Spoiler alert! (not really)

This is very surprising to me because I would think media posts would be proofed and reviewed by either a team or manager. The fact that this spoiler was sent out just minutes after the death was revealed is ridiculous. I watch Walking Dead myself, and if I were to see this spoiler, I would be extremely upset with the AMC team. Something like this may upset an audience. If someone saw this post before seeing the episode they might not pay attention to what is happening when they do decide to watch it. When something is put on the media it needs to be reviewed and then reviewed again. Once something hits the internet or media, there is no stopping where it goes after that.

I find it interesting to think about the person that posted it. It seems easy to get angry with that person. I mean he was probably fired, right? But think about it. There are people hired into positions that are soley to post on social media. I mean, my god, how terribly monotonous. To have to make each post seem interesting and engaging and that is all you do? Yes, there was a mistake, a huge one, but what do we expect? We are consistently seeing a trend of poorly thought out posts. Maybe there is a solution to this problem that we are not thinking about.

I find it interesting to think about the person that posted it. It seems easy to get angry with that person. I mean he was probably fired, right? But think about it. There are people hired into positions that are soley to post on social media. I mean, my god, how terribly monotonous. To have to make each post seem interesting and engaging and that is all you do? Yes, there was a mistake, a huge one, but what do we expect? We are consistently seeing a trend of poorly thought out posts. Maybe there is a solution to this problem that we are not thinking about.

I don't personally watch The Walking Dead on AMC, but I have heard of that show. The fact that they posted that to Facebook before the show even aired in parts of the country is pretty surprising to me. Social media is a great tool we have today, but like you said when it fails, its terrible. I am jsut surprised that the social media team didn't think about the time difference in different parts of the country. I feel like that is basic social media skills, they should have known better than to post it. We all make mistakes, but thanks to social media, little mistakes can turn out to be huge mistakes like the spoiler in The Walking Dead. I am sure some people got fired over this spoiler alert. When you are working with social media it is so important to watch and think before you post, because within seconds a good idea or post can turn horribly wrong. 

I can't believe a large TV station would spoil their own show...that seems so twisted. The audience is going to be really turned off by the spoiler and you can't blame them. The post probably generated a lot of nasty comments from their fans which is never good. It's taught to young people to always think before you post because when something goes on the internet, it never goes away and it can come back to bite you in the butt in the future while job hunting. I think something similar could be the case for AMC. They may have angered people and their fans could be nervous that they would spoil more shows in the future leading to them unfollowing AMC all together so it doesn't happen again. That really hurts AMC's social media aspect.

Nice post professor Davis. I believe that these types of mistakes can be avoided if more thought and planning goes into the content. Specifically for this example it seems that timing was the issue. Due to probably a spur of excitement from the AMC social team about the death of a major character, they were more in a hurry to reveal the news than to plan it strategically.

I think it would have been creative of the AMC social team to have made a post but left the name out. An example; RIP [Which character do you think dies?]. This could have been a link to select character images where fans could have voted on who they think would die. This could have created a substantial amount of suspense in their audience. More people may have tuned in to the original airing instead of waiting to watch it on DVR or TV streaming. The moral of the story is that posting content about the show could have been used in a proficient way and resulted in positive feedback instead of what actually happened.

By revealing news like this early, I am sure many fans were angered; I know that I would be more than disappointed. I think your advice is correct and is something anyone should consider, especially when working for a valued business with many fan viewers like AMC.  I do find that people often express attitudes or say things on social media that they later regret because they feel it doesn’t truly represent their position or that they made a mistake. This example just goes to show that planning and thoroughly thinking about a post is essential before posting it.

I feel as if this is a great example of us needing to watch what we put on social media. The internet is a big place and things that happen there cannot be undone. AMC giving away that a main character died is a big deal to the large fan base that the show has. Clearly the person who posted the picture did not think about the others who had not seen the show. I'm sure that there were viewers who were pretty pissed about this. I just hope that the lesson has been learned by AMC.

In today’s society, no one knows how to deal with spoilers. That’s why we need one unified code that we all agree to so that we don’t have to see endless Facebook posts from angry people about some plot point from their favorite TV show being ruined. The Walking Dead, I don’t watch this show but I understand why so many people feel aggravated. I hate when social media put spoilers in their review. I think there should be established rules for TV spoiler etiquette. 

