You decide the plot: Social media shows shake TV drama

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‍We've all been there: Your eyes are locked onto the screen and your breath is paused as your beloved character in the TV drama faces the moment of living or dying. And then the ending music kicks in. It's over. You have to wait another week to find out what on earth happens next.

But now the situation is about to change.

A new generation of social media-driven dramas are giving viewers the power to decide whether their favorite characters live or die as well as a big say on plots.

In "If I Were You," a huge new hit show in Spain, viewers vote on Facebook at the end of each open-ended 10-minute episode on the next turn in the teen story.

They are given the choice of two scenarios for the following week, with scriptwriters taking the one with the most likes.

Producers cast an Instagram star as the lead character of the series, which "massively advances a concept of audience interaction first pioneered by the New Zealand show 'Reservoir Hill'," said analyst Virginia Mouseler of research group The Wit.

That groundbreaking show won a Digital Emmy in 2010 by driving the plot of its "Twilight" meets "Twin Peaks" storyline with suggestions sent in by text.

The Norwegian TV show "Where is Thea?", where a young woman desperately searches for her missing friend, has become a smash in Scandinavia by crossing dramas' usual boundaries.

Facebook has already tapped into the social media-driven dramas. /Reuters Photo

Facebook gets into TV

The trend comes as Facebook announced that it would be showing an English version of another social network-savy Nordic hit, "Skam" (Shame), on its new video platform, Watch.

Simon Fuller, the man who brought the Spice Girls and the "Pop Idol" franchise to the world, is working on an international version of the show where the lives of a group of teenagers are continually updated on their Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The series has already become a social media phenomenon, blurring the lines between fiction and reality, with fans far beyond Norway interacting with the stars online.

Facebook has already dipped its toe in the water with "Make or Break Up", where couples in crisis ask Facebook users whether they should stay together.

Traditional broadcasters take the lead

But for the moment it is traditional broadcasters who are leading the line.

South Korea, whose dramas top ratings well beyond Asia, has not been slow to tap the social media trend. It has teased elements of its latest K-TV blockbuster, "While You Were Sleeping," to fans of its fantasy-tinged fare worldwide.

A billboard displays the logo of Snapchat above Times Square in New York, March 12, 2015. /Reuters Photo

Snapchat versions of big US shows like "The Voice" and "The Bachelor" are also drawing teenagers back to their sofas to watch the original TV ones, according to Sean Mills of mobile content specialists Snap Inc.

Former NBC veteran Lauren Anderson, who now also works for the firm, said that the smartphone social media trend is a boon for showrunners and writers trying to reach "kids who live through their mobile."

Source(s): AFP