Preliminary, descriptive analysis of forums on television network websites in the USA, the UK and Australia, observed around late 2000.
Network websitesSites included ABC Online, BBC Online, CNN, ninemsn, ITV and CBS.
Many kinds of forumMessage boards, chat rooms, guestbooks and polls for networks, news, talk shows, soap operas and reality television.
Technology, rules, contentEach forum's technology, rules and content were analysed for interactivity and access, with examples quoted from the sites.
Media theoryThe analysis draws on media and communication theory.
BWhat the study found
Access to the networkhow forums controlled contact with guests
•In moderated forums after broadcasts, viewers queued to put questions to the guest.Moderators chose which questions to pass on and cut longer exchanges short, which kept the network in control of access.
•Network websites labelled forums 'community', yet many allowed no talk between users.This was especially so in news forums with guests. Some forum rules explicitly told audience members not to talk to each other.
What viewers diduses the forums made possible
•Where forums allowed it, viewers shared experiences, sought information and gave each other advice.One example was a current affairs forum on surviving cancer.
•Some forum users turned forums to purposes the network had not set.In one forum meant to discuss an interview's topic, users criticised the interviewer's technique instead.
•On one reality television show, online polls decided which contestants were evicted.Reality shows also offered live chats with ousted contestants and message boards where fans talked among themselves.
Whose spacewhat the paper argues
•The paper argues forums give viewers more immediate access than letters or talk radio.Forums also offer the chance of community, while generating low-cost content and promotion for the network.
CKey takeaway
Online forums can extend media interactivity, bringing television viewers closer to programs, guests and each other. Yet forums are a transactional space where networks gain cheap content and publicity, and moderators control who speaks.
Made for this site with AI assistance from the verified research brief. It is not the paper's own figure.
Abstract
In online television forums hosted by Television Network Websites (TNWs), viewers are invited to interact with both those involved with the television network and/or other viewers/users. This paper is a preliminary investigation of the enormous range of new interactive spaces and practices. Current online television forums in US, UK and Australian TNWs are analyzed in terms of their interactivity and access. The forums are found to allow individuals increased and more immediate access to television products and personalities, the ability to determine their own news values, and the possibility of joining with others as transitory online communities rather than remaining an audience of individuals. While those who gain access and participate must agree to both rules and moderation, some users manage to subvert officially designated purposes or rules. Nevertheless, the provision of online television forums ultimately extends the traditional media sphere.
Research brief
By Susan McKay and Sean Rintel.
Takeaway: Online TV forums can extend media interactivity, giving viewers more immediate access to programs, celebrities and each other, but inside the network's commercial transactional space. Networks run forums for cheap content and publicity, and moderators gatekeep access, so viewers often queue to question guests.
Why this matters
What was known
Media interactivity was long limited to letters to the editor and talk radio and television, where few contributions get through and the media select them. Online forums promised more immediate dialogue between producers and audiences. Interactivity in the sense of the facilitation of dialogue between mass-media producers and audiences has been seen as one of the most anticipated and desirable goals of new media technology(§Introduction, p. 1)
What this paper adds
An early overview of the forums offered by television network websites (TNWs) in three countries, analysed in terms of interactivity and access. This paper is a preliminary investigation of what is fast becoming an enormous range of new interactive spaces and practices.(§Introduction, p. 1)
Who it matters to
Media and communication researchers studying audience interactivity, access and online community around television.
Research question
How do online television forums on US, UK and Australian television network websites provide interactivity and access, both to the network (programs, celebrities, guests and journalists) and to other users?
Method and data
Design
Preliminary, descriptive analysis of online television forums, with examples quoted verbatim from the sites.
Setting
Television network websites in the USA, the UK and Australia (including ABC Online, BBC Online, CNN, ninemsn, i7, ITV and CBS), observed around late 2000.
Participants / data
Message boards, chat rooms, guestbooks and polls attached to networks, news and current affairs programs, talk shows, soap operas and reality television shows.
Analysis
Qualitative analysis of forum technologies, forum rules and forum content in terms of interactivity and access, drawing on media and communication theory.
Findings
Queuing for the guest. In moderated forums held after a broadcast on US, UK and Australian network websites, viewers each sent a question to the guest, moderators chose which to pass on, and longer exchanges were cut short. This kept the network in control of access to its guests. #
“There is a sense of queuing for one's chance at accessing the guest/personality rather than participating in a group interaction.”
'Community' without contact. Network websites labelled their forums 'community', yet many, especially news forums with guests, allowed only exchanges between users and guests, and some rules explicitly told audience members not to talk to each other. #
“forums that do not allow interaction between users keep the user group fragmented, retaining an audience subject position as a mass of individuals without a real sense of group identity”
Viewers helped each other. Where forums allowed it, people used them to share experiences, seek information and offer advice to one another, as in a current affairs forum on surviving cancer. #
“She is able to directly comment on the program for panelists, participants and an audience to see, but she is also able to use the opportunity to gain information for herself and to offer advice to others.”
