Twitter

It is ironic that given the very thing that brought Twitter broad public notice during 2008 was the ability of people to follow the Tweets of celebrities – that is, to be fans. Stargate Atlantis fandom arguably had the earliest presence back in 2007 when actor David Hewlett began tweeting.

In 2008, a number Supernatural fans began getting Twitter accounts. They often translocated with them the fannish relationships they had from other social network sites, and the first presence of Supernatural fandom on Twitter was primarily through these pre-established circles.

Over the first months of 2009, Twitter became a reproduction in miniature of the broader fannish netscape: some twitters set up like fan sites (@_supernatural_), or by media companies (@buddytv). The success of celebrity twitters was mirrored in a form of role-playing twitters both of the show characters (@DeanWinchester and @SamWinchester) as well as the actors (@Jensen_Ackles). These were more like LARP (live-action role playing) games than the traditional internet roleplays because of the interaction with people outside of the game. In the case of faux celebrity twitters, though, many Twitter followers assumed them to be the real thing and the line between rolee playing and impersonating blurred. In August 2009, the two major accounts "impersonating" Jensen and Jared were suspended from Twitter. Twitter now has a system whereby celebreties can have their accounts "verifed" to confirm their identity.

The immediacy of Twitter combined with the ability to tag posts with a subject was exploited in a new way for Supernatural fandom when, in March 2009, a couple of fans tweeted reports of events at the Salute to Supernatural L.A. 2009. As news of this spread across fan sites, people started following their updates.

For the next Con - the All Hell Breaks Loose Convention held in Sydney, Australia in April 2009, the Supernatural Wiki asked for people who may be tweeting from the Con to list their Twitter name at the Con page on the SuperWiki. In addition, it was suggested that a tag (#ahbl) was used in Tweets, which meant people didn't have to “follow” every individual twittering, they could just search for tweets containing the tag. It was hugely successful, even though in Australia tweets cannot be updated via SMS from phones, only directly via the internet.

Tweeting has now become usual practice at Cons. By using the tag, fans can not only follow events live from the Con, by using the tag, the search stream acts as a virtual chat room. At Asylum 2009, the tag #asylm was so popular it hit the trending topics list for Twitter a number of times over the weekend.

Jim Beaver was the first Supernatural actor on Twitter - not surprisingly as Jim had long been active on both MySpace and Facebook.

In May 2009, actor Misha Collins started a Twitter and this drew many more Supernatural fans to the site. Misha has used his Twitter as a form of role playing by creating an on-line persona whose followers are known as Misha's Minions.

Trending Topics

In September 2009, @SuperWiki started ending tweets with #luciferiscoming, and suggested fans do the same as a mischievous way to get attention for the show. In the 24 hours leading up to the premiere of Season 5, passionate fans tweeted tirelessly, and #luciferiscoming reached number 1 on the trending charts. The tag started trending as general traffic on Twitter died down, as midmight passed on the West Coast of the US.

After #luciferiscoming and #supernatural got to first and second position on the trending topics list. Despite fans posting links to Supernatural sites, some other Tweeters were unaware of the reason for the #luciferiscoming tag and thinking Satanists were at work started responding with messages about Jesus and God.

A full blown religious conflict broke out when Rapper Puff Daddy (@iamdiddy who has over a million followers), unaware of the context of #luciferiscoming, started a #Godishere tweet in retaliation. Twitter stopped posts with tags including both God and Lucifer from appearing in trending topics. Fans continued to use #supernatural and #inkripkewetrust, and both also reached high on the list.

Just before the show aired Misha Collins joined the game, suggesting fans used #PDIDDYISSCAREDOFHISTV.

• Traci Dinwiddie tweeted after the premiere to say:

Kripke and all were blown away by the SPN fandom's "tweeter take-over"! It was the buzz of the evening! Well done, #Supernatural! xoxo

The next day Twitter (coincidentally) released new Terms of Service.

• @SuperWiki suggests some fun
• #luciferiscoming ... The Twitterverse Has Been Warned..
• Lucifer is Coming: How 'Supernatural' Stole Twitter
• Screencap of #luciferiscoming at #1
• Screencap of P.Diddy's call to arms
• Fox News reports #luciferiscoming
• #inkripkewetrust hits trending topics
• Twitter has a Supernatural experience on Associated Content
• Graphs showing the rise of the trending topics on Twitter by girlgeek
• Twitter new Terms of Service

Supernatural Tweeters

@SuperWiki - Supernatural Wiki - news, trivia, pics and still spoiler free!

Fan and media sites

• @_supernatural_ - mainly twitpics
• @BTV_SUPRNATURAL - Supernatural on Buddy TV
• @SupportSPN - charity fan site
• @CW_network - The CW
• @moryan - Maureen Ryan - TV Columnist for Chicago Tribune (and Supernatural fan)
• @WinBrothers - Official Twitter for WinchesterBros.Com

Celebrities
These Twitters are all verified as authentic. Jared and Jensen do not have Twitter accounts.

• Jim Beaver on @jumblejim
• Misha Collins on @mishacollins
• Traci Dinwiddie on @GrooveGoddess
• Chad Lindberg on @chadlindberg
• Amy Gumenick on @amygumenick
• Aldis Hodge on @Aldishodge02
• Danneel Harris on @DanneelHarris
• Todd Stashwick on @tshashwick
• Christian Kane on @ChristianKane01
• Steve Carlson on @steviecarlson'