The power of social media in “Pretty Little Liars.”

When I was in middle school, nearly all of my Tuesday evenings looked exactly the same. 

I would get home from dance, curl up on my couch with a bowl of popcorn and devote the entire next hour of my life to the newest episode of “Pretty Little Liars.” Those 60 minutes were a sacred ritual to me — an uninterrupted moment in time where I got to return to the not-so-safe haven of Rosewood and its inhabitants.

I took my weekly watch parties very seriously. If my dad asked me to help him with something or my brother came running into the living room hoping to annoy me with some stupid joke, I always responded with a disgruntled, “I’m watching something!” Everyone living in my house came to understand that I didn’t mess around about “Pretty Little Liars,” and my devotion to the show didn’t just live within the walls of my home. I dressed up as “A” for Halloween and marched in my school’s costume parade. I cried when I found out that Toby Cavanaugh (Keegan Allen, “King Cobra”) — beloved to my preteen heart — was part of the A-team. I also spent most of my free time in 2015 theorizing with my friends about who would be revealed as “A” in the season five dollhouse finale, which, by the way, was totally creepy and still haunts me to this day. 

All that said, “Pretty Little Liars” definitely had a profound effect on my preteen and teenage years, and it wasn’t just me who was experiencing this phenomenon. While “Pretty Little Liars” is remembered in television history for its convoluted storylines, countless plot holes and questionable love affairs, what is often forgotten is the sheer influence it had over the 2010s, particularly on young women and social media.

When the series finale aired in 2017, it broke the record for the most tweeted about episode of television that year, and X is not the only place where the show found a home in the online sphere. Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr and Snapchat also had spaces dedicated to the #PLLFamily. The cast of “Pretty Little Liars” arguably set the tone for social media television promotion in the 2010s. Each cast member’s social media feed — most notably the five central “liars” — was expertly curated with a perfect mixture of personal photos and show-related content. Sprinkled throughout the weeks leading up to a new season’s release were behind-the-scenes photos and teaser trailers courtesy of the show’s cast and crew members, always timed perfectly and always paired with an electric fan response.  

The show’s marketing team was also notable for its dedication to interacting with fans. Live tweeting with the show’s cast and crew — including its showrunner, I. Marlene King (“Famous in Love”) — became an integral part of each new episode drop, and unlike most online fanbases, the communication went both ways. As fans watched each new episode, they would go online and tweet about their reactions and theories, and producers and writers would actually listen, sometimes even responding. In fact, King spoke out several times throughout the show’s seven seasons about how impactful online fan activity was for the show’s cast and crew. She said that she actually looked forward to connecting with fans online and hearing about how the show has helped them through their struggles and how much it means to them. 

It was this that separated the PLL fandom from other fandoms like it. When I sat down each Tuesday night to watch a new episode, I knew that young women across the world were doing the very same thing, and talking about it online, which made the experience all the more meaningful and thrilling. It was more than just a show — it was a community. As much as I looked forward to finding out what was going to happen next, I also was anxious to get on Instagram after the episode finished and stalk the countless “Pretty Little Liars” fan pages I followed, reading their theories, watching their fan edits and interacting with fellow fans. This may sound boring and familiar now, considering fandoms are such an integral part of the online sphere, but at the time — especially for younger fans like myself — it was uncharted territory. “Pretty Little Liars” may not have been the first of its kind, but it certainly helped set the stage for the massive online communities that exist around the media we love today.  

Whenever a new season of “The Bachelor” comes out, I find myself in a similar position to the one I was in 10 years ago — parked around the TV (this time with my college roommates), mute and laser-focused as I watch the drama unfold. I also always have my phone open, because scrolling through X while you watch “The Bachelor” is probably the best part of the whole viewing experience. The #BachelorNation comes alive in seconds, and every breakup, Fantasy Suite and solo date is accompanied by thousands of absolutely hilarious tweets, calling out the contestants on their frequent stupidity and often poking fun at the ridiculous nature of the show itself. 

If I’m being honest, I probably wouldn’t even watch “The Bachelor” if it weren’t for its hilarious social media presence. The premise of the whole thing is pretty much impossible to believe, but just like fans could gloss over PLL’s nonsensical plot twists and numerous “A” reveals because of the immense community the show had garnered, I’m able to excuse “The Bachelor’s” satirical nature and just have fun with it. This is often what online fandoms are really about, especially for the teenagers who are at their core — not critical analysis of a show’s production quality or writing, but the intentional choice to gather with like-minded individuals, forget the real world and connect over the media we love — even if it’s not worthy of critical acclaim.

The final season of “Pretty Little Liars” wrapped up years ago, which was probably for the better of everyone involved. The show had gotten seriously ridiculous at least three seasons prior. But even though my Tuesday nights no longer take place in Rosewood, traces of my commitment to PLL still live in my skin. The show was certainly no cinematic masterpiece, but it was never the relationship drama or convoluted stalker mysteries that made PLL so special to me. It was everything in between — the fan accounts and edits and theories that enveloped social media and made PLL not just a show, but a lifestyle, one that I happily took up for years on end. The online community it fostered for young women set the tone for fandom culture for years to come, and helped make my preteen and teenage years just a little bit more bearable. Even with the series finale in the rearview mirror, I know I’ll be a part of the #PLLFamily forever.

Senior Arts Editor Rebecca Smith can be reached at rebash@umich.edu. 

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