The rise of social media has seen a drastic change in the way we consume entertainment. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a surge in the number of social media platforms. We went from Myspace and Tumblr to Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. 

As someone who is often on social media, I was quite surprised by just how much of an impact random Twitter users can have on entire corporations. 

Twitter, specifically, is notorious for being one of the most toxic social media platforms. According to Forbes magazine, a 2022 survey showed that Twitter topped the list of most toxic apps.  

The amount of influence that Twitter possesses is undeniable to say the least. An interesting part of the platform is its power to change the concepts of movies, tv shows and other forms of entertainment through negative comments.

There have been several incidents of movie studios or companies having to rework scripts or designs due to the backlash from fans on Twitter. 

Admittedly, these are companies with exploitative tendencies that make millions off of the general public and with that, negative feedback from the public is warranted. Of course reworking a whole script and changing character designs means wasted labor and more money and resources to spend, something these companies can likely afford. 

One of the most infamous incidents that come to mind is when Twitter users criticized the character designs from the 2019 live action movie, “Sonic the Hedgehog” after the trailer was released. According to USA Today, the criticism was so bad that the movie’s director, Jeff Fowler, assured fans on Twitter that the designs would be changed.

Paramount Pictures, the film’s distributor, quickly made changes to Sonic’s design after the backlash, demonstrating the power that Twitter can have on entertainment companies. 

Another incident involving script changes due to Twitter reactions is the cancellation of the CW Television Network’s live action reboot of  “The Powerpuff Girls”. 

After the script got leaked in the middle of production, fans and non-fans alike were quick to share their thoughts on Twitter. The CW network began the process of reworking the script due to the negativity from fans, but eventually the reboot was canceled entirely. 

I personally believe one of the reasons Twitter users have such power is due to the nature of the engagement and interactions between the general public and public figures. 

Unlike other social media platforms, Twitter allows fans to directly engage in conversations with others and have a wider reach. This enables negative opinions to gain a lot of attention and create discourse about different topics. 

It’s strange to think that opinions on a social media platform can have a massive affect on our perception of celebrities, tv shows, movies and social issues. Whether you are an avid social media user or have no interest in social media at all, the influence of Twitter and social media in general is not to be overlooked.