Early organization, commercialization and weaponization of social media in the entertainment industry: A case study, Bones, season 6 (2010–2011)

Abstract

As a television series, the Fox procedural crime drama Bones is exceptional. Having completed its twelfth and final season (2017), it is the longest running drama in the studio’s history. It is also a pioneer in its interactions with social media, offering a precedent-setting early example of online potential for organizing, commercializing and weaponizing social media platforms. During its sixth season (2010–2011) interactions between fans on social media and showrunners erupted into an internet war which when organized into an analytical model demonstrates the potential damage such conflict can cause not only to a specific television production but by extension to its showrunners as well. This transformative moment in the history of television illustrates the point at which fans who had once communicated individually now had means to connect as active online aggregates and express their views across multiple public forums. This case study illustrates the convergence of social and broadcast media and demonstrates an elemental shift in the interpersonal dynamic employed by viewers and showrunners. Considered in this article are the showrunners’ initial narrative intentions, how those intentions changed, and how they ran into conflict with the expectations of social media fans. Using this analysis and the resulting metrics of ratings, DVD sales and advertising costs, a construct can be formed that suggests the ways in which such a conflict can affect overall audience viewing patterns, impact future projects, and how social media, itself, has become a recognized and increasingly powerful entertainment tool.

Keywords:

• social television
• Bones
• Fox
• social media
• audience
• power
• crime drama
• forensic
• procedural
• connected viewing
• fan communities
• showrunners

Public Interest Statement

Do television showrunners listen when fans talk on social media? Can angry fans effect the fate of a show? An early test case of the power of weaponized social media, currently deployed across a range of areas social and political, occurred in the sixth season (2010–2011) of the long-running Fox television drama Bones. The showrunners introduced a new girlfriend for the lead male character when fans had been primed to expect the consummation of his romantic relationship with his female partner. This was the catalyst for angry fans to experiment on social media forums with evolving weapons for organizing and attacking the showrunners and using internet access as a way to confront and punish them. Although the conflict did not kill the show it did have a lasting negative impact on the showrunners’ subsequent careers and predicted the future use of social media as a potent weapon.

Cover image

Emily Deschanel, Katheryn Winnick and David Boreanaz. “Bones” (Fox). Source: http://www.foxflash.com/content/terms-use

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Susan E. James

Susan E. James is an independent writer and researcher who earned her PhD at Cambridge University. She has written extensively in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, publishing over 30 peer-reviewed articles on various aspects of the social sciences and three books on sixteenth-century English history: Kateryn Parr: The Making of a Queen (1999), The Feminine Dynamic in English Art, 1485–1603: Women as Consumers, Patrons and Painters (2009, nominated for the Berger Prize), and Women’s Voices in Tudor Wills, 1485–1603: Authority, Influence and Material Culture (2015). She has also published extensively in outlets like the Los Angeles Times on various aspects of the entertainment industry and has been a television and film critic for the La Canada Valley Sun and for Crescenta Valley Weekly.