When is it not OK to tweet about #HouseofCards?
What’s the grace period for Social TV?
It was 3AM. Leftover chocolate cake from our Valentine’s day dinner was still in front of me. Instead of sleeping like a sane person, I was up. I was excited and nervous for the premiere of House of Cards Season 2 on Netflix.
Between us, subconsciously, I may have rushed our Valentine’s Day dinner so that I could just get ready for night of binge #HouseofCards. It had been a long month at work, with the launch of a new product, new brand and new website. I needed a fix and here it was.
Like millions of folks, I have been sharing my #HouseofCards experience with my social network. From convincing my circle to watch the stream with me to discussing and sharing theories on what is happening —in my real-time, based on my terms. Late at night, over the long weekend, with kids in bed. That’s usually my prime time.
In the age of Netflix, we consume media on our terms. So our social media activity follows the same pattern. We share on social media when we watch. Unlike the traditional broadcast media, we are not bound by any specific time slots or zones. One episode a day or the whole series in one night. The way people find, consume, and share content online doesn’t follow old patterns of media consumption.
The data speaks for itself. 2% of all U.S. Netflix subscribers — last month the service had a “reported 31.7 million” subscribers stateside alone — were able to completely finish the political drama’s second season within the first weekend.
In fact, there was one person who finished with just three minutes longer than there is content. So basically, three total minutes of break in roughly 13 hours.
I certainly have been taking it easy — purposely dividing my experience to last at least one week. So, on the 16th, I tweeted the following:
Immediately, I had a friend direct message me telling me that if he hadn’t seen the episode, he would have been very disappointed.
Since we share our experiences based on how we are consuming the shows? Is it fair to tweet and share our experiences when our friends, our followers, our network might have not?
Did I just ruin someone’s experience who was waiting to watch this weekend?
What’s the grace period these days?