I am not big on watching TV, but I understand completely through my friends' eyes. Every week they watch The Bachelor and they already know who won.  Social media makes it so easy for word to spread, especially in shows like that. I personally do not think it is fair for people to post on social media the outcome of the show. The whole point of watching television is for the experience and entertainment. Once the spoiler comes out, the entertainment and experience aspect are gone.  With spoilers such as AMC's, I think for the future they really do need to think before they post.  It can really hurt a TV show's ratings if spoilers like this happen. Not to mention, they would be saving a lot of viewers grief. 

I have the same just same experience so I know what does it feels like. It feels really bad when you accidentally get to know the result of the anticipated TV show or the movie. there are some people who do that on purpose on social network services. I think it is important to think before you post something on your social network services because everyone might see my post from the newsfeed. we should be little more conscious about the post we write and how it will affect to ohters.

I feel the pain of anyone who gets a spoiler on their favorite show. If I miss any of my "real time" tv shows (mostly all TGIT shows) I find that I have to stay off all social media in order to stay away from any drama sneak peaks. When my friends watch these shows they dont think before they post which is quite annoying! Although I must admit sometimes I cant resist the urge to look at some tweets or photos because those shows are just so addicting!

I sympathize with anybody who has felt the pain of seeing a major spoiler for a show they love. Somebody posted a major Game of Thrones death on Twitter before I had the chance to watch it, and I had a small mental freak out before unfollowing them (it wasn't a very close friend). In the AMC Facebook scenario, they ruined the major plot twist for people around the globe. They potentially could have hurt the reputation for the show and lost many followers on social media. They didn't go through any thinking or screening process before posting the picture of Beth's death. The AMC social media team should never have posted such a plot revealing picture especially because potential viewers could look at these pages and see a character's death before even starting the show they may and lose interest. Instead of posting spoilers, the social media for The Walking Dead should instead ask for audience opinions and interact with them this way.

Coincidentally, I used to be an avid viewer of "The Walking Dead" and watched an unhealthy amount of it in a crazy short period of time on Netflix. Just when things were getting good, my boyfriend accidentally told me something about one of the main characters that nearly ruined the whole show for me! At that point I was unable to get past it and couldn't help but focus only on what he told me almost every time I watched the show. As a victim of the spoiler alert I am a huge supporter of leaving some things left unsaid... Although it is often fun to live tweet while watching some shows, you just never know who's viewing you might be ruining in the proccess!  

While I don't watch The Walking Dead, I can only imagine how angry I would be if the network gave away a bunch of info from one of my favorite shows. AMC's social media team probably thought that they would get a bunch of viewers who wanted to share their feelings about the character's death, but they should've waited a day or two before posting. 

I do watch this show and I was very upset that they released this information. I usually have to DVR this show because I am always on the go so i did not appreciate the spoiler alert. They gave no time to watch the show and the fact that is hadnt aired yet in some parts of the country is very bad publicity. People do not like spoiler alerts. 

Although I don't watch this show, I can understand the frustration in having your favorite show spoiled for you through the use of social media. My favorite show is Sons of Anarchy that played on FX, and this last season was the final season. I had to miss the season finale because I hadn't completely caught up on Netflix yet. As soon as I went on Twitter and Instagram the next morning, the ending was immediately ruined for me. As disappointing as I was, it just goes to show the impact social media has and how fast it can spread to people. Social media allows people to have freedom of speech which is can be both good and bad. In the aspect of obtaining or maintaining a job, it is always important to think before you post something for it could cost you your career.

I love the Walking Dead it is one of my favorite shows. I usually don’t watch it when its aired I usually record it and watch it later on my DVR. Social media always seem to spoil new episodes for me. I don’t believe that AMC content team realized what they had done until it was too late. I believe all content teams should think about what they post before they post it.  

I for sure watch this show and I had this character's death spoiled for me... It was really annoying. I think the aspect of not spoiling shows for people on social media is a great example of why we should think before we post anything on social media. Not just spoilers but also more serious things that could potentially change your followers and friends opinions of you negatively. For instance, posting agressive politicial statements, or controverisal comments about celebrity death's, or even compromising pictues of yourself. No matter what you post you should always think of the consequences before you hit that "submit post" button. 

