How fandom communities on social media can create positive change.
Introduction
Web 2.0 capabilities provide many ways to connect and interact with people on a global scale and allows for the creation of social media-based fandom communities on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok (Bakardjieva & Gaden, 2012). These social media platforms encourage the use of web 2.0 functionalities which include tags with the ‘@’ symbol, hashtags with the ‘#’ symbol as well as posting, commenting, and sharing to create fan-based communities and to draw attention within, to and from their fandom community (Arya & Mishra, 2012). Twitter, Instagram and TikTok are the most notable social media platforms where celebrity-fan, influencer-fan and fan-fan interactions occur, and it is through the use of those web 2.0 functionalities that these interactions are possible (Hampton, 2016). This paper will discuss the many affordances these social media platforms provide in relation to the collaborative and communicative aspects within fandom communities between the fans, influencers, and celebrities and through the use of examples it will be able to showcase both positive and negative outcomes that derived from the conversations and actions within fandom communities (Hampton & Wellman, 2018).
Twitter and Television
Twitters’ many functionalities are what makes it such a great place for online interaction and the forming of community. These functionalities include the ability to tag accounts with the ‘@’ symbol, create and use hashtags with the ‘#’ symbol which can be paired with unique icons for certain hashtags as well as the abilities to like, comment, share, post, reply, and retweet. It is through these functionalities that Twitter has become a platform that is largely known for being a place where fans can interact with celebrities and influencers. It has become so popular for fandom communities that fans created one collective community for the many different fandoms which goes by the name Stan Twitter (Alexander, 2018). Stan Twitter can be one of the greatest and one of the most toxic aspects of social media. This section will discuss the impacts of interaction through communication and collaboration between the creators, actors, and fans within fandoms and Stan Twitter of popular television series (Hampton, 2016).
Twitter is the main form of social media for a wide range of television series due to the ability to interact with fans and the fans’ ability to interact with the creators, actors, and other fans within Stan Twitter and fandom communities (Alexander, 2018). Through these interactions in Stan Twitter some fandom communities have had the power to change the storyline and outcome of their respective television series, one example being a relatively popular television series called The 100 and the other example being Grey’s Anatomy (Roffman, 2016).
The 100 is a popular television series within the LGBTQ+ community as two of the main female characters shared a brief romance that was cut short when one of those characters whose name is Lexa was killed off the show. This decision to kill off one of the few LGBTQ+ characters seen in modern media led to an outpour of devastation within the fandom which was seen throughout the fandom community as well as on the shows official Twitter account (Roffman, 2016). Many posts were made from fans where they shared how disappointed they were with the creators for allowing another death of an LGBTQ+ character in television, some even stating they would no longer watch the show as they did not want to support the creators that took away their minimal representation of LGBTQ+ relationships (Roffman, 2016). Fans created edits in which they pieced together the short number of scenes these characters had together within the show and paired them with captions where they would express their disbelief and disappointment of the action to remove the character from the series (Roffman, 2016). Gomes (2020), shares that through the multitude of posts the fans created and shared through retweets and hashtags within the fandom community the creators were able to see the backlash from this choice on their official Twitter accounts. This lead the creator of the show to pen an apology letter to the disappointed fans where he, Jason Rothenberg, stated “While I now understand why this criticism came our way, it leaves me heartbroken. I promise you burying, baiting or hurting anyone was never our intention. It’s not who I am.” (Piester 2016, para. 7). Following the apology letter the character Lexa was brought back in some episodes in the new season of the show which led to the global trend of the character’s name Lexa on Twitter as a show of appreciation from fans to the creators for listening to and acting on the criticism (Gomes, 2020).
