EVENT BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING APPLICATION

A method and apparatus are provided for event-based sharing of audio/video in real-time along with chat text by anyone capturing or viewing the shared video. An IMS-based server acts as a hub for the shared audio/video and chat text, which is then distributed to all participants. The chat text is conveyed in the data stream associated with the ISO transport stream carrying the audio and video streams. The audio and video streams and the chat text are recorded using a Network Digital Video Recorder, and can be viewed later by a user. During playback of a recorded event, the user can also switch between different recordings of the same event if available, as the IMS server maintains synchronization information for different recorded streams of the event. The method and apparatus provide improved social networking.