Digital Artifacts

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Wild, Wild Web

I just finished reading an article called Wild, Wild Web and it was about how the Internet is affecting daytime soaps' storytelling. It was interesting to read about both the positive and negative views of the Internet. Some believe that it has a positive affect on daytime soaps, allowing producers to read the opinions of viewers on blogs and message boards. The Internet also provides the opportunity to watch missed episodes and the opportunity to showcase additional material and draw in some of those people who spend more time online than watching TV. However, there is also a negative side as well. The producers found that people enjoy talking about how much they enjoy the show, actors, etc. but bad news travels much faster and louder than good news, so it's much more common to see criticism of the shows, which in turn "turns off" viewers. Also, there are sites that provide story spoilers, which tell you about events that are going to happen in the show. As a Days of Our Lives Fan, I often find myself online reading these story spoilers and then not worrying about watching the episode on TV because I already knew what was going to happen. I thought it was interesting to read about the opinions of the producers and vice presidents of daytime TV because you really never think about how the Internet is affecting them. Ratings continually decrease and we wonder if it has anything to do with the Internet. As I finished reading this article, one question remained in my head - Has daytime been able to keep up with the times or has the Internet altered soap storytelling?

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