TV to Tweet About: The CW, Social Media, and Industrialized Fandom in 21st-Century Teen Television

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Popular Communication Interactive Paper Session

Abstract

Tweeting, Facebook, and other forms of social networking have become key elements of the teen TV experience and today’s teens are hailed to industry-sanctioned spaces of fandom within social networking sites. In the mid 2000s, industrial challenges and changing web discourses forced networks, particularly those targeting younger consumers, to reconsider their understandings of audiences and fan practices. The result is a move from teen media driven by content to a new 21st century teen audience built on platform agnostic content, a user-driven understanding of media consumption, and industry imperatives to drive live viewing numbers Through a case study of the CW Network’s use of social media, I argue that this model of viewership is the result of simultaneous industry attempts to corral fan practices, fan attempts to disrupt consumption models and the “fortuitous” location of social networking sites at the nexus of these competing goals.

Author

• Sarah Erickson, U of Michigan