Creativity, Fandoms, and Social Media – Part Three (The Social Media Influence)

What’s Changed Since Then (the 1970’s/1980’s/1990’s)?

Perhaps the reason is social media – or the lack there of, back in the days some of the shows I previously mentioned were on. No one tweeted or posted about what those characters should be doing, should be, or what the storylines should be … we accepted the entertainment of it.

As one person wrote in their own blog: “It's all about demanding what you want out of the story, believing that the story should be tailored to your individual needs, not the expression of the creators”. (Faraci, 2016).

Mr. Faraci is correct. Today, “fans” of a show want everything shaped by their ideals and not by the ideals of the creator. The author, Faraci, alludes to the movie Misery and Kathy Bates’ fan-obsessed character “Annie”.

The 1990 movie is based on a Stephen King novel. Perhaps Mr. King knew something about what was to come of fandoms and creations.

Today’s “fans” are more “fanatics”. Look at the meaning of that word:

“a person with an obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for something”

Fan could be derived from fanatic. While being interested in a TV show is a good thing – for the network, the actors, the sponsors, the advertisers, and the fan – there is a balance that needs to be adhered to and respected.

What was once called “common” courtesy, respect, manners, decency … are replaced with entitlement and victimizing; and the acceptance of the two as normal.

Here’s something to consider: just because a subject or HASHTAG is trending on Twitter, even at the number one (#1) spot – doesn’t mean it is a majority of the fans or the people on Twitter. 

Twitter now has “analytics” for a trending topic. As of 11:20pm PDT the evening of June 3rd, the #1 non-promoted topic was Muhammad Ali with 1.45 million tweets. The next one down was RIP ALI with roughly 40.2K (40,200) tweets.  “As of the first quarter of 2016, the microblogging service averaged at 310 million monthly active users”. (Statista, 2016). So that 1.45 million is roughly 0.5% of the Twitter community.

Imagine how SMALL the percentage is when it gets down to the 100K and 40K marks/tweets. Saying a show has 15 million viewers: 10% = 1.5 million and 1% is 150,000; hard a “majority” in the grand scheme.

This is where we enter the DARK side of “fandom” and where the lines often blur ... 

That in part four (4) ... 

References:

Faraci, D. (2016, May 30). Fandom Is Broken. Retrieved June 04, 2016, from http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/05/30/fandom-is-broken

Green, P. (2016, April 23). Cassandra Clare Created a Fantasy Realm and Aims to Maintain Her Rule. Retrieved June 04, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/fashion/cassandra-clare-shadowhunters-lady-midnight.html

Twitter MAU worldwide 2016 | Statistic. (n.d.). Retrieved June 04, 2016, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly-active-twitter-users/