Fan Relationships (It's Complicated)
Sunday, November 23, 2008
I had a fantastic time at The Futures of Entertainment Conference on Friday and Saturday, hosted by Henry Jenkins and the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT. There were a lot of incredible people and some very thought provoking discussions. It's going to take a while for it all to sink in. You can read live-blogged accounts of each of the panels on the C3 blog.
Since I left, I've been thinking a lot about fans. Not just the average viewer, reader, or customer; but, the devoted people who on some level see their affection for something someone else has created as part of their own identity. When we think about how the internet has changed the communications landscape, it seems that fans have taken on an increasingly important and central role in the making or breaking of brands and entertainment properties.
Fandom has a long and storied history (and there are plenty of people who are much more qualified than I am to talk about it), and in the past couple years I think we've started a new chapter. The most obvious example of this change is Comic-Con, the huge conference for sci-fi disciples and super hero devotees of every persuasion that has turned into the must-attend super-showcase for every aspiring new movie, TV show, or video game. I've also seen fan culture creep into the marketing world. In my own work I often use the word fan in place of consumer, when I talk about reaching a core audience of people who care most about a product or service.
I think that the reason why we're seeing this interest in fans, is that we're recognizing how powerful a mobilized fan community can be. If they love you, they will make you a hit. If they hate you, they will prevent you from ever having a chance.
But, relationships between fans and the creators of the work that has earned the fans' devotion are complex, and the diverse roles represent varying degrees of active participation.
Fans as Audience
This is the most basic and traditional role for fans. These are simply the people who want to experience what you create. And it's basically the cost of entry, now. If no one's interested in what you've created, you might as well pack up and go home.
Fans as Consumers
Although this role feels obvious, it's taken on increased importance as more and more content is available for free online. These are the people who are willing to pay for what you create. When I spoke to Flourish, a grad student in fan culture at MIT, she pointed out that in her research these people "want to spend money because they genuinely want to support the writers and artists behind whatever they're a fan of." These are the people who made Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want sale of "In Rainbows" a success by paying $5, $10, $20 for something they could just as easily get for free (or even $80 for the deluxe package), because they wanted to show their support for the artists. So, for brands who aspire to cultivate a fan community, there's a big hurdle here to make the fans really feel like they're supporting the creators.
Fans as Conversation Agents
This is often the role that people in the social media marketing industry focus on most. These are the people who attract the attention and interest of a mass audience through their passionate conversations and activities both online and off.
Fans as Keepers of the Canon
This is a role that is getting a lot more attention now as a direct result of the internet. These are the people who meticulously catalog a detailed history of narrative worlds (usually fictional, but sometimes brand-related, too). Often, this collective intelligence becomes the primary steward of particular works. For instance, Alex McDowell, the production designer for the new Watchmen movie, said at the conference that they used fan-generated notes to cross-check the details of different scenes.
Fans as Co-Authors
This is a role that many authors or brand managers are most afraid of, yet it's also the role that can be most rewarding. These are the people who are actively taking the original work and reinterpreting it into a new creation of their own. Fan-fiction as a written medium has been around for a while, but now new communications platforms are spawning new forms of fan-generated narrative entertainment. The recent Mad Men Twitter activity was a great example of how this role is evolving, as individual fans created a genuine extension of the official fiction that was portrayed in weekly TV episodes.
When I asked Bud Melman, the man in the mail room and the creator of We Are Sterling Cooper, the hub of the Man Men Twitter saga, for his thoughts, he added:
(Bud Melman will be releasing a behind-the-scenes tell-all report about the entire Mad Men Twitter episode on Dec. 8th. Email bud.patrick.melman@gmail.com to get an advance copy before it's up on the web.)
Some brands, TV shows, and movies are embracing these changes, and doing well because of it. Others are still struggling.
I think that the most important thing, is to recognize this multi-faceted relationship between fans and the people who create the work that they're passionate about. It's easy to become myopic and focus too narrowly on only one or two of these roles. But, we do ourselves a disservice by not honoring all the diverse ways that fans are willing and able to participate with the things they love.
