Transformation of Fan Culture Under the Influence of Social Media

Abstract

Nowadays, fandom and fan culture have step into the eyes of the public gradually. Many people are curious about how this subculture carries weight to society. In this article, we mainly focus on discussing two problems. The first is how the development of social media and technology influences fandom. The second is how the fan culture influence back to the economy and society. For the importance, our study could help with the further study on fan culture, social media, explore their relationship, and help the audience have a better understanding of fandom and fan culture and their working principle under the surface. The method we choose to solve the problem is literature review. Through reviewing journal articles searched from google scholar, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and some secondary data from media reports. And we find that fan culture can be considered participatory culture, which was promoted by the development of social media (development of technology pushes the change of social media). And as the participatory culture grows, fans change their roles and actively influence back society. Our general findings are that emerging new media promote the role change of fans, push the subculture to stand on the stage of mainstream culture, and become a stream that cannot be ignored in the social economy. Our work can be used in entertainment media firms, which helps them have a better acquaintance with their targeted customer and helps the relative department govern the fandom market.

Textual Poachers and Fandom Dynamics: A Study of Filipino College Students

“…Back in the day, during the conception of modern fan culture, the Star Trek fandom could only express and spread their creations through attending conventions (Helleckson & Busse, 2006). Additionally, before the Internet came, communication between fans was constantly faced with problems, namely the long distances and the inconveniences of schedules (Jia et al, 2021). The Internet has allowed fans to become more connected and widespread.…”

“…According to Pearson (2010), there is a blurring of the lines between producers and consumers in the contemporary social media era, leading to a symbiotic relationship between powerful businesses and individual fans and the emergence of new kinds of cultural production. Jia et al (2021) argued that this shift in the roles of fans or members of fandoms may be seen in two ways: from passive to active and from receiver to producer. While fans are considered producers and consumers of popular culture capital, according to Fiske (2002), fan cultures have two cores: chatting and derivative creation.…”

“…With the emergence of social media, fans' attitudes shift from passive to active. It encourages creative expression and provides platforms for communication, which, according to Jia et al (2021Jia et al ( , p. 2176, "makes fans braver to share their ideas, and the mindset changes from passive to active." Jenkins (1992, p. 23) called media fans "active producers and manipulators of meaning."…”

“…The continual advancement of social media has resulted in an unprecedented explosion in fan culture worldwide. All efforts made by social media to boost user stickiness and activity objectively aid in the growth of fan culture (Jia et al, 2021).…”