Fan Culture and social media and PR, Oh My!

The creation of social media has not only opened doors for the creation of a vast online pseudo community, but it has also established smaller niche communities, such as the fan culture, ‘These fan cultures consist of people who are passionately committed to something and through various media forms are socially networked together’ (http://stephsblog-citizenmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/fan-culture-and-social-networking.html ). Before the expansion of possibilities on the internet, fans would only meet at conventions or shows, depending on what they were fans of. Social media has introduced the use of online outlets to socialise with other fans.

These social media outlets take a variety of forms, such as forums and blogs, where fans give their input and opinions about topics surrounding the base of fandom. These are just examples of the ways in which the fans are adapting to the new media they are presented with and applying it to their needs and community.

It has also allowed a connectivity with those actually involved in the thing people are fans of, for example an actor on twitter, once verified to prove the authenticity of their identity, can connect with the fans on a personal level, without the barrier of an interviewer. This, however, does not just benefit the fans but also the celebrities.

As described in Christina Warren’s post (http://mashable.com/2010/03/16/public-relations-social-media-results/ ), authenticity is key in successful Public Relations as it helps establish a good reputation, that being PR’s main aim. It develops a level of trust between those receiving the information and those giving it, meaning that the PR pros can target them effectively through the celebrities using their own social media.

Recently there has also been the introduction of fan-cliques over media such as Twitter, for example the ‘Beliebers’, Justin Bieber’s worldwide fan base. The group often dominates the trends on Twitter with phrases such as #EveryBelieberIsBeautiful and many more. Although this seems to unite a group of fans as discussed above, it has also created a window for cyber bullying, those who hate Justin Bieber will feel the wrath of the Beliebers and an out spoken Belieber will feel the wrath of the haters; all the while Justin is reaping in the benefits of being spoken about, providing more evidence that these fan-bases are evermore essential to successful PR and building reputation.

Henry Jenkins speaks of fandom in ‘convergence culture’ (taken from http://gatheringinlight.com/2009/03/10/fan-culture-and-virtual-communities/ ): ‘Participation – There is an openness for people to participate at all levels within the community. They are so inspired by it they write music, create events, etc.’ This is the element of fandom that benefits the PR professionals, the fans are creating events based around their topic of interest, meaning they giving the base of their fandom free publicity, this also applies to viral videos created by fans that circulate and increase awareness of the original source.

An example of this is of Beyonce’s track ‘Single Ladies’ fans of the international singer use the video sharing website, YouTube, to upload their own versions of the video, some being watched by millions. Such as the video of the ‘Single Ladies’ flash mob in London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLj5zphusLw over 8,000,000 people have viewed this video spreading the song and artist to many around the world. This free publicity is an advantageous element of the new social media to people in Public Relations, helping establish a reputation for clients without putting in the man hours themselves, making reputation easier to build and clients simpler to promote.