Since I left, I've been thinking a lot about fans. Not just the average viewer, reader, or customer; but, the devoted people who on some level see their affection for something someone else has created as part of their own identity. When we think about how the internet has changed the communications landscape, it seems that fans have taken on an increasingly important and central role in the making or breaking of brands and entertainment properties.
Fandom has a long and storied history (and there are plenty of people who are much more qualified than I am to talk about it), and in the past couple years I think we've started a new chapter. The most obvious example of this change is Comic-Con, the huge conference for sci-fi disciples and super hero devotees of every persuasion that has turned into the must-attend super-showcase for every aspiring new movie, TV show, or video game. I've also seen fan culture creep into the marketing world. In my own work I often use the word fan in place of consumer, when I talk about reaching a core audience of people who care most about a product or service.
I think that the reason why we're seeing this interest in fans, is that we're recognizing how powerful a mobilized fan community can be. If they love you, they will make you a hit. If they hate you, they will prevent you from ever having a chance.
But, relationships between fans and the creators of the work that has earned the fans' devotion are complex, and the diverse roles represent varying degrees of active participation.
Fans as Audience
This is the most basic and traditional role for fans. These are simply the people who want to experience what you create. And it's basically the cost of entry, now. If no one's interested in what you've created, you might as well pack up and go home.
Fans as Consumers
Although this role feels obvious, it's taken on increased importance as more and more content is available for free online. These are the people who are willing to pay for what you create. When I spoke to Flourish, a grad student in fan culture at MIT, she pointed out that in her research these people "want to spend money because they genuinely want to support the writers and artists behind whatever they're a fan of." These are the people who made Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want sale of "In Rainbows" a success by paying $5, $10, $20 for something they could just as easily get for free (or even $80 for the deluxe package), because they wanted to show their support for the artists. So, for brands who aspire to cultivate a fan community, there's a big hurdle here to make the fans really feel like they're supporting the creators.
Fans as Conversation Agents
This is often the role that people in the social media marketing industry focus on most. These are the people who attract the attention and interest of a mass audience through their passionate conversations and activities both online and off.
Fans as Keepers of the Canon
This is a role that is getting a lot more attention now as a direct result of the internet. These are the people who meticulously catalog a detailed history of narrative worlds (usually fictional, but sometimes brand-related, too). Often, this collective intelligence becomes the primary steward of particular works. For instance, Alex McDowell, the production designer for the new Watchmen movie, said at the conference that they used fan-generated notes to cross-check the details of different scenes.
Fans as Co-Authors
This is a role that many authors or brand managers are most afraid of, yet it's also the role that can be most rewarding. These are the people who are actively taking the original work and reinterpreting it into a new creation of their own. Fan-fiction as a written medium has been around for a while, but now new communications platforms are spawning new forms of fan-generated narrative entertainment. The recent Mad Men Twitter activity was a great example of how this role is evolving, as individual fans created a genuine extension of the official fiction that was portrayed in weekly TV episodes.
When I asked Bud Melman, the man in the mail room and the creator of We Are Sterling Cooper, the hub of the Man Men Twitter saga, for his thoughts, he added:
Fans that co-create are engaged with content on an incredibly deep level, so deep that it has bonded with their sense of self and personal creation. We're consuming more of your content than anyone else as well, we're downloading your wallpapers (and who does that anymore?), and we're reading your on-site blogs/forums (which aren't really blogs or forums). For AMC specifically, we make up a disproportionate amount of the visits on your site, we raise the average time on site, and we create more reasons for people to ever search for and land on your site.
(Bud Melman will be releasing a behind-the-scenes tell-all report about the entire Mad Men Twitter episode on Dec. 8th. Email bud.patrick.melman@gmail.com to get an advance copy before it's up on the web.)
Some brands, TV shows, and movies are embracing these changes, and doing well because of it. Others are still struggling.
I think that the most important thing, is to recognize this multi-faceted relationship between fans and the people who create the work that they're passionate about. It's easy to become myopic and focus too narrowly on only one or two of these roles. But, we do ourselves a disservice by not honoring all the diverse ways that fans are willing and able to participate with the things they love.
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