SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT DURING the FINAL SEASON by ALEXANDRA K LAUDICK

Home , Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Jennifer Carpenter, Talking Bad

Fan Farewell: Social Media Engagement During the Final Season

Item Type text; Electronic Thesis

Authors Laudick, Alexandra K

Publisher The University of Arizona.

Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Download date 23/09/2021 22:18:27

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/321772

FAN FAREWELL: SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT DURING THE FINAL SEASON By ALEXANDRA K LAUDICK

______

A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College

In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelors degree With Honors in

Marketing

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

MAY 2014

Table of Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………4 Statement of Purpose………………………………………………………………………...5 Statement of Relevance……………………………………………………………………...5 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….....6 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………6 Plot Summaries………………………………………………………………………………9 Method………………………………………………………………………………………11 Data………………………………………………………………………………………….11 Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………..12 Findings……………………………………………………………………………………..12 Implications…………………………………………………………………………………20 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..21

Abstract

In today’s society, social media is an effective tool for the entertainment industry to engage fans. Rather than watching television and logging onto social media at separate times, fans are engaging with a certain television program’s social media page while watching the show. The question this study answers is how the network, fan base, and narrative of the television series affect the social media strategies the fans are engaging with. To answer the question, an in-depth analysis was conducted by analyzing the different social media strategies utilized on the Facebook pages of Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother during their final season. The results concluded that the network, fan base, and narrative of a series do affect the effectiveness of various social media strategies. The network needs to be familiar with social media users, the television series needs to have a strong fan base, and the narrative of the series needs to be interesting to fully engage the users in social media. To continue to engage fans even after a series is finished, television networks should implement off- screen experiences and strategize how to re-broadcast the programs in the future.

Statement Of Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze three main aspects of television entertainment and their effects on social media strategies. A television network is an important influence on the success of a television series and can be the main reason why fans can watch a television series. A fan base is important because it keeps a series running due to fans consistently tuning into the series. Finally, the narrative is important because it keeps fans engaged in the series. Each of these characteristics of a television series plays a factor in the social media strategies utilized.

The three television series chosen for the study are Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother. All of these series are long running programs that ended over the course of this study. The reason why these series were analyzed over other television series is because they are highly popular among fans, have high levels of social media engagement, and had final seasons that worked in conjunction with the timeframe of this study. High levels of engagement are important for the study because they generate more content to be analyzed.

Statement of Relevance

This study is relevant to today’s society because of the popularity of social media. Social media is utilized in many different ways to connect with people across the world. Businesses are increasingly using social media as a tool to connect with their consumers. In the television industry, social media is emerging as a new way to engage with fans. Fans are able to watch a television series and simultaneously log on to Facebook or Twitter and share their thoughts about the show. Networks have taken this a step further and have developed social media strategies to continue engagement with fans even after a television series has ended. It is the new way to watch television.

Introduction

Social media has become an important factor in how we communicate. Social media platforms can be used to connect with friends across the world by sharing pictures, posting videos, playing games, or simply communicating. Businesses are also using social media to connect with their customers. In terms of entertainment, television networks are utilizing social media platforms to connect with fans. A main social platform television networks are using is Facebook. Facebook allows the network to utilize many different social media strategies by reaching the largest audience since Facebook has the most users out of any form of social media. Social strategies can range from simple picture uploads to interactive games. It takes time and strategy to find social media tactics that work for each show and the fans. The networks of AMC, Showtime, and CBS each have their own approaches to engage fans with the final seasons of Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother. This study analyzes their approaches and how the network, the fan base, and the narrative affect the engagement of the social media strategies utilized.

Literature Review

The Finale of a Television Series

When Narrative Brands End: The Impact of Narrative Closure and Consumption Sociality on Loss Accommodation

Television has become a very popular form of entertainment. Whether is it routinely watching the news every morning or tuning into an hour-long drama series every Thursday night, people feel connected to the television shows they watch. The question arises: how do fans feel when their favorite television series comes to an end and how does it impact them? As fans continue to watch a television series for an extended period of time, they develop connections to the characters and the narrative. Fans can also form social bonds based on a shared interest of the same television series.