I actually don't watch The Walking Dead, for some reason I have never been able to get into it. However, you're so right, it is so awful to have a plot twist be spoiled. On the nights when my favorite shows are playing and I am unable to watch, I have to stay off all social media until I have watched it! I also have to stay off search engines that have articles pop up. Thank goodness for Google! Audiences are NEVER happy when something is spoiled before the show airs or before they have watched it for themselves for that matter. What is so ironic about AMC putting that picture up on Facebook is that I can guarantee you that less people viewed that particular episode. When numbers like that drop it is never good for TV networks. Personally I always try to keep myself off social media while I am watching a show or when I could spoil someone else’s enjoyment from something. 

You're not the only fan, I'm also a big fan of The Walking Dead television series as well! With being an avid watcher of the show, I would feel extremely disappointed if someone spoiled the the plot twist at the mid-season 5 finale for me. If I lived on the West Coast, I would have been very upset too! I think The Walking Dead's social media team made a huge error by posting that specific picture so early. The image itsself wouldn't have given away the spoiler, but  the words underneath the photo ruin the finale. Even if the social media team did post the picture once the show had been aired in all time zones, I still think they should have waited a few days to make sure majority of their fans had seen it either online or in their DVR queues.

I know everyone makes mistakes, but hopefully the social media team who was responsible for this error will learn from their mistake of posting content right away without thinking about dramatic outcomes. Before hitting the "post" button, every social media team should stop, read over the material they have written, and then decide if the content of their post is ready to be published for their audience to read. This all could have been avoided if at least one of the members of the social media team double checked the post. 

This, to me is an extremely, inconsiderate moment for AMC. I'm a huge fan of The Walking Dead, and I know that if I were to have seen this post before seeing the aired show on TV I would have been devastated and highly disappointed. While, of course, that wasn't me, sadly though, there were other viewers and fans of the show that witnessed this major jaw dropping post.

I think that AMC should have really thought about what they were posting and when. I completely agree that it's always important to think about what's going on, not only in a certain part of the world, but everywhere in the world. Especially when it has to deal with a big phenomenon, such as The Walking Dead, or a large world wide company, it's crucial to always be aware of how your fans/customers will be effected. This is important because the fans/customers are what make the entire process possible, and without them The Walking Dead wouldn't have such a large fan base. 

This is a pretty elementary mistake for the big industry that AMC is to make. It's one thing if you're browsing your social media feed and one of your friends has posted a spoiler about a show their watching, but when it's the actual network that the show is run on, you'd think they would be more cautious. In my opinion AMC should never post "big news" or spoilers from their show, regardless of if it just aired, or aired two weeks ago, because there are always people who don't watch it and maybe never will now that one of the main plot twists has been revealed to them.

I am not a big fan of " The Walking Dead", but I sometimes watch it when I have nothing to watch. The way Amc act seems not pay any respect to the audience especially for those in the different places or time zone. As an audience, if I am really into that drama,I certainly don't want any spoiler alert. It is not the way I watch the drama. The reason that I keep following the drama is because I don't know what is next and this keeps me continue watching it. But posting spoiler before the show was on will absolutely anger the fans of the show.It is not a smart way to gain attraction from the public.

I think it is actually kind of shocking nothing like this has happened previously with the show. The Walking Dead has made a name for itself through its usage of social media and how they interact with their fans on different platforms. It's unfortunate for the people who were anticipating the big scene but if people were such die-hard fans to be upset by the spoiler it seems like they would still tune in to the episode and to the show. The show apologized for the leak and I'm sure will be much more conscious of their audience and their posts from now on.

I'm not a huge Walking Dead fan but all of my roommates are. I actually have witnessed to verbal jawing when a roommate spills the beans as to what is about to happen in an episode that my other roommates haven't seen before. No one likes to watch anything with people who can't keep their mouth shut. Thanks a lot for sharing!

The same actually happened to How I Met Your Mother. They revealed the mother on social media directly after it was aired in English. Other audiences, which were waiting for the disclosure of her in their own language, were quite angry about this. While I understand a little discontent, I am surprised by the audiences lack of anticipation. I mean you can expect that such things happen. It's similar to being aware that you're not the 100 millionth visitor of a website and giving it your contact details won't win you a new sportscar. 

That seems extremely careless for a social media employee in the TV show industry... Spoilers are a big deal and they should know that any release of content should be thouroughly scanned for potential spoilers so that they can be removed or at least an alert can be attached. But yeah, I agree with you in the fact that I really think I'm the only human alive not to watch that show. So in all honesty I think its kind of funny. I know the feeling of accidently tuning in to someone talking about the latest episode of GoT and having something big spoiled for me. 

