“Okay Twitter… Trend this, Sucka! #Supernatural”: A Content Analysis of the Supernatural Fandom’s Use of Live-tweeting
Keywords:
live-tweeting, Twitter, fandom, SupernaturalAbstract
Live-tweeting a TV show has become an important publicity practice for the TV industry, even though it is the fans doing the live-tweeting (not the show’s strategic communication team). The fans behind the TV show Supernatural is one example of how fandoms actively use Twitter to promote their favorite show. This study presents a quantitative content analysis of live-tweets posted by fans during the last season premiere of Supernatural. Results indicated emotional and pure information messages were the most frequently used message type. Message type did not affect how many retweets messages received, but visual components in the tweet increased the number of retweets. Results provide insight into how TV shows’ strategic communicators might contribute to fandoms’ live-tweeting and indicate that the gratifications obtained through live-tweeting science-fiction TV may differ from live-tweeting other TV genres.References
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Auverset, L. A. & Billings, A. C. (2016). Relationships between social TV and enjoyment: A content analysis of the Walking Dead’s story sync experience. Social Media + Society, 2, 1-12. http://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116662170
Baym, N. K. (2015). Personal connections in the digital age. John Wiley & Sons.
Beck, M. (2014, September 19). Twitter study: TV shows get a big follower boost from live-tweeting broadcasts. MarketingLand.com https://tinyurl.com/y9zmqutq
Blaszka, M., Burch, L. M., Frederick, E. L., Clavio, G., & Walsh, P. (2012). #WorldSeries: An empirical examination of a twitter hashtag during a major sporting event. International Journal of Sport Communication, 5, 435-453. http://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.5.4.435
Blumler, J. G. (1979). The role of theory in uses and gratifications studies. Communication Research, 6, 9-36. http://doi.org/10.1177/009365027900600102
Brandwatch. (2013, January 29). Brandwatch study reveals Top TV shows taking advantage of “dual screening” to drive twitter coverage. https://tinyurl.com/ya6obcu3
Brennan, J. (2014). “Fandom is full of pearl clutching old ladies”: Nonnies in the online slash closet. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(4), 363-380. http://doi.org/d2rd
Castillo, M. (2015, May 4). Why the voice is so successful when it comes to Twitter hashtags. Adweek. https://tinyurl.com/ybug348o
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20(1), 37-46. http://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000104
DeMeo, E. (2016). Fandom and social media marketing looking at “Doctor Who” Tumblr engagement through the lens of participatory culture. Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Collection; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (UMI No. 1797944597).
Faulkner, T. (2019, March 23). Fans React To ‘Supernatural’ Ending After 15 Seasons. Inquisitr.com https://www.inquisitr.com/5355923/supernatural-ending-fan-reactions/
Furlong, M. (2017, December 07). Tweeting TV: How Twitter has changed the business of television. Huffpost. https://tinyurl.com/yag89xba
Giglietto, F. & Selva, D. (2014). Second screen and participation: A content analysis on a full season dataset of tweets. Journal of Communication, 64(2), 260-277. http://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12085
Guerrero-Pico, M. (2017). #Fringe, audiences and fan labor: Twitter activism to save a TV show from cancellation. International Journal of Communication, 11, 2071-2092. http://hdl.handle.net/10230/33284
Han, E. & Lee, S. (2014). Motivations for the complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing: An exploratory study. Computers in Human Behavior, 32, 235-243. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.12.015
Hargittai, E. & Litt, E. (2011). The tweet smell of celebrity success: Explaining variation in Twitter adoption among a diverse group of young adults. New Media & Society, 13(5), 824-842. http://doi.org/10.1177/1461444811405805
Hautsch, J. (2018). Tumblr’s supernatural fandom and the rhetorical affordance of GIFs. Transformative Works and Cultures, 27. http://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2018.1165
Highfield, T., Harrington, S., & Bruns, A. (2013). Twitter as a technology for audiencing and fandom: The #eurovision phenomenon. Information, Communication & Society, 16(3), 315-339. http://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.756053
Ilar, S. (2014). The Hunger Games viral marketing campaign: A study of viral marketing and fan labor. [Unpublished bachelor thesis]. Stockholm University.
