fans), is growing increasingly popular. Yesterday the service recorded over 750,000 check-ins, a new one-day record.

In fact, the idea of using your tablet or smartphone to interact with your TV has led Facebook and Twitter to offer some GetGlue-like features, leading some to predict GetGlue’s ultimate demise. (It didn’t happen to FourSquare when Facebook added a check-in feature. GetGlue has been making progress of its own, though, recently inking a deal with cable channel FX that features content on the GetGlue site that isn’t available at all on Facebook.

As checking in to content or engaging in conversation with online communities of like-minded fans while consuming content become more common activities, organizations should be thinking about how to stir the habit into their communications stew.
A few ideas:

1. YouTube—Companies have embraced YouTube in a big way, but one problem with the vast majority of those videos in company YouTube channels is the lack of a call to action. Superimposing a hashtag and discussion topic can encourage people to not only share the video but start a conversation about it.
2. Documents—Reading an annual shareholders report is a solitary activity, unless you can check in to the report and unlock other content, such as videos that enhance the content of the report. TV isn’t the only medium GetGlue users check in to; they check into books they’re reading, too.
3. Meetings—Annual shareholder meetings are mostly one-way, with shareholders offered a few limited opportunities to speak amidst all the presentations. Now, a presentation can include a hashtag, encouraging shareholders to spread information the company is sharing as it’s being presented. The same could work on an internal status tool like Chatter or Yammer during a town hall meeting.
4. Podcasts—Yes, some companies still believe in the power of audio and produce corporate or product-focused podcasts. GetGlue users check in to songs they’re listening to, so why not podcasts? The check-ins both spread the word to others and give listeners the opportunity to explore extra materials. (While waiting to pick my wife up from a meeting, I’ve often listened to a podcast on my Android while playing some Angry Birds. I’d be just as inclined to listen to the show while perusing additional materials the company has produced.)
5. Events—As broadcasting events through channels like Facebook make it easier for people to watch while talking about the event with online friends, companies can think about the idea of streaming everything from promotional events to press conferences using a utility like Dagan Henderson’s beThere Facebook app (still in development, last I heard), which lets you engage with others via Twitter hashtag; tweets with the designated hashtag are pulled into the app just below the video, which is streamed using any of the free services like Qik or Ustream. (We’ve used this for the Social Media Breakfast East Bay, as shown in the image below).

I’d be interested to know if your organization is already applying the second (or third) screen to its communication efforts, or what ideas you have for how multitasking on a mobile while consuming company content could more deeply engage your stakeholders.