January 21, 2011
Some of us at IF towers are self-confessed ‘Gleeks’ so we were ecstatic when the new series started last week on E4 and annoyed the haters in the office by talking about it. But it looks like we aren’t the only ones who love a bit of Glee gossiping. The Twitterverse is filled with chatter about Glee. And while us ‘Gleeks’ love talking about it, it does raise an interesting point. TV shows and Twitter are becoming more and more intertwined.
We are ‘connected’ when we watch TV, whether it be through our smart phone, laptop or iPad. We watch TV with these devices by our sides and often update the social media world with our thoughts as we go.
The infographic below shows the volume of tweets in real time during the Golden Globes ceremony in the US last week. And us Gleeks were the most vocal. The biggest spikes in conversation on Twitter were when stars of the show and the show itself won a Globe. When Chris Colfer picked up Best Supporting Actor for his part as Kurt in Glee, there were 3,394 tweets relating to it. 3,323 people tweeted about Jane Lynch winning Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the hilarious Sue Sylvester. And when Glee was announced the Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical over 3,500 people were tweeting about it – the highest number of tweets during the whole ceremony. The hastag #Glee was also tweeted 2,262 times.
Glee also becomes a trending topic across social media when the shows are broadcast on TV. The stars of the show all have their own Twitter accounts and when it is shown in the US, they login and chat with their followers about the show. Here in the UK, we regularly update Twitter and Facebook about our favourite characters and quote from the show (mainly Sue Sylvester and Brittany S. Pierce).
The show has established a good way of keeping the Twitter conversation going when the show is both on and off air and us Gleek’s can’t get enough of it.
As more people tweet about TV shows while they watch them, it shows a growing convergence between Internet and TV. The TV experience has changed. TV is no longer a passive experience – we are interacting with others and offering our opinions. It seems when we love something on TV we love talking about it and sharing with our followers and friends in cyberspace.
Related articles
- What Glee Means for Twitter & Television (readwriteweb.com)
