Salve Regina University Digital Commons @ Salve Regina Pell Scholars and Senior Theses Salve's Dissertations and Theses Summer 6-2013 #PrettyLittleLiars: How Hashtags Drive The Social TV Phenomenon Melanie Brozek Salve Regina University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/pell_theses Part of the American Popular Culture Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Television Commons Brozek, Melanie, "#PrettyLittleLiars: How Hashtags Drive The Social TV Phenomenon" (2013). Pell Scholars and Senior Theses. 93. https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/pell_theses/93 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Salve's Dissertations and Theses at Digital Commons @ Salve Regina. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pell Scholars and Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Salve Regina. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. #PrettyLittleLiars: How Hashtags Drive The Social TV Phenomenon By Melanie Brozek Prepared for Dr. Esch English Department Salve Regina University May 10, 2013 Brozek 2 #PrettyLittleLiars: How Hashtags Drive The Social TV Phenomenon ABSTRACT: Twitter is used by many TV shows to promote discussion and encourage viewer loyalty. Most successfully, ABC Family uses Twitter to promote the teen drama Pretty Little Liars through the use of hashtags and celebrity interactions. This study analyzes Pretty Little Liars’ use of hashtags created by the network and by actors from the show. It examines how the Pretty Little Liars’ official accounts engage fans about their opinions on the show and encourage further discussion. Fans use the network- generated hashtags within their tweets to react to particular scenes and to hopefully be noticed by managers of official show accounts.