Reality television and social media
Until a couple of years ago, I thought that I was too good and too cultured to watch reality television. No one I knew really watched any of it so neither did I. For me, there was something that changed this: social media.
Social media, particularly Twitter and Reddit, have been vital to the renaissance of the reality television genre. More and more, audiences are given the power to keep television alive, by interacting and pressuring streamers and creators directly. Chrissy Teigen summarised it in this tweet:
User-generated content is also key to promoting shows and to keep them running. There are countless online communities dedicated to different reality shows and memes that go viral across platforms.
This content is extremely beneficial to the programmes as they boost their reach and drive organic marketing. Late last year, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK went a step further than most shows which simply retweet or repost funny content and partnered with Lee Dawson, who creates pop-reference filled episode recaps like the one below.
But what do people think about the immense amount of online content attached to reality shows? I ran an anonymous survey where the majority agreed that this content enhanced their viewing and awareness of different reality programmes and beyond. Some of their comments were:
- “Memes do [add value] definitely, they bring people together to start a conversation about their mutual topic of interest”
- “Yes, memes created around [reality] content add humour and a desire to stay relevant in the social media world requires an audience for reality tv, otherwise you feel left out and can’t participate”
- “It promotes them and educates other people on the show. For Love Island, I didn’t watch the show I purely found out what was happening via memes”
- “Definitely. Drag Race is a good example because things like Much Better and Miss Vanjie [(memes)] are staple parts of the show that have been memed and that’s added to the show’s legacy and impact.”
It is fair to say that what social media does for reality television is bring people together. It also increases non-viewers’ awareness of reality shows by online interaction, perhaps making them think of joining into the conversation and tune in as I did.
