By 
Former Soap Writer, Tom Casiello spins a new way on fan feedback.
It has always been the way for the networks and the “Powers That Be” to gain fan feedback through emails, comment lines, and fan letters, but this morning, former soap writer, Tom Casiello (Days of our Lives, One Life to Live, As the World Turns) has taken fan feedback to a whole new level.
Tom is one of many who has been blogging on MYSPACE and he talks candidly with his peers about his life and his career as a soap writer, but this morning he posted a new blog with an interesting request. He posted an open request to all soap fans to be part of a non scientific experiment. His request has had an overwhelming response from fans, a response I don’t think Tom was
quite expecting.
The idea of Tom’s experiment is to see who is watching daytime soaps, what you watch, and how you watch. If soap fans aren’t watching, what has made you tune out. There is nothing scientific about this impromptu experiment, it’s an experiment to gain clarity into what we as soap fans would do with the soaps we watch. How, if given the opportunity, would change storylines, what storylines we would give front burner attention, and who perhaps we would backburner.
Tom’s experiment works like this; Fans were to send him an email with information about them and their viewing habits. What is their favorite soap, if they have an alternative soap they watch, which message boards they visit or post on, and their age. Once Tom received this information, the fan received a reply from Tom giving them specific questions they would need to answer. Tom will collect everyone’s replies and compile the information and post it at his blog for all to read, names withheld of course. Participants will receive 10 to 12 questions about their favorite soap, and are given ample time to reply with their answers. Tom will begin posting the results on October 20th.
We as soap fans know how hard it is to get our voices heard by “TPTB” on any network, Tom’s spin on fan feedback is an interesting concept and with the overwhelming response, soap fans have been very receptive to Tom’s new way of listening. According to Tom’s blog post this morning, “Let’s see if maybe there isn’t some truth in that everyone feels so differently, it’s hard to gauge story/character revisions on what people say on the Internet – or if everybody saying the same thing means somebody at these shows should sit up and listen.”
jsnyder@tvsourcemagazine.com
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