Introduction

In this paper, the body1 section discusses how a star’s behaviours on social media impact her fans and how fans can use her work to give voice to different groups of people on social platforms. body2 discusses how Twitter’s features make posts go viral, how fans use these features cleverly to achieve their goals, and what interactive tools give people who use Twitter a sense of belonging. Body3 discusses how fans have a sense of belonging and become more united on Twitter, as well as a critical social media analysis. All of these parts demonstrate that social media has more or less influenced social change, subtly influencing everyone and the importance of community. No matter what kind of people you are, you can find an exclusive community to share experiences and cultivate group unity.

Body 1

Taylor Swift will use her influence to promote social topics on Instagram and Twitter, such as LGBTQ+ rights and women-related topics. In 2019, Taylor Swift released the song “You Need to Calm Down” on YouTube. The music video for the song was viewed more than 20 million times on its first day on YouTube, widening awareness of LGBTQ+. One of the lyrics, “Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation),” refers to LGBTQ+ rights. Another line, “Comparing all the girls who are killing it,” also mentions how many women have faced sexual harassment, both online and in real life. The video also features queer stars such as RuPaul and Todrick Hall. At THE end OF the video, Taylor writes, “SIGN MY PETITION FOR SENATE SUPPORT OF THE EQUALITY ACT,” asking fans to sign a petition supporting the Equality Act. Her petition also quickly gained over half a million signatures, making it one of the most watched petitions. He also publicly supported LGBTQ+ at the 2019 MTV VMA Awards, again calling for more people to sign the petition. On Twitter, she encouraged her fans to support GLAAD, and she also made donations to GLAAD. This behaviour has a great impact on her fans and LGBTQ+. With her great influence and donation action, her fans gradually follow her to donate to organizations similar to GLAAD. And posted it on Twitter. Her fans will also post their LGBTQ+ stories on Twitter to encourage more people and set them to Taylor Swift songs.

In 2013, a radio host allegedly sexually harassed Taylor Swift and sued her for $3 million. Taylor countersued, and after four years of legal success, she sued the radio host for $1. “A dollar is invaluable in a court of law because it means I can say no to something I don’t like.” In a 2018 interview, she discussed how women must unite to fight sexual harassment. Taylor Swift’s actions have undoubtedly given all women confidence, and the case she won is a silent victory for all women. At the same time, her actions also affected her fans, who set up a topic on Twitter to discuss their own or other women’s similar experiences. On the Internet, anonymity allows people with similar experiences to say things they wouldn’t dare say in real life. For such social topics, singer Taylor Swift prefers to use the form of songs to express them, and her fans will also attach Taylor Swift’s songs to the topics they create. Her song brought these fans together. In 2020, for example, Taylor released a song called “The Man” that criticized the unfair treatment of women in the workplace. Her fans took to Twitter with the hashtag, “What if I were a man?” Also, under this topic to say some of their own experience and their career, etc., this fermentation let this song become the topic of the centre. In addition to Taylor Swift’s strength, her fans make good use of Twitter every time to make the topic derivative and fermentation.

Body 2

Fans have helped these songs become more popular, thanks to Twitter. Twitter balances the visibility and spread of individual posts with features that give users control over how visible posts are and how they spread. Taylor’s fans can limit who can reply to their posts, which will screen out unfriendly comments for them. Twitter also allows posts to be visible to specific users or community members. Choosing who to watch when Posting is the way many people like to post, similar to Instagram’s “close friends”, which is used by people who don’t like their private information to be seen by many people, and it is a popular feature for sensitive introverts. Community tweets are more suitable for certain circles; for example, fans can post in their community to be seen by people who only like Taylor Swift and let them talk about each other. (Crayo, 2024)

When engagement metrics far exceed the number of followers for that user, it goes viral on Twitter. (Sasho, 2024) On Twitter, people often interact with hashtags. Twitter will calculate the amount according to the user’s engagement. When you keep liking, commenting, and forwarding people under this hashtag, your post will also be recommended to others by Twitter, even if they do not follow you, so your post will reach new groups. When your post has a certain appeal, it may be spread quickly. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, fans often bring Taylor Swift songs to their posts, which is a way to spread quickly. Videos and pictures accompanied by posts will attract attention and use this visual effect to present important information. For example, when some products are released, they will accompany pictures or videos to highlight their products. High-quality videos increase engagement and are more likely to be shared by more people.

