Tech Talk has published a new study cataloging how fans feel about 20 of the most popular shows on TV as expressed on social media, specifically Twitter. How much have people talked about them? Who’s been talking about them? When they talk, what do they say? Let’s take a look.
Obviously, Game of Thrones has gotten a lot of mentions.
But surprisingly, it came in a distant second to Netflix’s Stranger Things, which aired its third season earlier this year.
Also notice the green bars. That tells you the gender of the people tweeting. Slightly more men than woman talk about Game of Thrones, while it’s reversed for Stranger Things.
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Then there’s the sentiment of the tweets. Are people tweeting positive or negative things about these shows? Dark green represents positive chat, light green negative.
Game of Thrones certainly took its lumps in its final season, but chat was still mostly positive. Weirdly, the chat surrounding shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Curb Your Enthusiasm was mostly negative, which I wasn’t expecting. Stranger Things, meanwhile…
Tech Talk even broke down comments by specific emotions, like so:
The primary emotion when tweeting about Game of Thrones was sadness. The primary emotion for watching Stranger Things was joy.
“Social media can enable a real-time shared experience of watching something together,” says psychotherapist Aaron Balick. “It enables a kind of scale for sharing that wasn’t possible until recently. Nowadays you no longer need to wait for that ‘water cooler’ moment at work to share your thoughts about last night’s telly (streaming is a whole other thing). You can do it live on Twitter via a hashtag or watch alongside your friends on Facebook.”
"What determines people’s interest is complex. Game of Thrones could attract those into fantasy drama as much as those into political intrigue – it is a matter of the draw for a particular person. Something like Black Mirror is of interest to those who are curious about the dark side of technology and human nature. The myriad variety of television today has a pull for everyone. Social media and other online forums enable enthusiastic interest groups to grow around them, which can increase interest and attention."
You can head here to read the full report, pretty graphs and all.
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