Together alone

Abstract

In this paper, we explore motivations for live-tweeting across a season of a television show. Using the third season of Downton Abbey as a case study, we followed 2,234 live-tweeters from the show's premiere episode to its finale, finding that nearly a third of users returned each week to tweet. Semi-structured interviews with 11 diverse live-tweeters revealed that the decision to live-tweet is dependent upon a variety of personal considerations and social conventions forming around this emerging TV viewing practice. This includes the desire to feel connected to a larger community that is interested in the show. Participants actively sought to protect the user experience of others by following good live-tweeting "etiquette", including limiting their number of posts and censoring content that might spoil the show for others. Over time, live-tweeting helped users build and maintain a network of fellow Downton Abbey viewers with shared interests.