This is a great example of a PR issue. Though they were trying to gain attention and increase engagement, they spoiled a show for many. There are lessons to be learned. Know your audience, and plan accordingly. A stunt like this can damage credibility and hinder trust. Though I am not a fan, I personally would be very disappointed by this event. One must be careful when incorporating an inbound marketing strategy. 

I don't watch the show, but I completely understand why all of the fans were angered. Someone got too excited with their job and the episode and wanted to post, not thinking about the repercussions of their actions. Maybe they should have a better social media approval process in place to avoid this in the future.

I haven't watched any TWD since season 2. In a world where people can easily post their reactions to a specific event, whether its fictional or real, people always run the risk of having information they don't want to know about released to them. In this case, this is a major slip up on AMC's social media team. They should've realized people in different time zones would've seen the show at different times. It's understandable if trolls wanted to spoil something online via twitter or facebook, but to have their own professional team do it is understandably something to be mad about. They now risk losing some of the fan base as a result of this easily avoidable error. 

I do not watch the Walking Dead, but social media is a major outlet for spoilers to take place. People's first instinct is to post something to Facebook or Twitter or something after something exciting happens. Being said like above some people may not have seen it if you follow someone that has a different time zone then you. I know for me I have seen spoilers on my social media accounts because of people so eager to post the latest thing. 

I don't watch The Walking Dead, but I work for FOX news where we do a lot with the program because it is syndicated.

I don't agree with AMC doing that. I almost want to say it was an error on their part. They did it in hopes to attract more viewers, or in most cases, those who are regulars to the show who hadn't watched. Instead of using other tactics to draw attention, it seems they went to the extreme. I don't want the slightest clue that someone dies, even if a name isn't mentioned. To me, even knowing someone dies is a giveaway and I can start drawing ideas in my head as I where where if they hadn't said anything at all I wouldn't be thinking as much as I watch. It sounds like some places need better brains when it comes to social media.

Not sure how AMC's content team flubbed that up but I guess accidents happen. They must have been just as excited as fans about the show or too excited about the plot twist that they overlooked a very important sharing point. I've heard recentely that it's best to wait 24 hours to reply to email that require considerable thought. I think this could also apply to social posts. Think about it, sleep on it, because once you post, you can't go back.

Enough fans share their reactions to TV shows but even then I feel like fans refrain from spoilers. I don't watch the Bachelor but when the Bachelor finale or pre finale aired, guys and girls blew up social media feeds, but everyone was so incredibly ambiguous that, out of curiostity it caused me to seek out the show results online. 

Social media has changed the way we all view entertainment. Once upon a time there was a period where you watch a TV show by yourself; now you can watch a show with millions of other people without even leaving the convenience of your house. While the interactions with others regarding something you are interested in is good, it also comes with the bad as well... in this case, spoilers.

I don't watch The Walking Dead but I have experienced many spoilers thanks to social media. Sometimes, when I miss some of my favorite television shows, I go on Twitter and Instagram to find out what happened. I always tell my friends not to go on any social sites, if they don't want any spoiler alert. It is best to stay off of social media during season finales because people in different time zones may have seen the show before you get a chance to see it. AMC should have been more considerate of viewer who may have not gotten a chance to see the show once it aired.

I’m with you on this you. Social Media can be evil at times. Yes It can be annoying when people post things ahead of times and ruin something you had interest in.  On the other hand, it can be reliable at times.  Your best bet would be to avoid all Social Media sites to keep up with your shows you plan on following! 

This has happened to me SO. MANY. TIMES. People will "live tweet" while watching shows, and I've learned to stay off of social media if I'm missing one of my favorite shows. It sucks for people who miss the shows, because no one likes spoilers for their shows! There should be social media specific to each show, so fans can talk to each other while they're watching, so it doesn't ruin it for other people!

I don't watch the Walking Dead, but I found out about the main character's death because so many people were tweeting about it the other night. Although, I don't watch TWD, I do watch other shows that have been spoiled on social media in the past. In Canada, Grey's Anatomy airs on Wednesday's, which is a whole day before it airs in the U.S. The entire mid season finale was ruined for me because I saw spoilers about the cliff hanger ending of the episode from people watching it in Canada. The only reason I happened to even see these tweets was because one of the main actors on the show retweeted a lot of them. I definitely think that AMC's team should have waited until the show aired on both coasts before posting the spoilier image on Facebook, I'm sure that many fans were angered and this could have been easily avoided. Personally, if I am not able to watch a prime time televison show live, I try my best to stay away from social media until I have seen it because it is very difficult to avoid any spoilers. 