From this study, it was concluded that fans develop strong feelings when a series ends. The type and strength of the feeling depends on many different circumstances. In terms of the narrative, if the fans felt there was more to the story when it ended, they experience more grief. If the fans felt the story ended in a good place, they fans felt a sense of closure. If social bonds came into play, the feelings escalate. For example, if a narrative ends and the fans feel there's more to be told in the story and they have developed a social bond with others over the television series, they can collectively demand to lengthen the show. On the other hand, if the fans felt there was a sense of closure to the series, they would still feel grief for the ending of the show, but also feel the loss of the social bonds developed over the course of the series.

(Russel)

Gap: Social media is a useful tool to engage fans in a television series. When a series ends, social media strategies need to change in order to keep the fans interested in keeping the brand alive. The social media strategies utilized depends on the narrative as well as the previous engagement of the postings used during the series. Social media could also be a tool the fans can use to express their feelings about the ending of the series. It is important for networks to look for comments and postings from fans about the ending of the series so they can address the issues fans are feeling about the ending. If implemented correctly, social media can combat negative feelings about a finale and make the fan see the ending in a more positive light. Overall, social media is very important aspect to look at when a series is ending.

Social Media and Television

Television & Social Media: Viewers Use Twitter As A Part Of The TV Experience

Watching television in this day and age is not becoming more relaxing, but rather more active. People are now multitasking more than ever before while tuning in to their favorite series. Fans are utilizing Twitter to tweet their thoughts about a television series while watching it. They are also using their smart phone or tablets to look up information that would help answer questions that arise while watching a series. Fans in other countries are doing this more than fans in the United States. Twitter is not only being used for fictional television series, but also for live events like the presidential debates and sporting events.

Gap: While fans are joining the conversation on Twitter, it is also important to note how fans are using Facebook to engage with a show. Facebook has the ability to engage fans in more ways than Twitter. Since a tweet can only contain 140 characters and usually one photo, engagement is limited. With Facebook, the posting can be an unlimited amount of characters and can contain multiple photos. Twitter does make it easy to post a quick thought or answer a fan quickly, but for long-term engagement, Facebook is a better option.

THR’s Social Media Poll: How Facebook and Twitter Impact the Entertainment Industry

The graphs below support the assumption that viewers are utilizing social media while watching television. The first chart focuses on social media and television entertainment. Fans are logging on to Facebook, tweeting about a show, and researching other websites while tuning in. Of the fans that post content about the television series, 76% of them post while they are watching the show (“THR’s Social Media Poll”). The reason why they post during a series is because they want to feel connected to other fans. The second chart shows generally how people use social media sites. From this chart, most people like to read what others have to say rather than expressing their own opinions.

(“THR’s Social Media Poll”)

Gap: While these images do show that fans are engaging with social media while watching television, it does not show the strategies that engage fans the most. Also, there can be other factors that impact the effectiveness of a given social media strategy. Now that it has been proven that more fans are multitasking while watching television, it is imperative to draw them in with effective and engaging social media strategies.

Plot Summaries

Breaking Bad The series on AMC is about an Albuquerque high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, who was diagnosed with lung cancer. With a new baby on the way, Walter needed to find a way to provide for his family’s future. From his chemistry background and reconnection with an old student, Jesse Pinkman, Walter turns to cooking and selling crystal meth. The series continues to follow the story of Walt and his journey through the drug market.

Cast: Bryan Cranston – Walter White Anna Gunn- Skyler White Aaron Paul – Jesse Pinkman Dean Norris – Hank Schrader Betsey Brandt – Marie Schrader RJ Mittie – Walter White Jr.

Dexter The Showtime original series, Dexter, follows the life of Dexter Morgan, an expert on blood spatter patterns for the Miami Police Department. In his spare time, Dexter leads a secret life as a serial killer seeking out murderers who he believes are guilty and did not receive the correct punishment with the law.

Cast: Michael C. Hall – Dexter Morgan Jennifer Carpenter – Off. Debra Morgan David Zayas – Sgt. Angel Batista James Remar – Harry Morgan C.S. Lee – Vince Masuka

How I Met Your Mother The comedy series on CBS tells the story of Ted Mosby and how he finds the mother of his children with the help of his friends in New York City. After Ted’s college friends, Marshall and Lily, get engaged, Ted decides he needs to find the woman of his dreams. The series continues to tell the story of Ted’s journey to find love and the busy lives of Ted and his friends, Marshal, Lily, Barney, and Robin.

