Over the past century of technology driven storytelling, our culture has taken the most popular stories and stretched them across multiple platforms. From page, to screen, to forum, the entertainment industry’s interest in these transmedia and adapted properties have risen in the past two decades, as seen most evidently by the rise of expanded franchises and universes, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Harry Potter  (Heick, 2017). As these transmedia properties have taken over our newsfeeds, with audiences clamoring online to discuss the newest plot twists that happened in the most recent episode, what was once just a cinematic event, has become a daily part of pop culture. Bennett explains, “It’s just as important to acknowledge the wonder of that as it is to honor what happens when the experience gets messy (Bennett, 2019).” In an age of 24/7 connection, fandoms are a microcosm of how we engage with our culture, specifically transmedia properties. Some are passionate to the point of action and investment; others are blissfully just enjoying good television. However, in the age of constant communication, fans are more passionate than ever about the stories that they have a specific and undeniable relationship to, and the entertainment industry is well aware of it. I argue that further observing these fandoms through a specific transmedia property (Game of Thrones) and computer-mediated communication theory, will allow a better understanding of how fans are impacting participatory media platforms, the internet, and the larger entertainment industry as a whole as these adapted properties become the new storytelling obsession.

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In August of 2004, Starbucks was struck with a crisis of comfort when a mother was asked to relocate in their café for breastfeeding publicly and multiple customers had complained. In an effort to best address the issue, I would approach Starbuck’s public relations crisis with Karl Weick’s sense-making. In organizational sense-making, Weick’s theory understands that as with any event, participants and organizations do not always view circumstances through the same lens and thus a wider approach may need to be taken to resolve it. As Starbucks representative, Ms. Lincoff, and the Starbucks leadership is already doing, understanding the potential impacts of the crisis for the company’s future is just as important as managing the crisis itself. In order to continue navigating this crisis, I will utilize Weick’s sense-making theory to best understand the situation as of Ms. Lincoff’s current circumstance and what next steps can be taken to minimize impact and prepare for future events like this in the future.

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