One of the more popular and well-known television series that is quite prominent on Twitter is Grey’s Anatomy. This television show has been able to garner a significantly large number of fans and followers throughout the years since the shows release. The hashtag ‘#GreysAnatomy’ paired with the icon of the main character Meredith Grey is often seen trending on Twitter following the announcement of a new season or release of a new episode (Toby, 2015). The creators and cast are often seen interacting with fans on Twitter through polls, Q and A’s, retweeting, replying, live reactions and commentary when watching a new episode or trailer and this all happens either on the official Grey’s Anatomy account or through the use of the hashtag ‘#GreysAnatomy’(Toby, 2015). Similar to The 100, Grey’s Anatomy has faced backlash from their fans when they became outraged by the actions of the show’s creators. One notable instance when Grey’s Anatomy received backlash was where one of the main characters died causing fans to take their emotions and turn them into angered social media posts in which some fans said they would stop watching the show (Webber, 2016). One fan even saying “I’m ready to stop watching. I always say Shonda is quick to kill somebody, but not my McDreamy. McSteamy, McDreamy, Little Grey, Yang, O’Malley, Hahn, Burke. They are all gone. This is no longer my show.” (Toby 2015, para. 6). However, after the backlash over the character’s death Grey’s Anatomy did not do anything to stop fans from leaving, instead the choice to kill this character provoked the audience and made them intrigued as to what would happen even after they created hateful posts towards this choice (Webber, 2015).
Fan Collaboration and Communication
Twitter, Instagram and TikTok are popular social media platforms where fandoms are able to congregate, connect, converse, and share information with each other to keep everyone up to date and in the know about what is happening in regard to their respective fandom community across these different platforms. These three platforms provide a way for fans to effectively work together to spread the latest information regarding the celebrity or influencer their fandom is based upon. These three social media platforms are seen as the main way to connect and share information due to their similar capabilities such as a curated algorithm that filters the posts and accounts depending on the interests of the user as well as the ease of sharing, following, posting, commenting and the ability to create hashtag groups which all encourage users to connect with other people of similar interests hence why fandom communities utilise these affordances for their benefit (Arya & Mishra, 2012). This section will discuss the use of these social media platforms to spread information for the benefit of the fandom as well as the celebrity the fandom is created about.
Taylor Swift is an artist with a significantly large fan base across all social media platforms and around the world. She is also known within the fandom for hiding clues also referred to as easter eggs in her posts, trailers, music videos and songs in relation to her upcoming projects (Daellenbach et al., 2015). These easter eggs are what many fans across these social media platforms attempt to find out and with the use of these functionalities they are able to work together to come up with ideas, express their opinions and share their thoughts with each other in the fandom community. The fans are able to achieve this through the sharing of content across the different platforms, the use of hashtags made by Taylor Swift or their own fan made hashtags, the use of comments, liking and replying and the creation of posts such as those on TikTok where the original media is in the background and a fan who is explaining their theory is in front of the original media or, if they choose to use text the text is then in front of the original media (Daellenbach et al., 2015). Taylor Swift doesn’t just use social media to create anticipation for her upcoming projects, but she also adopts the fans desires and ideas into those projects (Meyers, 2021). She is currently re-recording her old albums as they were sold off so she is making them her own by releasing new versions which are recognised by the album saying Taylor’s Version in parentheses and for these re-recorded versions she said in an interview that she sees what the fans wanted, what songs should have got music videos, what songs the fans did not enjoy and she changed them for the re-recorded versions so that the fans ‘wants’ become a reality which also benefits her in relation to the amount of watches a music video gets, the amount of listens a song and the album gets and the overall amount of money she earns (Meyers, 2021).
K-pop has become a very popular genre of music in which groups and solo members now have a significantly large and devoted fan base that are ready to do almost anything to promote and bring attention to their favourite artists. BTS is a K-pop group that has become one of the most popular boy groups in today’s society due to their devoted fan base referred to as ARMY (Rolli, 2020). These fans use social media platforms mostly to share performances also known as fancams, interviews, behind the scenes, recordings from live videos and translate what the members are saying for fans around the globe, but they also use social media to follow the groups actions. According to Rolli (2020), BTS donated one million dollars to Black Lives Matter and through the use of social media the fans decided to match their donation and ultimately achieved that goal. The hashtag ‘#MatchAMillion’ created by ARMY began trending on social media encouraging other ARMY to donate what they can. Rolli (2020) states that “Less than 24 hours after One in an ARMY tweeted the link to its donation card, more than 34,500 fans had banded together to raise over $1 million. The card is still live, and more than 38,000 fans have donated over $1.14 million so far” (para. 4) During this time K-pop fandoms were also able to hack into hashtags that were against the Black Lives Matter movement and upload K-pop related videos and memes while also using their power to encourage people to share videos of people joining in illegal activities during the protests (Rolli, 2020). ARMY are able to demonstrate how the communication and collaboration between a fandom can have a positive effect and create change on a global scale through social media.
