Free fan labor – the art of social comentating
Posted by erinoestringer on February 5, 2013
We had discussed in class about television show followers and their active role in the shows with the growth of technology. As shows in De Kosnik’s article, and in class, the show is not the end product but a material to be molded and analyzed further. The article talks about a fan site where paid and non-paid employees discuss tv shows, and viewers of the site comment and post as well. This type of free-labor shows how much more engaged audiences are, and how much of a bigger role these programs play in our lives.
The article also says “The information provided by viewers doesn’t just add value to the product, it also doubles as audience research,” Andrejevic writes (2005).” This reminded me of my own experience with the show Workaholics (which I hope you all have seen because its pure comedy, if you too have the sense of humor of a fourteen year old boy.) I digress… The four main characters on the show are named after the actor who plays them, and these four guys are also the show’s writers/creators. They are all on twitter and, being such a fan of the crude and inappropriate, I follow them all. Every Wednesday when the show airs the guys start retweeting fan tweets, commenting on what fans are saying, etc. Its a much more hands-on method than many shows take, since the stars are also the creators, but its the same idea as in the article.
In today’s culture, we are all social commentators. No one may be inviting me to co-host E! News or Around the Horn, but I still voice my opinions on all things via social networks. No one pays me and, like most of us, nothing I say is worth paying for. But fan labor is a second job in our culture that we all signed up for, knowingly or not.
We are the overly opinionated [insert tv show] fan-bloggers and we are proud!!!
samford said
As you are pointing out here, Erin, the pleasures we get from our labor are often not something we expect to profit off of literally, but there is a feeling that audiences deserve something (respect, to be listened to, etc.) in return for the labor they are putting into the popularity of a show, especially for shows that are built off the enthusiasm of a smaller, more dedicated audience. Look forward to discussing this concept of fan labor in class more deeply.
nacolejordann said
I agree, I know sometimes when i watch certain t.v. show I will tweet the entire time either discussing thing I did or didn’t like and quoting the show if there was something said that was so funny i thought other people need to see it and have a laugh too.
jonesnforart said
As you stated, the pleasure of sharing one’s insight on a program puts you in a position of a larger community of fans. Best example was “Lost”. Viewers would constantly find, what became known as “easter eggs”, which were clues to the nature of the show, hidden throughout background shots, etc. These were exciting to find, but also revealing in how many that you might miss in a single episode. With the collective group of fans, a viewer could watch, share, discover, and then of course go back and watch again. And yes, I agree as well with you on “Workaholics”, and possibly do have the sense of humor of a 14 year old boy.
andyarnoldpopculture said
Everyone, whether or not they know it, is a social media critic. If you walk away from content with an opinion and share it – and everyone has – you are a critic. Some critics are more well-versed in what makes content successful; some just like what they like and dislike everything else.
Anyone can be a walking advertisement if the content is spreadable enough. Telling a joke you heard in a movie – my little brother quoted lines from The Hangover until a few months after we saw it in theaters – or quoting a book makes the recipient remember the content you’ve effectively given a positive review to.