I find this whole concept fascinating, but feel that it raises a significant issue around location. It has to be remembered that a huge number of people (media and TV scholars included) live outside of North America, and as such, have no way of participating in such a discussion without being spoiled. Even those of us who manage to catch up fairly soon, through various nefarious means, still often find that discussion has lulled. Whilst the digital nature of entertainment has shrunk the gaps between the US and the rest of the world (New Zealand is getting Lost about a week later at the moment), the ability for pseudo-real-time communication has meant that these discussions are also well out of reach. The transient nature of Twitter means that those moments which don’t become blog posts are lost to us for ever.

My only consolation comes from having watched 5 seasons of Outrageous Fortune before Scoundrels has hit the air…

All this makes me think that Pew could have added a question to their millennials quiz about screen/medium specificity and television. Perhaps something along the lines of:

Do you primarily watch tv on a

a) TV
b) PC or laptop
c) what is this “TV” of which you speak?

My experience with Doctor Who is indicative of this. One of the great ironies of the show’s successful resurgence since 2005 for me has been how I’ve retreated out of active fandom simply because I cannot keep up with it. True, because of, um, certain software applications, I can obtain the episodes within hours of their UK broadcast. However, more often than not, I don’t get around to watching it for a day or two. I’m now in the habit of steering well clear of my old fan haunts in order to avoid getting spoiled (technically, after-the-broadcast discussions are not “spoilers,” but they are on a personal level if you haven’t yet seen the episode). I miss talking about it online, but I don’t miss the disruptions it would cause to my life. It’s kind of like how I still love indie pop, but no longer pay any attention to shows or release dates; 2007ish is still new enough to me!

Oddly, I’ve found it more satisfying to participate in online TV fandom *between* seasons, where we’re all (more or less) on the same schedule, and can ruminate more broadly. Again, lots of ways to “do” fandom; YMMV, though I wonder if we (as in academics) are validating/defaulting too often to “real-time” fandom in our assumptions about media engagement?

I’m not a Twitter user, but I think this is relevant to other online fan spaces, like blogs. On nights when I time shift Lost or Project Runway, I then avoid reading about them on various blogs. But if I don’t get to them for a couple of days, the chance to participate in the discussion seems pretty diminished, depending on the blog. So many comments have already been posted and, particularly on blogs that are not solely focused on those shows, others are no longer actively participating in conversation (or likely even reading what is contributed 3 days after the original post). I certainly still enjoy reading updates, recaps, and commentary days later, but that’s not quite the same as participating in the discussion of the shows on various blogs.

Does this create a sort of hierarchy of online fandom? Sure, anyone can participate in there various online discussions, but seems the window for active discussion is somewhat limited. I think Anne’s comment below about time zone issues is relevant here as well.

As someone who is trying to break into the field, I’ll be honest that there are only a few things that excite me more than getting an @reply from people I admire or read on a daily basis. When I did a post recently that was RT’ed by Christine, then mentioned by Myles AND then by Max, it was just a glorious day for me. And without Twitter, I don’t think that could happen. Sure, I’ve taken a class with Max and so we could trade e-mails, but I wouldn’t be able to get to the attention of people like Myles unless I pestered him with comments or personal e-mails.

As Myles suggested, it is interesting how the want to follow Twitter during a program is based on a relationship with spoilers. For me, last night’s Idol was great to watch with Twitter — because it was so bad that I just had to see what people like Dan Fienberg were saying. But if it’s Lost, I actually shut my computer off to completely avoid the temptation and when I open it again to write my recap, I avoid starting TweetDeck because I don’t want to be influenced by others’ opinions until I’m finished. But then I can’t stop looking at tweets from Myles, Mo Ryan, Sepinwall or even the now-ambivalent Max. Just like this discussion here, I’m just glad to be involved.