Conclusion
This paper discusses the many affordances social media platforms provide to a fandom community and has showcased how the collaboration and communication within fandom communities across the different social media platforms has the ability to create a positive effect or outcome and how fans can create change within their fandom and on a global scale. This paper fits within the Communities and Social Media theme as it demonstrated how fandom communities use social media to effectively connect, communicate and congregate (Delanty, 2018).
PDF Version: How fandom communities on social media can create positive change.
References
Alexander, J. (2018). ‘Stan Twitter, do you know this song’ is the unifying meme we need right now. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/22/17768546/stan-twitter-do-you-remember-this-song-meme
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Bakardjieva, M., & Gaden, G. (2012). Web 2.0 Technologies of the Self. Philosophy & Technology, 25(3), 399-413. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13347-011-0032-9
Daellenbach, K., Kusel, R., & Michel, R. (2015). The ties that bind? online musicians and their fans. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 27(2), 168-190. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/APJML-08-2013-0095
Delanty, G. (2018). Virtual Community: Belonging as Communication (Chapter 9). Community 3rd edition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315158259
Gomes, A. (2020). ‘The 100’ Series Finale: Lexa’s return has elated fans saying it made their ‘2020 so much better’. Meaww. https://meaww.com/the-100-season-7-episode-16-lexa-return-cadogan-dead-fan-reactions
Hampton, K. N. (2016). Persistent and Pervasive Community: New Communication Technologies and the Future of Community. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(1), 101–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215601714
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Rolli, B. (2020). BTS ARMY Matched The Group’s $1 Million Black Lives Matter Donation, Proving The Positive Power of Fandoms. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrolli/2020/06/08/bts-army-black-lives-matter-1-million-donation/?sh=121668266465
Toby, M. M. (2015). ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ fans seething over death of ‘McDreamy’. The Detroit News. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/television/2015/04/27/greys-anatomy-fans-seething-deathmcdreamy/26481409/
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Hi Paige!
I found your paper very interesting to read as it focuses on fandom communities collaborating to make positive change.
It was refreshing to read about the tv series fandom community and how you’ve used multiple social media platforms as examples. I liked how you were able to showcase both the negative and positive outcomes of communication between fandoms.
Overall i liked reading your paper and use of various fandom communities as an example!
I have also written a similar paper but focused on the negative aspect of the k-pop fandom community. If you could have a read, would be appreciated.
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/795/the-toxicity-of-the-twitter-fandom-community/
Gwyneth
Hi Gwyneth,
Thank you for reading my paper, I’m glad it interested you!
Fandom communities spread across multiple social media platforms and media and with that comes both positive and negative aspects which I am thankful you were able to take out of my paper.
I will have a read over your paper as well.
Paige
Hi Paige,
Thank you for writing about fandom, it was one of the ideas that I have for my conference paper, and you did a great job in explain about how fandom can create positive change. I particular like how you show both positive and negative outcomes of fandom and the interaction that derives from it.
I used to be part of the Supernatural fandom. As the show went on, it became quite toxic fans attack each other. Hannah Grobisen, who is a fan and wrote her thesis about SPN fandom. Worth checking if you are interested. Of course, things are always bad in this particular fandom, fans can get along and promote a cause #AKF (Always Keep Fighting, which is one way to support those who struggle with depression or addiction), and Random Acts (which is a charity created by Misha Collins).
I sometimes forget fandom is a community. Fans are very passionate people, as you have demonstrated in your paper. Fandom is a social experience, fans have shared identity, it can be also about collective intelligence. Any fandom has its light and dark side, right? Like this article suggests (https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-why-fandom-has-to-embrace-change), fandom is shaping some of the most interested narratives in the age of social media, and some of them are not even on screen but these narratives flow through the internet and social interaction between fans. Do you think the power of fandom can be misused? Just thinking about how some fans don’t like change and don’t want to see change, and in turn bash a move or the actor? What happen when fans have to deal with toxic fandom?
Thanks Paige. It was a great paper.
Cheers
Mags
Not to be hard sell, but here is my paper. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/294/indigenous-memes-by-indigenous-hands-how-internet-memes-become-an-important-storytelling-medium-used-by-indigenous-peoples/
Hi Mags,
Thank you for taking the time to read my paper and leave such a detailed comment!
