Stan Twitter, an online community for fandoms

Are you a Twitter person? Have you heard about Stan Twitter?

Stan Twitter is an online community for fandoms. I would like to call it a whole different universe for supporters. Whether it is about music, shows, books, or celebrities if you post opinions about something you support you enter Stan Twitter. This community has its own shared terminologies and culture.

How did Stan Twitter come to life?

The word “stan” first came to life when the rapper Eminem released a song entitled “Stan” in 2000. This song is about an obsessed fan. It was then added to the Oxford Dictionary. Stan started as a short form of “stalker” and “fan.”

There was no clear history of how “Stan Twitter” came to life or started. Highly devoted fans are also called “stan” who join fandoms and started their own community. What we all know is that it started with a song, and now, avid fans and supporters build community on online sites and especially on Twitter which is now called Stan Twitter.

Its culture

When you enter the universe of Stan Twitter, you would notice their own culture and terminologies used in their tweets.

Compared to the normal Twitter account who uses their real name and identity, in Stan Twitter, stans use a different header, profile, and names. They usually use the photos related to the person or things they support as profile and header. They also use different nicknames or usernames, usually still related to the thing or person they “stan”.

Some of their activities in this kind of online community are:

• Joining Twitter parties and creating hashtags, trends, and memes.
• Regularly tweeting and posting about their favorite artists, updating other stans.
• Expressing support and actively purchasing and streaming new music and albums of their favorites (if they stan music artists).
• Defending their favorites if involved in any controversial issues.

What is it like to be on a Stan Twitter?

As someone who has remained on Stan Twitter for almost five years, 23-year-old Shane has three different accounts for three different artists.

“It is my venue to express my love and support for the three artists I stan… What I also loved in this kind of community is I get to know other fellow fans and supporters; share same experience and feelings; I get to meet them in real life, too.”

She also interacts with her fellow stans by commenting on each other’s tweets or by joining Twitter Spaces.

According to her, she has a stan account for the groups SB19, SEVENTEEN, and Red Velvet. She regularly joins when they have to trend a certain hashtag. Also, she supports her favorites’ endorsements, and she regularly tweets about them.

Having many stan accounts is not that easy too. According to Shane, sometimes she forgets to log in to her other accounts when she is so invested in other accounts. She also admits that there are issues in joining the wrong stan community. Some stans participate in fan wars, obsessive stalking, and other toxic behavior.

Also, many argue how much toxicity lies within stan culture as in this community, you may also find bullying, fan wars, and trolling. However, as long as fans stay supportive of their favorites without causing harm to anyone, they can still make this kind of community fun and healthy.