Cast: John Radnor – Ted Mosby Jason Segel- Marshall Eriksen Cobie Smulders – Robin Scherbatsky Neil Patrick Harris – Barney Stinson Alyson Hannigan- Lily Aldrin

Series Similarities

Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother each have their own unique plotlines, but there are also similarities between them. Each of these television series ended within the past year. Breaking Bad and Dexter ended in September 2013, while How I Met Your Mother ended in March 2014. Also, each series lasted for multiple seasons allowing for fans to become loyal to the shows. The television series were also made for teenage and adult audiences and not necessarily children. Finally, each of the series took place in a popular American city.

Series Differences

Breaking Bad and Dexter are hour-long drama episodes, while How I Met Your Mother is a thirty-minute comedy series. Dexter runs on the premium channel, Showtime, and the other two shows air on AMC and CBS, which are apart of a digital cable package. All of the shows have been nominated for Golden Globes, but Dexter and Breaking Bad each have won two Golden Globes. As far as the plotline, Dexter and Breaking Bad seem to have similar underlying themes, but with their own twist. Walter White and Dexter Morgan each lead double lives, but feel as if they are doing good. Walter feels he is helping his family by dealing meth to provide for his them in the future. Dexter feels he is bettering the community by killing murder suspects he felt did not receive the proper sentence. How I Met Your Mother, on the other hand, has a completely different plot line of finding true love. Another difference is that Dexter and Breaking Bad’s cast were composed of mostly character actors and were made famous by the series, while How I Met Your Mother had high profile actors going into the production of the series. Finally, Breaking Bad and Dexter have a narrative sequence that need to be seen in order

11 to prevent confusion, while How I Met Your Mother’s narrative can be played out of order and the viewer can still follow along.

Brand Attribute Comparison

Breaking Bad Dexter How I Met Your Mother

Number of 5 8 9 Seasons

Series Finale September 2013 September 2013 March 2014

Network AMC Showtime CBS

Genre Drama Drama Comedy

TV Rating TV -14 TV- MA TV -14

Awards Two Golden Two Golden Nominated for Two Golden Globes Globes Globes

Setting Albuquerque Miami New York City

Method

This study focuses on a web-based analysis to answer the question of whether the narrative, TV network, and/or fan base of the shows Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother affected their social media strategies. Facebook was the main website utilized for the study by analyzing the presence of each of these shows on the website.

Data

Currently, Facebook is being utilized as another way for companies to connect with their consumers. In the entertainment industry, it is has changed the way television networks can engage their fan base. For this study, the TV networks, AMC, Showtime, and CBS, each run their own Facebook pages. The TV networks have multiple pages to control since each television series has their own. Facebook is utilized to showcase characters on the show, special moments from a certain episode, contests and swag giveaways related to the show, live chats with cast members, and much more. As fans engage with the different types of posts, the networks can gauge how the fans are reacting to the episodes and can even use their feedback for the future.

Analysis

Time This study was based on the final season of Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother. The content of each series’ Facebook page was only analyzed during the final season. The Breaking Bad Facebook page was analyzed from August 11, 2013 to September 29, 2013, the Dexter Facebook page was analyzed from June 30, 2013 to September 22, 2013, and the How I Met Your Mother Facebook page was analyzed from September 23, 2013 to March 31, 2014.

Number of Posts Each network has their own way of planning out postings on their social media sites. Frequency of posts is one strategy each network takes into account. When in season, networks typically tend to post more often then when out of season. Even in season, some networks post more frequently than others. The study took into account how many posts each network was posting and how that affected the engagement level of fans.

Types of Posts By conducting a web-based analysis, the posts were grouped into types of posts. The posts could range from character postcards, quote postcards, plain text, videos, swag promotions, large-scale contests, and online chats with cast members. Each network has their own way of creating the types of posts to attract the demographics and psychographics of their fan base.

Engagement of Posts When creating Facebook posts for business pages, engagement with fans is key. Each post has a different motive in terms of engagement. Fans have the ability to like the post, comment on the post, or share the post with their friends. The more likes, comments, and shares a post has, the higher the overall engagement. Overall engagement can be tracked by the reach of each post as well as the number of “people talking about this”, which can be found at the top of each Facebook page. The more engagement fans have with the page, the more posts will show up on Facebook as a whole. Engagement levels were key during this study to help determine which strategies were popular with fans and which were not as popular.

Copy and Assets When creating posts, the copy and assets are equally as important. Assets attract the fan to read the post and the copy keeps them engaged as well as give them a “call to action” by asking to comment, “like”, or share the post. During the study, the types of assets and the copy were analyzed to see the difference in engagement levels.