Both the likes and the use of hashtags can increase people’s sense of community. Breaking down the limits of social relationships can bring strangers together around a common interest. For example, during COVID-19, sports events worldwide have no spectators. But they cheered on their favorite teams under the hashtag on Twitter, transferring the enthusiasm they couldn’t get to the scene to the social platform. Between May and June 2020 alone, there was a 59% increase in sports conversations in the Asia Pacific region on Twitter. (Martyn, 2021) In this way, even if you are not present, you have a sense of presence, and every time Taylor Swift concerts, many of her fans will share various concert pictures and videos. Under these posts, everyone shares what they see and what they find, and sharing it with people who aren’t there not only increases traffic but also brings the community closer together.

Body 3

Twitter has created a comfortable space for fans to become more united. When a post touches on a trending topic, it is placed in the “trending” section. Trending Topics quickly create a global discussion space. For example, #TaylorSwiftTheErasTour, #TaylorSwiftTheErasTour, #SwiftiesUnite and so on become exclusive passwords between fans, which can be quickly integrated when clicked on the relevant hashtags. (Sarah, 2024) These trending tags are also a source of pride among fans, boosting the sense of community when everyone sees your idol and can cause a large discussion. Twitter community is the feature that best builds a sense of belonging among fans. By joining a specific topic community, you can find like-minded people and interact more closely than posts outside the community, forming a small family. At the same time, there will also be large-scale online activities held by fans in the community, such as voting activities. During the voting of music awards, Taylor Swift fans will organize and forward posts to remind everyone to vote. When there is a music ranking, fans organize to play Taylor Swift’s songs in the same time slot to improve the ranking of the charts. These large-scale online events can increase the “sense of collective honor” among fans, and mutual achievements can make fans feel that they are not just a regular listener but a part of Taylor’s career.

Making your idol’s career your own can be deadly for ordinary people, and this creeping addiction is a common problem with social media.

Paying too much attention to social media and investing too much time and energy can lead to neglect of family and friends around you. (Lakshmi, 2025)  Especially for teenagers, social media has become more appealing, and they spend more time on it. It’s also easy to affect mental health in the long run, and it can cause anxiety and low self-esteem for teenagers to see that someone more affluent than them can go to a concert but can’t. And the most common occurrence, whether on Twitter or other social media, is cyberbullying. The anonymous nature of Twitter provides an environment where individuals can be bullied without fear. According to a 2023 survey by the Cyberbullying Research Center (CRC), 55% of people have experienced cyberbullying, which has caused psychological distress. Severe cyberbullying can cause irreversible damage, and in the case of a young girl in Ohio, severe cyberbullying allegedly led her to suicide. The most common form of cyberbullying is “human flesh search”, where names, addresses and so on are published without the permission of others. For example, when a fan posts a post, and someone posts some unfriendly remarks below, some aggressive fans will post this person’s information in the community and guide the uninformed people to storm this person online. Even though social media has had a huge positive impact on how people connect and communicate, bringing convenience to everyone or finding like-minded friends, social media has also magnified the dark side of human nature. Convenience has also made privacy a rarity, and social media has made it possible for anyone to become an abuser. (Ashar, 2024)

Conclusion

In this paper, different examples of Taylor Swift fans reflect the different functions of Twitter and how they use Twitter to help others enhance their sense of belonging. Twitter’s community features, hashtags, and more allow different groups to find their organization, unite through different online activities, and find a sense of “home.” It also shows that with the prevalence of social media, everyone will use social media, and some different social events that used to be ignored are now paid more attention by more people with everyone’s voice. All these are subtly affecting social change.