Why I stopped following my favorite shows on Social Media

Social media managers need to be careful about posting spoilers

So here we are watching TV on our Sling App when all of a sudden my Girlfriend screams out ARRRRGHHH!!!!

I said what’s wrong honey and she replies: “Somebody spoiled the Season Finale of America’s Next Top Model” I asked her which one of our friends did it this time, and she replied “No, they themselves did it. The social media account of the show”

So it turns out that who ever runs the Social media accounts for the show posted up a picture of the winner, before allowing a chance to catch up for those viewers who have invested weeks of their life watching all of the episodes that let up to the finale. Other TV shows have committed this same mistake and I have noticed that they have fixed this situation, um….. like years ago.

Let me tell you why this rookie move is all types of wrong lol.

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8 things TV Show social media managers need to consider before posting spoilers

1. Timezones: Quickly into this debacle which we will call #NexttopmodelGate people from all over the world were venting on the comments section of their post that was blasted all over Facebook. People were complaining that the show had not yet aired in their part of the world and other people were wondering why was their not a spoiler alert on the post. This is a rookie mistake and should be basic TV Social media managing #101.

2. Work Schedules: Not everybody​ gets to watch their favorite show live anymore. We live in an on-demand​ society where your DVR is your best friend.

3. My schedule: Give me at least a few hours or days to catch up.

4. Ad Revenue: My girlfriend does not want to see the Season finale of ANTM anymore because she already knows who won. She and maybe thousands of other people will not see the commercials and Ads that play during out the episode. This equals to lost revenue potential for clients and perhaps the show that advertises during that block.

5. On Demand Revenue: Due to our schedules we catch all of our shows using Apps like Hulu, Sling, Netflix, Amazon Video and VUDU. Think of all the people that will now not purchase that episode anymore because they know who won.

6. Common Courtesy: There is a golden unwritten rule that before you announce a shocking revelation about your show you must first announce the post-term​ “Spoiler Alert” – come on people get with the picture lol. You cannot and should not post a Winner of a competition on your Social media account too quick.

7. Consideration:Especially when you take into account #5, #2 and #1 – You would not want your favorite show to be spoiled early for you

8. Loss of followers: We have un-friended and un-followed social media accounts of our favorite shows because of these very same​ reasons. I am not going to follow Survivor on twitter if I know they are going to live tweet the Winner at the end of every season. No never!

When you take into consideration that people just are not subscribing to cable anymore​ as they use to, this should be a no-brainer​. In a few years or if not already more and more families worldwide​ will be watching their favorite shows on devices like Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV and generally online vs traditional cable boxes. Networks and their Social media teams must already know this and need to plan accordingly. New Rule: Wait 24 hours before blasting it on Facebook…. just saying

As a general rule if we are watching a show within perhaps and hour or two of when it aired, we will stay off Facebook and Twitter for fear that the show will be spoiled by on our friends. It should not have to be this way as long as you remember to announce Spoiler Alert on the post and then link to the spoiler or article.

Thank you for reading folks!!