I know that when I have a show that I want to watch I always make sure that I stay off of social media for that exact reason. There is always somebody who chooses to post about what they just watched, and it ends up ruining the episode for me. I actually watched the episode of The Walking Dead last night with my boyfriend, and while I have just seen the last few episodes, he was quite upset by the death and so I can really understand how that would be a horrible thing for AMC to do. They needed to wait until it had aired everywhere in the country. 

I do not watch walking dead but I can say that I agree that the spoiler was an awful idea. I would be incredibly upset if I was a fan of the show and hadn't had the time to watch it yet and had to find out through social media that a major character had died. I honestly can't believe that AMC would not have realized that this was going to be a huge mistake. Nobody likes a spoiler, especially coming from the Network! What a bad move. 

The social media manager should have defintiely thought of this beforehad. After all, the social media manager is paid to keep up with relevent details about the business/brand they are managing. If this happened to my business/brand/show, I think that though people would be furious it would not stop them from contintuing to watch the show. A brand mistake like this isnt one that will draw people away, just make them mad for a short time. I dont watch walking dead so I cannot comment on this situaiton but I wouldnt be mad per say, just a littke peeved. 

I don't watch the show, but yes, I've had other TV shows spoiled. The worst in my memory was the Sopranos. Since it's an older show, my spoiler didn't come by a social media account (it was my own fault...accidentally stumbled across it online), but networks really need to be careful about their timing. Especially major TV networks, spoiling a plot or episode can affect the ratings and viewers for the next showing! 

Not necessarily the Walking Dead, but I've definitely had parts of a show spoiled for me on social media. Whether it was a verified account run by a netwrok or simply just a friend that I follow, it's something that happens much too often. I think spoiler tweets/posts should be blocked and you should have to actually click into them or on them to see the content so that it doesn't ruin anything for people who haven't seen.

Luckily, I don't watch AMC's Walking Dead. If I were a big-time fan, like many I know, I would have been absolutely pissed finding out a major plot twist via Facebook. What would make me even more mad is knowing that AMC, the only people who know what is going to happen, spoiled the surprise. I imagine that it really hurt the fan base, because the thrill and excitement of not knowing what is going to happen is half the reason we watch the TV show. The idea was good, but they get an 'F' for execution.

Spoilers should be tagged.  I have no problem with people talking about spoilers but they should always be tagged as spoilers so people who dont want to see them dont have to.  I love talking about TV shows on forums but they always tag a [SPOILER] if they don't want to ruin the episode for others who havent watched it. This is an easy fix and adding a tag feature would not cost a lot.

This type of situation is applicable to many sporting events that take place everyday.  With loyal fans constantly updating social media posts, it is impossible to retain the same shock of knowing who won the game if you have to work and plan on DVRing the game for a later date.  It is more so unlikely that the people around you will not be talking about the big game updates if you share a common interest in sports.  The pros and cons of an age of instantaneous information will forever grow in length.  

I never watched the Walking dead but I do know what its like to have a massive event ruined for me. I found out Dumbledore dies in the sixth Harry Potter book before I was able to read it. In terms of this topic, I think that it was a bad move on AMC, but also partly on the people who went to their twitter before watching this specific episode. However, the fact that it hadnt aired everywhere is a very bad call on AMC's part, and I am all about DVR. Clearly, people arent going to be happy if they get something ruined for them, and this seems like it was a very big deal within the show.

Literally watching Gossip Girl as I type this message. First time watching it and I have no idea who Gossip Girl is and I am honestly afraid to check my social medias like Twitter, Facebook, or even research the show in case it pops up with the answer. That's the problem with social media these days, you just can't stop some people from posting.

My friend shared the smae picture before I watch it. I don't really care but I saw the comments from his other friends and a lot of them didn't watch the episode yet and were very angry about that. So it is true that we all need to becareful about what we are going to post on social media. Sometimes we forgot that we are not the only person who is going ot read the post, other people might have very different opinion or thoughts about the same post.