I have to admit that I often see some odd comparisons. The latest has been the comparison of the number of social media followers the Outlander accounts have compared to the Blood of My Blood accounts.
This isn’t the flex that you think it is. While you may enjoy Outlander more than Blood of My Blood, the social media follower accounts mean nothing, and that’s for one major reason.
Time!
Outlander’s social media accounts have been around longer
Can we just acknowledge that Outlander has been on the air for more than 11 years now? It first premiered back in August 2014, and it was in development for a year before that. While social media wasn’t what it is then as it is now, the accounts were still around. This allowed for a natural growth of individual account numbers.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood hasn’t even finished its first season yet. The accounts are babies compared to the Outlander ones. Does it really make sense to be comparing the number counts?
It’s not a fair comparison at all. In fact, when it comes to scientific data, this type of comparison wouldn’t even be considered because of the difference in ages of the accounts. And it’s because of that that makes the whole argument of “well, look at how many followers the Outlander Instagram has” ridiculous.
If you really want to compare, see what the numbers are like in 11 years. Just make sure you keep track of the numbers for Outlander right now so you can compare the growth of Blood of My Blood fairly.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood is always going to have its own fanbase
When the creatives behind Outlander: Blood of My Blood went into the series, they knew that there wasn’t a guarantee that every Outlander fan would watch and enjoy it. Some would watch purely just to hate on it—and I’ve never understood that, because why are you watching to hate something when there’s so much great content out there?
Others will watch just to see what type of story is on offer, while there are some who won’t watch at all, whether it’s due to “loyalty” of Outlander or because they’re just not interested in prequels. And I get the latter. I’m not always the biggest fan of prequels and I won’t watch them all, but this one caught my attention for a few reasons.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood was always going to find its own audience, maybe some of those wouldn’t know Outlander at first. Finding your audience takes time, and a few months of a social media account is nothing to judge by. The judge is going to be the viewing figures, which STARZ has access to.
Some of those fans don't necessarily follow all the social media accounts, either. If I didn't run this blog, I wouldn't bother following any of the social media accounts. It's just not my thing. Does that mean you don't think I'd count as a fan because I don't want to be beholden to social media?
While I get the want of die-hard Outlander fans to show that their show is better (honestly, "better" is relative), it's ridiculous to use the social media numbers as a comparison.
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Outlander: Blood of My Blood is available to stream on STARZ.