It’s hard to think that this time last year, we weren’t even sure that Fringe would have a fifth season; the odds were definitely not in its favor. So, we decided to #CrossTheLine, and the social media impact of fans was one of the weights which tipped the scales for a final season.

As we head into the finale, I’d like to make a sincere plea for fans to be careful about spilling major spoilers online — in public places where other fans can see them. Posting a spoiler tag is not enough. Please consider not posting them at all. Fans are incredibly excited and anxious about this anticipated event, and it doesn’t make you cool to post things like OMG, I just saw asdfghjk and they were asdfghjk. Or to post entire episode plots on a forum, breaking the terms of the screener which you were given.

Respect fellow fans and the cast, crew and creative team who have poured their life energy into creating this show. If you spoil — you have no respect. End of story.

Courtesy of @pixelsmith

In The Boy Must Live, The Fringe team is ready to wage total war against the Observers. The personal costs have already been unfathomable, but there’s a good chance everything might be lost… Fans are nervous about the possibility that Walter’s plan will involve resetting time. A few points of reset I think are possible if they really do go this route:

• * The park where Peter and Olivia were enjoying their perfect day with little Etta.
• * Reiden Lake since it is the focal point of several major events.
• * Walternate’s lab, allowing him to cure Peter.
• * Some point from The Pilot; maybe where Olivia first met Walter.

“I knew someone would come… Eventually…” 

I really don’t know, and its fun to speculate, but I cannot wait to see what is truly in store for us. However, we’ve seen the costs of playing with time before:

“There’s no way of telling what the cost might be. But it can’t be worse than this. It can’t be worse than this.” – Walter, The Day We Died

In any case, I am afraid for our little family on the fringe; afraid that someone may make a sacrifice–will have to let go for good.

No matter what, we’ll…

#NeverLetGo

of

Fringe

TWITTER PROTOCOL

Be sure to make your first tweet of the night a thank you to @FoxTV and @WarnerBrosEnt for making season five possible.

You can grab a cool icon for the event. They are updated throughout the week.

Check out the FOX Now app for iPad, XBox 360, and Windows 8, in order to see special Fringe content as the show airs.

1) Don’t use #NeverLetGo before the designated time: 1 HOUR before Fringe airs.

The event will take place 1 hour before Fringe airs – 8pm EST — January 11. Gently remind others that use the tag before the event to wait until the right time, and tell them that using the tag too much beforehand will lessen trending impact. This happened when Fringe fans tried to trend #WhereIsPeterBishop for the season four premiere. The # had been used all summer long, was not anything new on the Twitter radar, so it did not trend. Trending happens with terms that are relatively new, and many people tweet about them at the same time. Terms break out onto the scene, but trending becomes more difficult the more they are used. Be nice! We want everyone to feel welcome.

2) One # term per Tweet. Use only #NeverLetGo  (What Are Hashtags?)

3) Lots of people tweeting matters more than the number of tweets.

Tell everyone Fringie about the event. There is strength in numbers – remember that the more unique tweeters we have, the more likely we are to trend, and for a longer duration of time. Send your tweets out steadily – remember to pace yourself. You want to avoid “Twitter Jail.” Sustained tweeting over time matters.

Trending can be a distraction, but we need you to keep those wonderful tweets coming. You may have also noticed that the # will drop off the charts after a while, only to trend again when Fringe airs. This is due to other viewers joining in by tweeting the hashtag on the bottom of the screen.

4) Those with lots of followers help out a lot!

Alternate accounts with few followers do not have as much “influence” towards trending. But tweets from accounts like @JWFringe, @FringeOnFox, @VancityJax and @johnnob58004412 make a big impact. Let’s try to build our Fringe fan follower networks. One easy way is to follow people on fan Twitter lists. Here is my Cortexifan list. Follow some Fringies! Another way is to follow some folks on Twitter “Follow Fridays.” You may have seen tweets that are tagged #FF – followed by a bunch of twitter names. This is because they are recommended people to follow.

5) We want to pique the interest of non-Fringe fans.

This is the key to our trending duration success. It gives a chance to get our message about Fringe out to another audience. Try to construct a list of thoughtful and informative tweets before the event. These can be copied and pasted for easy tweets. Use some witty Fringe sayings – link some of the official promo videos – speculate about the finale.

We all have our speculations about the show and where it is heading towards the ending. Let’s get some conversation out there.

6) We can discuss aspects of the show in our tweets.

TRY to include the word FRINGE (with no #) in your tweet if possible. Talk about the characters and the actors.

7) Private accounts must have their locked status removed, as the tweets from locked accounts do not count toward the trend tally.

8) Retweets are the easiest way to help out the trending effort.

Just search for the hashtag, and retweet the ones that are interesting to you. If you know how to use a Twitter application suite like TweetDeck or HootSuite, this is made even easier.

9) Remember to check in at GetGlue for cool stickers and so that Fringe will trend there as well.

If you are in the U.S. and have an iPhone or Android phone, give Viggle a try. Their check-ins are included in the data of several prominent social television analysis companies.

Fringe got its cover story this week. 😀