Findings

Below are the findings from analyzing the Facebook pages to see how the network, fan base, and the narrative affected different social media strategies.

Network

Page Likes Page likes show how popular the show is amongst Facebook users. Currently, How I Met Your Mother has the most “likes” amongst the three with 25,101,525 likes. Dexter has the next most “likes” with 14,362,430 likes and Breaking Bad has 9, 208,896 likes. It has been concluded that How I Met Your Mother has more likes than the other two shows due to the network. CBS is a major station that the majority of the population is familiar with. The station is also included in almost all television packages so more people have access to the station and therefore are more likely to be familiar with the show based on the familiarity and access with the network. Dexter aired on Showtime, which is a premium channel. Premium channels are a-la-carte channels that are paid for on top of a normal cable bill. This means people would be less likely to be familiar with the show if they do not have access to Showtime. Since Dexter has more page likes than Breaking Bad, it can be concluded that viewers are more familiar with Showtime than AMC.

Page Likes

30,000,000 25,000,000 20,000,000 15,000,000 10,000,000 5,000,000 Number of Page Likes 0 How I Met Your Dexter Breaking Bad Mother Television Series Fan Base

Hashtags Facebook recently introduced hashtags this past summer. Hashtags were used amongst all three shows and are used to group posts and create trends. For these three television series, hashtags were used to promote the show as well as other small promotions. Each show used general hashtags, like #BreakingBad, to promote the series as a whole. Breaking Bad and How I Met Your Mother took this a step further and created hashtags for other portions of their show. For example, both of the shows created a hashtag for the ending of the series. Breaking Bad used #goodbyebreakingbad and How I Met Your Mother used #HIMYMFarewell. These hashtags were utilized in hopes fans would use them to talk about the finale. The hashtags were not only used in the copy, but on social postcards as well. Posts with hashtags, as opposed to posts without hashtags, immediately increase the engagement amongst fans. On Facebook, the hashtags are clickable so all posts by fans or other pages containing that hashtag will be grouped together. This makes the fan feel like they are apart of the conversation. It can be concluded that

14 a strong fan base makes hashtags an effective social media strategy. Since all three of these television series have a strong fan following, this strategy is therefore effective.

Hashtag on Assets

Hashtag within Copy

Promotional Hashtag

Contests/Swag Posts In order for contests and swag posts to be effective, the shows need to have a strong following and be active on the Facebook social media page. Based on these three shows, each show approached the contests and swag posts in a different way based on the level of fan engagement. Breaking Bad implemented larger scale contests than the other two television series. These contests included winning a trip to LA to watch the series finale with Aaron Paul. In order for this strategy to work, the show needed to have strong fan base that would be willing to enter the contest. Therefore, Breaking Bad does have a strong fan base and the strategy was effective to keep engagement with the fans. The contest seem to try to attract the “super fan” so a show like Breaking Bad works perfectly since it is rated one of the top television shows in America. Swag posts work for smaller engagement purposes to get fans to simply enter or purchase swag to help promote the show. In How I Met Your Mother’s case, the show has such a strong following that the show does not give away their swag, but instead makes it available for purchase. Fans like the series so much that they are willing to buy swag and therefore the show does not have to give it away. For social promotions, How I Met Your Mother included discounts on the swag during pivotal moments in the season to increase purchases as well as increase engagement with the show.

Contest Post Swag Post

Live Cast Chats In order to have successful cast chats, a show needs to have a strong fan base. Fans are the ones leading the conversation by submitting questions they want to ask the cast. Breaking Bad specifically was very effective in the use of this strategy. The series has a live after-show called “Talking Bad” where fans are able to submit their questions for the cast based on different moments in the show. Since Breaking Bad has such a highly engaged audience, this strategy is effective for the series.

Behind the Scenes Assets The use of behind the scenes assets allows the fans to take a glimpse of how the show is made. These assets can also include photos of the cast out of character. Engagement for these posts is higher than episodic assets. With episodic assets, the fans have seen the scenes from watching the episodes that the assets highlight. The behind the scenes assets include images the fans have never seen before, which can attract them to the post. In order for these types of assets to work, the fan base needs to be interested not only content aired but also in seeing the behind the scenes. Therefore, the television series must have a highly engaged audience for this strategy to be effective. Since all three of these series have demonstrated high fan engagement, this is an effective strategy for all three.