Users repurposed forums. Some users turned forums to purposes the network had not set, for example using a forum meant to discuss an interview's topic to criticise the interviewer's technique instead. #
“However, instead of discussing the topic the forum was overwhelmingly used to negatively evaluate Martin's interview technique”
Reality TV let viewers shape the show. Reality television shows gave networks many ways to involve viewers, from live chats with ousted contestants and message boards where fans talked among themselves to online polls, which on one show decided who was evicted. #
“Unpopular contestants were evicted from the house, based directly on these polls. Viewers/users were thus directly involved with the final outcome of the program.”
Access, but on the network's terms. Earlier routes for audience participation included letters to the editor and talk radio. Compared with these, forums give individuals more immediate access and the chance of community, while generating low-cost content and promotion for the network. #
“they are creations of an extended media sphere based on a transactional space of publicity and promotion, rather than much interest in interactivity from a 'concerned' audience”
Questions this paper answers
Did TV network websites let viewers talk with each other?
Often not. Moderated guest forums usually limited users to questions for the guest, and some rules explicitly asked audience members not to talk to each other. Unmoderated message boards, such as those for reality shows, did allow user-to-user interaction. (See §Message Boards, p. 4; §Forum Rules, p. 5; §Interactivity with Specific Programs, p. 15.)
Is posting in an online TV forum like calling a talk show?
In some ways. As with talk radio and letters columns, contributors produce content for the media, and moderated guest forums left users queuing for a turn with the guest. But forums offered more immediate access, and some let viewers talk with one another. (See §Message Boards, p. 4; §Discussion and Conclusions, p. 16.)
Were online TV forums real communities?
Partly. Networks promoted 'community', and some fans kept chatting long after a show ended. But forums that blocked user interaction kept users as individuals, and any community formed inside the network's commercial, promotional space. (See §Forum Rules, p. 5; §Discussion and Conclusions, p. 16.)
Why did television networks host online forums?
Forums generate low-cost content that can be archived, extend contact with programs beyond their airing time, and draw viewers into the network's website, where publicity and promotion shape the space. (See §Discussion and Conclusions, p. 16.)
Contributions and implications
Further development of these forums will depend largely on converging computer, internet and television technologies.
Limitations
Coverage is representative but preliminary, a snapshot of fast-changing sites. our coverage is representative but preliminary, perhaps best viewed as a historical snapshot of the TNW development process in those countries(§Forum Rules, p. 6)
The study did not compare network forums with unofficial forums such as fan and ISP forums, and suggests this for future research. Future research could usefully draw out the comparisons between practices in TNW and non-TNW forums.(§Discussion and Conclusions, p. 16)
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Concepts
Television Network Websites (TNWs)
The sites studied here: Television Network Websites (TNWs) in the USA, UK and Australia have hosted online forums since the mid 1990s.(§Introduction, p. 1)
Transactional space
How the authors characterise network websites, which sets the terms for viewer interaction: In keeping with their nature as commercial transactional spaces designed to capture as wide an audience as possible and facilitate the generation of content suitable for posting(§Forum Rules, p. 5)
Quasi-synchronous chat
Chat in which users are present in real time, but: messages are composed before transmission and then appear in the serial order in which they were received by the server(§Chat Rooms, p. 5)
Pseudo-community
Beniger's term, used for talk radio and applied here to forums: Talk radio assumes and constructs contemporary media communities, or in Beniger's (1987) terms, "pseudo-communities", albeit from the loose and often minimally coordinated participation of unrelated listeners(§Introduction, p. 2)
How to cite
Susan McKay and Sean Rintel. 2001. Online Television Forums: Interactivity, Access, and Transactional Space. The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronic de Communication 11 (2).
This brief was prepared with AI assistance and published by Sean Rintel. It is not the authors' published text. Page numbers refer to this PDF.
BibTeX
@article{mckay2001online,
author = {McKay, Susan and Rintel, Sean},
title = {Online Television Forums: Interactivity, Access, and Transactional Space},
year = {2001},
month = {June},
publisher = {CIOS},
url = {https://seanrintel.com/publications/online-television-forums-interactivity-access-and-transactional-space.html},
journal = {The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronic de Communication},
volume = {11},
number = {2},
edition = {The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronic de Communication},
note = {McKay, S., & Rintel, E.S. 2001. Online Television Forums: Interactivity, Access, and Transactional Space. The Electronic Journal of Communication, 11, (2).
Online version is free and best (use Publisher URL)},
}