‘Thanks, but it is more about interacting with fans for us’: Twitter Communication between BBC’s Sherlock and NBC’s Hannibal Fans and Producers
Keywords:
BBC, NBC, Sherlock Holmes, Hannibal, fandom, public relationsAbstract
This paper looked at online communication between producers of BBC’s show Sherlock and NBC’s show Hannibal with their fans. The main aim was to investigate engagement of producers with fans on social media and the use of accounts on social media, e.g. whether TV shows interact with fans through the use of the official network, a production company affiliated accounts or people involved with the show use their own accounts to communicate with fans. Kent and Taylor’s five features of dialogic public relations (Mutuality, Propinquity, Empathy, Risk and Commitment) were used to analyse communication. The results show that two shows share many similarities but the main differences in approach to communication come from the business structure of two broadcasters, public versus commercial. Both shows also showed evidence of dialogic PR techniques, but BBC’s Sherlock also utilised elements of publicity.References
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BBC (2015). Social Networking Microblogs and other Third Party Websites. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidance-blogs-bbc-full
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BBC Four. Supporting Performance Analysis. BBC. Retrieved from http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/service_licences/service_reviews/television_services/performance_analysis.pdf
Booth, P. (2010). Digital Fandom, 1st ed. New York: Peter Lang.
Boyd, C. (2014). Hannibal HQ: #UnleashTheFannibals TMobile Thank You! Hannibal hq.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved from http://hannibalhq.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/unleashthefannibals-tmobile-thank-you.html
Bury, R. (2016). Technology, fandom and community in the second media age. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 1-16, 627-642.
CarterMatt.com (2014). Best of 2014 results: Bryan Fuller of NBC's 'Hannibal' wins Favorite Showrunner. Retrieved from http://cartermatt.com/145137/best-2014-results-bryan-fuller-nbcs-hannibal-wins-favorite-showrunner/
Census.gov (2015). Population Clock. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/popclock/
Dredge, S. (2014). Steven Moffat talks fan service: ‘You don’t give them what you think they want’. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/15/steven--‐moffat--‐doctor--‐who--‐sherlock
Entertainment Weekly's EW.com (2015). 'Hannibal' win the Best Drama EWwy, creator Bryan Fuller thanks fans. Retrieved from http://www.ew.com/article/2014/08/18/hannibal-best-drama-ewwy
Fiske, J. (1992). The Cultural Economy of Fandom. In - Lewis, L. A. (ed) The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media (pp. 30-49). London: Routledge.
Gatiss, M.; Moffat, S., & Stubbs, U. (2014). The Empty Hearse [DVD Commentary]
Sherlock: The Complete Series 3. [DVD] London: Hartswood Films.
Grunig, J. E., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing Public Relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Hannibal (2015). Hannibal - Postmortem: The Season Ahead (Digital Exclusive). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQNvITE1WY
Industry.shortyawards.com (2015). Hannibal #13HourDevour - Shorty Awards for Brands, Agencies, and Organizations. Retrieved from http://industry.shortyawards.com/nominee/7th_annual/ovx/hannibal-13hourdevour
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture, 1st ed. New York: New York University Press.
Jones, P. (2014). Sherlock writer Steven Moffat: "We don't get our plotlines from Tumblr". RadioTimes. Retrieved from https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-01-09/sherlock-writer-steven-moffat-we-dont-get-our-plotlines-from-tumblr/
Kent, M. L., & Taylor, M. (2002). Toward a dialogic theory of public relations. Public Relations Review 28(1), 21-37.
Kerridge, J.; Gent, P.; Gee, C.; & Harvey, C. (2013). How Sherlock faked his own death: Telegraph writers’ theories. The Telegraph 30 December. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10531956/How-Sherlock-faked-his-own-death-Telegraph-writers-theories.html
Kompare, D. (2010). More Moments of Television. In M. Kackman, M. Binfield, M. T. Payne, A. Perlman, & B. Sebock (eds.) Flow TV: Television in the Age of Media Convergence (pp. 95-113). New York: Routledge.
