About That Boycott Rumor...
So, this week, the roleplayers from our group were accused of boycotting Monday night episode title trending. The allegation is false, but, as you know from a self-purported TV journalist's libelous hate-mongering article about Beasties a few months ago, some people will believe anything they read.
First of all, on trending in general. You're doing it wrong and that's why it's not working. It has nothing to do with the RPs. We're not your scapegoats, but we're happy to help you with tips based on research and our own trial/error processes, if you ask nicely.
We tried to show you and the people who ran the writers' account how to do it effectively, but despite several successful Monday night trends under our guidance, we were told to mind our own business on the day of the spring finale by both Beasties and writers, so that is what some of us have done. (Of note, the S2 spring finale had the lowest ratings of the show's history. After all of the work that we had done to hype the finale, it's painful to imagine what could have been if we hadn't been hobbled hours before the live air. In fact, #BeastingBad was such a good tag that the lead hobbler used it in one of her goodbye tweets when she announced her move to greener pastures.)
This was not a group decision or mandate - each of our RP tweeters is free to tweet and trend whenever he/she pleases, as long as canon and character integrity are maintained.
Are there hard feelings? Is it an 'us vs them' situation? Nope, sorry to disappoint. We prefer the fun kind of drama, you know? ;)
Real life happens, but we've been here every day when it counts.
Although some of us have decided to opt out of episode title trending, we've still been here and tweeting the #BatB tag every day, not just on Marathon Mondays. Just like many of you, we bang the DVR playback/streaming/TV Guide/DVD pre-order/season pass purchase/voting drums every week to ensure the networks remember our fandom's media presence is profitable. We live tweet during both coasts as often as we can, because we try to practice what we preach. Do all of the fan accounts do this? Perhaps you need to refocus your finger pointing.
Our first priority is ratings, not trending.
While effective trending has the potential to draw more viewers, tweeting the #BatB tag guarantees higher Nielsen twitter ratings.
We pioneered the use of #BatB in every tweet in 2012, months before the Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings system went live, to ensure that Beasties were ready for it. We regularly remind Beasties to tweet the tag. Unfortunately, we haven't hit any NTTR top 10s yet, and Nielsen refuses to release any other data about our weekly performance despite repeated requests, but we know we're loud.
We know you don't like everything about Season 2. We've experienced your disapproval, firsthand.
We've been yelled at, sworn at, unfollowed, blocked, trolled, and scolded for staying in character during some very unpopular and/or controversial storylines in S2 that were beyond our control, but we're still here. We still show up and, more often than not, we have a lot of laughs.
Like you, none of us are paid for our efforts. We spend hours of our own time, without compensation or donations, studying our characters onscreen and discussing their points of view behind the scenes to ensure we get it right. We savor every interview, every tidbit of information provided by the actors, writers, producers, directors and crew. We note every background detail. We even know our songs. We notice stuff that you might not be looking for:
We're here to help promote the show to the best of our ability, because we love it just as much as you do. We walk the walk, we don't just talk it - collectively, the RPs voted for the BatB and Kristin Kreuk almost 5 MILLION times to help us secure our latest People's Choice Awards victories. We have huge respect and admiration for the actors and we kinda like you, too - when you're not yelling at us. ;D
We stood up for the fandom when it was unjustly accused. We would appreciate the same support.
Thank you. Can we go back to having fun, now? I've been reading Rebecca Reynolds' journal a lot this week and it's kinda freaking me out. ;) ~ Cat xo
(P.S. Unfortunately, I can't remember who it was that sent me the screencap of that convo with Kristin. I'm happy to edit and give credit where it's due if you're reading this and contact me. And thank you again for sending it! ;) )
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