The growing interest in social networking has many people looking beyond the computer and mobile screens to their television sets according to a new study by ABI Research.

People are looking to extend their social networks to the TV, as 36 percent of those who currently use social media on a regular basis say they would like to access their networks on TV.

“Just as video entertainment is moving fluidly across various screens, so is social media,” says senior analyst Jason Blackwell.

“We’ve seen that consumers find increased value through shared entertainment experiences and want to explore and deepen these experiences through communities of interest; and that’s what social TV will ultimately do.”

Younger people are more interested in connecting with their friends through chat and messaging, while middle-aged people are more likely to be interested in more passive social networking behavior such as checking status updates.

The most popular potential application for those over 50 who expressed interest in TV social networking was being able to see what their friends were watching on TV.

“Today we already see tens of millions of consumers engaging in communities in the living room through online console gaming services,” adds Blackwell.

“Just as this interest community has seen rapid growth in the past few years, we expect the extension of Web 2.0 technologies to the living room to propel growth in new communities of interest.”