I think it is important to recognise that there are positive and negative aspects to social media and fandom communities so I am pleased that stuck out to you.
Thank you for the example of the Supernatural fandom, I will make sure to learn about it in the future. I too am apart of many fandoms and I have found that although the person or thing that the fandom is created around may promote positivity and kindness the fandom communities can be quite negative and toxic environments.
I like what you said about how fandoms are a social experience, shared identity and they can share a collective intelligence. I also agree with what you said in relation to the article shared in your comment. I absolutely think that the power of fandoms can be misused as fandoms start fan wars with other fandoms and promote false information to make others look bad but they can also cause people to lose careers and job opportunities whether the information is true or false. I think it is important to recognise the power of fandoms and that although it is a great way to connect with others it is also damaging to some industries where fandoms are prevalent, mainly the entertainment industry. This is because with access to social media people within fandom communities who may not like where things are going in regards to their idol are able to use the tools of social media and post mean comments, share incorrect information and can ultimately shut down a production or cause people to lose their jobs as their posts gain attention and spread on the social media platforms. When dealing with or being apart of a toxic fandom the main things to do would be to block or report content as replying may fuel the toxicity but if joining as a new fan it is important to recognise that there are always good people in there who will typically take care of you as they too might have dealt with this.
I hope I answered all your questions well. Thanks again for taking the time to read and provide such a detailed comment for my paper.
I will make sure to read over yours.
Cheers,
Paige
Great to see your paper posted Piage! As fans have more and more power to influence creative choices in their favourite media, do you think the prerogative of the creators themselves to make decisions about their own work is being diminished?
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
Thank you for reading and providing me with some more questions!
I agree, I think that fans and fandom communities can hold such a high power in relation to their favourite media and that this can heavily influence a creators decision. I recognise that although the creator will make the ultimate decision in relation to their work, the fans and fandom community act as a guide for that work due to the fans being the audience and main supporters of that media and without them the media would probably stop. So yes, the decision from the creators is being diminished but is providing for their audience.
Thanks,
Paige
Thanks for replying Paige. It seems to be a very interdependent relationship!
Hi Paige. Well done on this – that was a good read.
Fandom is definitely something that opens up new doors from a production to audience perspective. I wonder if there are more examples that include celebrities or shows being able to seperate the loyal fans from those of the toxic ones?
Given that the internet is such an easy playground for those toxic fans to ‘gatecrash’ pages, channels and hashtags, to simply try and spread hate; could there be a ‘royalty program’ or the likes that can be proposed for fans? What you explained with Taylor Swift was refreshing. One that comes to mind for me are paid streaming platforms where celebrities actually host programs, or YouTube channels where followers ‘join’ the channel rather than subscribing, in order to financially contribute and get a more exclusive taste of being a fan of an artist, show or a band, perhaps. Then again, this also raises a question of “What is stopping a toxic fan of committing down this avenue, as well?”
Hi Ozan,
Thank you for reading my paper!
There are definitely more examples out there as fandoms and social media are so prevalent in today’s society.
I think a royalty program is a great idea to attempt to separate toxic fans from good fans however both are still fans and may be willing to pay for their favourite creator. I do agree with what you have said about how paying for media from your favourite creator is a great way to experience being a fan but as you said what is stopping a toxic fan from paying? Being a toxic fan or a good fan still makes you a fan it is more just the behaviour to other fans, creators and the actual person or people the fandom is built around that separate the two so anyone can get a more exclusive taste of being a fan as long as they are willing to pay.
Thank you again! Your comment has really allowed me to see that although toxic a fan is still a fan and can do whatever a good or kind fan can.
Cheers,
Paige
Hi Paige, your paper was exciting and refreshing to read, and I liked the theme of collaboration in fandom communities. The positive and negative aspects of it have been well elaborated, and the examples based on tv shows were fun. I agree with you that fandom can do anything to promote their idols; you mentioned how the fans of BTS are very supportive of their models, which can be seen on any given platform where these boys are mentioned.
You can read my paper below:
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/374/social-media-helped-in-creating-terror-and-panic-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-mauritius/
Thank you.
Hi Nadarajan,
Thank you for reading my paper and for the nice comment! I agree the power of the BTS fandom (ARMY) can be seen anywhere and everywhere.
I will check out your paper.
Thanks,
Paige