In this photo taken Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, a detail of the "Game of Thrones" tapestry is ... [+]
While the final season of HBO's hit series Game of Thrones may not have delivered the ending that many fans hoped to see, it is clear the faithful shared their thoughts – both positive and negative – via social media. According to a new reporting from Twitter, the show had a dragon-sized impact with viewers and dominated the social media conversation.
Game of Thrones topped the list of TV-related tweets on the micro-blogging platform, followed by the Netflix monster-smash series Stranger Things and the long running Fox show The Simpsons. The list was rounded out by La Casa De Papel (Money Heist), Grey's Anatomy, Love Island, Catfish: The TV Show, Family Guy, The Walking Dead and Narcos.
Twitter shared the list of hot TV tweets this week as part of its #ThisHappened in 2019 blog post.
The top movie mentions for Twitter mentions was very much a "geekfest" that was topped by the biggest film of the year, The Avengers: Endgame, followed by Toy Story 4 and The Joker – the latter being the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, and the first R-rated film to pass the billion-dollar mark at the box office.
The movie list also included Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Lion King (2019), 天気の子 (Weathering With You), Captain Marvel, IT Chapter 2, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Frozen 2. It is worth noting that Star Wars could see an increase before the end of the year as the final in the sequel trilogy doesn't even open until December 20.
Fan Boy Favorites
It is fair to say that the TV shows and movies on the respective lists certainly fall into the "water cooler" variety, where fans would discuss the key details of the show in great depth. This discussion has carried over to social media of course.
It is also clear that science fiction, fantasy, animation and comic books had discussions that were "trending" on Twitter.
"This is the stuff I'm interested in," explained technology analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group, who suggested that the themes of hope and heroism certainly played a part.
"But we also saw this around 20 years into the last century, the world focused on the future and in separating themselves from reality as they struggled to keep up with the massive increase in technology advancement that happened back then," said Enderle. "I wonder if we are going to eventually have something like World's Fairs again to better showcase these advancements or whether social media will continue to take up the slack."
The Decline Of The Second Screen Experience
What is also notable about the TV list is that three of the shows – Stranger Things, Casa De Papel and Narcos – are on over-the-top streaming service Netflix, so the same level of water cooler experience doesn't apply. As the shows don't run at a set time these don't have the same type of linear experience as a Game of Thrones, Grey's Anatomy or The Walking Dead – shows that all had big moments that fans talked about.
The streaming series had those moments, but fans had to avoid social media so as not to have plots "spoiled." Streaming thus could lead to the decline of the second screen experience, which had still been on the rise just a year ago. This is where fans could interact on social media even as they watched the show.
As more people cut the cord and time shift their shows the second screen with social media could become a thing of the past even before it completely became mainstream.
"The big problem, now that we are streaming, is that we are no longer watching the same programs at the same time," said Enderle.
However, the streaming services may find other ways to create social engagement with their respective programming.
"There have been a number of efforts focused on doing this but, so far, none have reached critical mass," said Enderle.
"A new Amazon Prime show called 'the Feed' may forecast our future here and it is a tad scary," he added. "But, right now, devices are still more a distraction than an experience enhancer at the moment; but there are indications, these search results are a case in point, that this may be changing."