Breaking Bad Behind the Scenes

Narrative

Episodic Assets Posts with assets on average have more fan engagement than posts without an asset. Assets are visually appealing to a fan when their scrolling through their Facebook news feed instead of just a block of text. It can be concluded that the reason why the engagement levels are higher for posts with assets is because it makes the fan stop and read the post. Therefore, if a fan stops to read the post, they are more likely to “like”, comment, or share the post. The narrative of the show is also a factor in the effectiveness of the asset. The overall storyline of the show has to be interesting in order for a fan to engage with a social media asset. Episodic assets highlight different scenes within an episode. If the narrative of the show is not interesting, the episodics will not be interesting either. Episodic assets are meant to help fans remember certain scenes in episodes. If a certain scene captivated a fan and then, saw a picture of it on Facebook, the fan will more inclined to “like”, comment, or share the post. Since these three series clearly have an interesting narrative, episodic assets are successful social media strategies for all of these shows. Overall, the narrative of a series has a direct effect on the effectiveness of an episodic asset.

Dexter Episodics

How I Met Your Mother Episodics

Videos The narrative of the show also has a direct effect on the use of videos as a social media strategy. Similar to episodic assets, in order for videos to be successful, the narrative has to be interesting. For example, How I Met Your Mother uses videos as their main social media strategy. Since How I Met Your Mother has an attention-grabbing narrative, videos allow fans to re-watch their favorite moments from the episodes. By posting videos on Facebook, this allows fans the ability to comment their thoughts about the particular scene, share the video with others, or simply hit the “like” button as a way to show their interest in the scene. The genre of the show also plays a factor in the effectiveness of videos. Comedy shows with a self-contained narrative are easier to pull small clips from due to the less complicated plot. For example, someone who is not entirely familiar with How I Met Your Mother can understand the video easier without having to watch the entire series. This would not be as true for Breaking Bad and Dexter because these shows should be watched sequentially and from start to finish in order to fully understand what is going on in a scene.

Other Findings

Multiple Engagement Strategies After analyzing many different types of posts, it has been concluded that posts that contain multiple strategies are more effective in terms of engagement. There are many different distractions on Facebook so it takes time and strategy to figure out what will draw a user into a post. The more strategies utilized in a post the better. For example, Dexter and Breaking Bad have different approaches when it comes to social media strategy. Many of Dexter’s posts included a simple quote from a character in a series with the hashtag #Dexter, but did not include any other forms of engagement. On the other hand, Breaking Bad seemed to always combine multiple strategies to increase engagement levels. A typical post for Breaking Bad would include an interesting asset and another small engagement strategy like a hashtag, a link or a call to action for the user to either “like”, comment, or share. Too many engagement strategies, on the other hand, could leave the user feeling uncertain of what to do with the post and the engagement levels could drop.

Multiple Engagement Strategies – Breaking Bad

Single Engagement Strategy – Breaking Bad

Multiple Engagement Strategy - Dexter

Single Engagement Strategy- Dexter

Comprehensive Social Media Strategies

Breaking Bad Dexter How I Met Your Mother • Hashtags • Hashtags • Hashtags • Videos from cast • Videos • Videos - majority • Promotion to watch the • Quotes in copy - • Sell apparel finale with Aaron Paul majority of posts • Episodics (Jesse) • Dexter weekly • CBS rewards • Links, ride in an RV with giveaways • Barney’s Blog Walter • Trivia game - “Dexter’s • Quote postcards • Cast chats “Talking Bad” Disciples” • interactive timeline • Quote postcards • episodics • Polls • “Caption This” • Getglue stickers • Holidays- Black Friday, • Joint promotion - Urban • Behind the scenes photos Cyber Monday Outfitters • Quizzes- “criminal aptitude test” , Jesse one liners • Cast post cards - “cast portraits” • Live twitter feed - cast chat • Holiday posts- fathers day

Implications

Re-Broadcast and Social Media Now that these three series have come to an end, the question arises of how to continue engaging fans via social media. Each fan of the Facebook page is going to be at a different part of the series so the network cannot rely on talking about what just happened in an episode when creating posts. Depending on the networks decision, there could be re-broadcasts of the series. Dexter and Breaking Bad differ from How I Met Your Mother and how they can be re- broadcasted. Dexter and Breaking Bad have intense plot lines that should be watched in sequence to fully grasp what is going on in the series. How I Met Your Mother on the other hand has a consistent plot line of how Ted met the mother of his children, but a viewer can still enjoy an episode and comprehend what is going on without having to watch the previous episodes. Therefore, it makes sense for How I Met Your Mother to be able to re-broadcast episodes sporadically for a couple of hours, but Dexter and Breaking Bad would need to have a marathon for viewers to fully engage in the show. Also, the popular streaming service, Netflix, is also a new way for fans to re-watch or start watching many different types of television series. Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother are currently available to stream on the website. The service allows fans to watch at their own pace and thus creates a discrepancy in the timeline of the series. Because of this, Netflix is another factor to consider when deciding how to move forward with social media postings.