Kosterich, A., & Napoli, P. M. (2016). Reconfiguring the Audience Commodity: The Institutionalization of Social TV Analytics as Market Information Regime. Television & New Media 17(3), 254-271.
Kozinets, R. V. (1998). On Netnography: Initial Reflections on Consumer Research Investigations of Cyberculture. Advances in Consumer Research 25, 366-371. Retrieved from http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/8180/volumes/v25/NA-25
Kozinets, R. (2010). Netnography. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Lacson, T. (2013). NBC’s Hannibal Has the Best Tumblr Manager Ever. Nerdophiles. Retrieved from https://www.nerdophiles.com/2013/06/21/nbcs-hannibal-has-the-best-tumblr-manager-ever/
Larsen, K., & Zubernis, L. (2012). Fandom at the crossroads. 1st ed. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
Lawson, M. (2014). Sherlock and Dr Who: beware of fans influencing the TV they love. The Guardian, 3 January. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2014/jan/03/sherlock-doctor-who-fans-influencing-tv
Moe, H.; Poell, T., & van Dijck. J. (2015). Rearticulating Audience Engagement: Social
Media and Television. Television & New Media 17(2), 99-107.
Navar-Gill, A. (2017). From Strategic Retweets to Group Hangs: Writers’ Room Twitter Accounts and the Productive Ecology of TV Social Media Fans. Television & New Media. Online First, 1-16. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527476417728376
NBCUniversal (2015). Who We Are. Retrieved from http://www.nbcuniversal.com/who-we-are
Ons.gov.uk (2015). UK Statistics - Population and migration - ONS. Retrieved from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/compendiums/compendium-of-uk-statistics/population-and-migration/index.html
Pantozzi, J. (2012). Things We Saw Today: Steven Moffat Deleted His Twitter Account.
The Mary Sue. Retrieved from http://www.themarysue.com/things-we-saw-today-104/
Plunkett, J. (2014). Sherlock closes case in season finale with almost 8.8 million viewers. The Guardian, 13 January. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/13/sherlock-finale-bbc1-dancing-on-ice
Plunkett, J. (2010). TV ratings: Sherlock ends with 7.3m viewers. The Guardian, 9 August. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/aug/09/sherlock-bbc-tv-ratings
Robertson, R. K. (2013). Social Media at the BBC: Bridging the gap between audience and production. BBC Internet Blog. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/5eb9742b-25b2-3e01-8ed7-1e0514a8725f
Rose, F. (2011). The art of immersion. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Ross, P. (2012). Were Producers and Audiences Ever Separate? Conceptualizing Media Production as Social Situation. Television & New Media 15(2), 157-174.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language 50(4), 696-735.
Sandvoss, C. (2005). Fans. 1st ed. Oxford: Polity.
Sela, M. (2002). The Remote Controllers. New York Times-The Magazine, 20 October. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/magazine/the-remote-controllers.html
Sherlock-holmes.org.uk. (2015). The Sherlock Holmes Society of London | A literary and social Society for study of the life and work of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Retrieved from http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/
TVbythenumber (2014). Thursday Final Ratings: 'Hannibal' & 'Hell's Kitchen' Adjusted Up + Final NBA Numbers. TVbytheNumbers. Retrieved from http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/06/21/thursday-final-ratings-hannibal-hells-kitchen-adjusted-up-final-nba-numbers/188351/
TVbythenumbers (2013). Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Two and a Half Men', 'The Office', & 'Wife Swap' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' & 'The Mindy Project' Adjusted Down. TVbytheNumbers. Retrieved from http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/04/05/thursday-final-ratings-the-big-bang-theory-american-idol-greys-anatomy-two-and-a-half-men-the-office-scandal-the-mindy-project-adjust/176649/
Whattheflick (2015). Hannibal Season 3 Episode 1 “Antipasto” Review With Bryan Fuller. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqpohYNTdBM
Wohn, D. Y., & Eun-Kyung, N. (2011). Tweeting about TV: Sharing television viewing experiences via social media message streams. First Monday 16(3). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3368
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