Lost, TV, and Social Media

I had too many friends tweeting and Facebooking and blogging about the series finale of Lost last night.  I don’t think there could ever be any better publicity.  Every time there was a new episode, a new twist, any character development, or even if the wind blew in a scene, people wrote about it.  Hell, the people who had never seen an episode wrote asking what all the fuss was about.

I’ve never seen Lost, but I felt I needed to watch part of the finale to try and get in on the fuss. Was I missing some cultural event, like the finale of M.A.S.H or Seinfeld?  I didn’t understand any of it, but now I feel like I can at least relate to my friends in some twisted way.

It’s also a strange way of relating to people.  Instead of watching shows because I enjoy them, I caved to online peer pressure.  I didn’t gain anything for it, but I’m sure ABC appreciated me boosting their ratings, and their advertising revenues.

TV has changed significantly in recent years, but live and one time events have become bigger, especially as people write about them online.  It’s a strange way of being social in watching TV.  Instead of inviting friends over to have party, we can just sit at home and write out our commentary.  No one is interrupted; no dialogue is missed.

I don’t know how much it makes the viewing experience that much more enjoyable for Lost fans or for any program.  It seems distracting to me, something that would pull me out of the moment in viewing the show.  Instead of absorbing all the audio and visual details, we split attention with the commentary on our computer.  Perhaps that’s fine for an awards show, like the Oscars, where you don’t need to see every moment, but I’d still rather have my friends nearby.

Do you tweet as you watch TV?  Is it fun, annoying, or distracting?  I want to know what’s going on.

And no, please don’t try to explain Lost to me.  I’ve given up on that years ago.

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