Exploring the Virtual Culture of Reality Television Communities: Lessons From #Date My Family

Abstract

The socio-technological affordances of Twitter have steadily enabled audiences of reality television shows to form virtual communities through the use of hashtags to organize and share commentary about their favorite shows. Although the communication activities around hashtag communities are becoming more apparent, research on mapping their online cultures remains underappreciated. Scholarly work is needed that makes the links between culture and communication more apparent, thereby enhancing our understanding of virtual communities formed around interest in reality television. Using a small-scale sample of tweets ( n = 203) from season eight of the reality dating show Date My Family, I explore what the cultural expressions of the South African #Datemyfamily virtual community entail. A thematic analysis suggests that values, norms, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors constitute a strong cultural part of what is communicated by the #Datemyfamily community. Ultimately, the virtual culture of this online group places emphasis on solidifying the community’s imagined collective consciousness.