In terms of social media, there are many different approaches to take. Dexter has taken the approach of highlighting different moments from the series by using the “Throwback Thursday” trend. These posts include content that was vague enough to cue the memory of a fan that has seen the entire series, but not telling enough to ruin the plot line for a fan that is currently watching the series, via services such as Netflix. Breaking Bad also incorporated the past moments from the series, but also posted frequently about the cast members and their lives after the finale. This approach can keep fans engaged by tailoring to their interest in wanting to keep up to date with the cast members. With the recent ending of How I Met Your Mother, the Facebook page is currently highlighting different moments throughout the series, but with twists. This includes interactive games, blog posts, and videos. Overall, it is important to keep engagement with the long-term fans, but also to continue to spark interest with new fans.

Second Screen Experience Another option for these series to continue engaging fans after the finale is to adopt similar practices to Modern Family. Modern Family has recently been re-broadcasting its episodes on the USA channel and using technology to further the fan experience. In partnership with USA, they have created a platform on the USA app called Modern Family Sync. This allows fans to use their tablets or smart phones to “sync” up with any Modern Family episode. As fans watch the episodes, they can learn fun facts, see images, and even hear some information from the writers. Modern Family also has Modern Family Live episodes where different polls will appear on the television screen asking different questions that the fans can answer using their smart phones.

A syndication experience for all three series would be a great way for fans to engage after the finale. Every show, regardless of the genre, has interesting facts that can be shared with fans. Dexter would benefit from the syndication app rather than having a live broadcast of polls. Since premium networks typically do not have the distracting commercial breaks, fans might find it annoying to have pop ups appear on their screen while watching an episode. This would also distract the fan from the plot, which could lead to storyline confusion later on. How I Met Your Mother, on the other hand, would benefit from a similar strategy like Modern Family Live because of the similarities between the shows. The comedy genre seems to produce shows that you do not have to fully be engaged in to understand what is going on. Therefore, the pop ups would be less of a distraction compared to a show like Dexter.

Conclusion

Social media can impact the television viewing experience for fans during the show and after the show. Demonstrated from the analysis of these three series, the social media strategies utilized are impacted from externalities. The network has a large impact on the number of Facebook page “likes” since each television series page is based on how visible and familiar fans are with the network brand. The fan base of a series has impacts on many strategies including the use of hashtags, contest posts, live cast chats, and behind the scenes assets. A strong and engaged fan base impacts the effectiveness of each of these strategies. Finally, the narrative has impact on the episodic assets as well as the videos. The overall narrative of the series has to be captivating in order for these strategies to be effective. The next steps to take in order to continue social media

22 engagement after the series has concluded is to consider implementing an off screen experience to go along with re-broadcasting the episodes. This allows for fans to continue watching the series, while also engaging online. Overall, the study concluded that social media strategies are important part of the overall fan experience.

Works Cited

Boardman, Madeline. "Television & Social Media: Viewers Use Twitter As A Part Of The TV

Experience." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Dec. 2012. Web. 06 May 2014.

"Breaking Bad." Facebook. Facebook, 2014. Web. 06 May 2014.

"Dexter." Facebook. Facebook, 2014. Web. 06 May 2014.

Edelsberg, Natan. "How USA Network Is Using Social to Redefine TV Syndication." - Lost Remote.

Mediabistro Inc., 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 06 May 2014.

Godley, Chris. "THR's Social Media Poll: How Facebook and Twitter Impact the Entertainment

Industry." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 06 May

2014.

"How I Met Your Mother." Facebook. Facebook, 2014. Web. 06 May 2014.

"Modern Family Sync." USA Network. USA Network, 2014. Web. 06 May 2014.

Russell, Cristel Antonia, and Hope Jensen Schau. "When Narrative Brands End: The Impact of

Narrative Closure and Consumption Sociality on Loss Accommodation." Journal of Consumer

Research (2013): n. pag. Print