Ingham, A. (2019, October 15). Supernatural season 15 premiere ratings: Mixed results for opening night. HiddenRemote. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/ycjpvltn
Internet Movie database (nd). Supernatural awards. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460681/awards
Jenkins, H. (2010, January 09). Fandom, participatory culture, and web 2.0—A syllabus. Confessions of an aca-fan. http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2010/01/fandom_participatory_culture_a.html
Ji, Q. & Zhao, D. (2015). Tweeting live shows: A content analysis of live-tweets from three entertainment programs. Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Social Media & Society. http://doi.org/10.1145/2789187.2789195
Katz, E., Blumler, J., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). Uses and gratifications research. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 37(4), 509-523. http://doi.org/10.1086/268109
Katz, E., Blumler, J., & Gurevitch, M. (1974). Utilization of mass communication by the individual. In J. Blumler & E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communication: Current perspectives on gratifications research (pp. 19-34). Sage.
Katz, E., Haas, H., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). On the use of the mass media for important things. American Sociological Review, 38(2), 164-181. http://doi.org/10.2307/2094393
Lahuerta-Otero, E., Cordero-Gutiérrez, R., & Prieta, D. L. (2018). Retweet or like? That is the question. Online Information Review, 42(5), 562-578. http://doi.org/gd5hnc
Larsen, K. & Zubernis, L. (2012). Fandom at the crossroads: Celebration, shame and fan/producer relationships. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Larsen, K. & Zubernis, L. (2013). Fangasm: Supernatural fangirls. University of Iowa Press.
Maas, J. (2018, January 16). Live-tweeting TV: How networks make the most of your FOMO. The Wrap. https://tinyurl.com/y88ft6q4
McHugh, M. (2012). Interrater reliability: The kappa statistic. Biochemia Medica, 22(3), 276-282. https://doi.org/10.11613/BM.2012.031
Newberry, C. (2019, March 13). 130 social media statistics that matter to marketers in 2019. Hootsuite. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-statistics-for-social-media-managers/
Nielsen. (2013, July 10). Nielsen launches “Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings.” Nielson. https://tinyurl.com/y73cxkyl
Palmgreen, P. (1984). Uses and gratifications: A theoretical perspective. Annals of the International Communication Association, 8(1), 20-55. http://doi.org/d2pp
Proulx, M. & Shepatin, S. (2012). Social TV: How marketers can reach and engage audiences by connecting television to the web, social media, and mobile. John Wiley & Sons.
Reback, D. (2016, December 7). Supernatural gets it: How one of the largest fandoms understands the Internet better than the rest. https://tinyurl.com/yb3do7mg
Recuero, R., Amaral, A., & Monteiro, C. (2012). Fandoms, trending topics and social capital in Twitter. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research, 2. https://tinyurl.com/yctywvl2
Rocha, M. (2015, July 12). ‘Supernatural’ now longest running sci-fi show in U.S. Discoversd. https://tinyurl.com/yaj6sz69
Savage, C. (2014). Chuck versus the ratings: Savvy fans and “save our show” campaigns. Transformative Works and Cultures, 15. http://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2014.0497
Suh, B., Hong, L., Pirolli, P., & Chi, E. H. (2010). Want to be retweeted? Large scale analytics on factors impacting retweet in Twitter network. 2010 IEEE Second International Conference on Social Computing, 177-184. http://doi.org/10.1109/SocialCom.2010.33
Sundar, S. S. & Limperos, A. M. (2013). Uses and grats 2.0: New
gratifications for new media. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(4), 504-525. http://doi.org/ggh74r
Taecharungroj, V. (2017) Starbucks’ marketing communications strategy on Twitter. Journal of Marketing Communications, 23(6), 552-571. http://doi.org/ggtvc7
Twitter Marketing. (2017, January 26). New research: Twitter TV fans tune in live to their favorite shows. https://tinyurl.com/yanajd7e
Ulaby, N. (2014, January 15). The few, the fervent: Fans of ‘Supernatural’ redefine TV success. NPR. https://tinyurl.com/y788juae
Wilkinson, J. (2014). Post, reblog, follow, tweet: Supernatural fandom and social media. In L. Zubernis & K. Larsen (Eds.), Fan phenomena: Supernatural (pp. 46-55). Intellect.
Windels, J. (2013, January 29). Is Twitter transforming how we watch TV? Brandwatch. https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/is-twitter-transforming-how-we-watch-tv/
Wohn, D. & Na, E. (2011). Tweeting about TV: Sharing television viewing experiences via social media message streams. First Monday, 16(3). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i3.3368
Woodford, D., Goldsmith, B., & Bruns, A. (2015). Social media audience metrics as a new form of TV audience measurement. In R. A. Lind (Ed.), Producing theory in a digital world 2.0: The intersection of audiences and production in contemporary theory (pp. 141-158). Peter Lang.
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