DIGITAL FANDOMS IN THE AGE OF ISOLATION

DIGITAL L.O.V.E.

New year, another attempt at a digital detox on the cards? Not so fast. According to YouTube’s 2024 research, if you have even a passing interest in something, it’s unlikely you’ll last a week. And it’s not just the dopamine hit of checking the likes on your post-Christmas and New Year’s Eve Instagram dump or the irresistible draw of the doom scroll pulling us all back into the interwebs, but also the richer (and, hopefully, more rewarding) realm of fandoms and friendships.

We’ve all read the claims that we’re feeling lonelier than ever (a sentiment seemingly accelerated by the pandemic) but research isn’t so black and white. If isolation’s the objective measure of social connectivity and loneliness our subjective perception of it, are digital fandoms and communities our saviours or our downfalls?

THE KNOW #1:
MORE FANS, MORE FAN NARRATIVES

No longer constrained by geographies, we can be the world’s biggest K-pop stan from our bedroom in Sheffield instead of Seoul, or consume every last bit of Preston North End FC coverage from Preston, Australia. Our love knows no bounds, neither does our potential for connection with fellow fiends. 

This borderless state of fandom, along with the proliferation of new media and democratisation of influence, has opened up new power dynamics, beyond consumption and into creation where fans are driving the story, reaching across old divides and forging connections that combat the lull of loneliness.

THE DO #1:
FUEL THE FIRE

YouTube found that 66% of Gen Z audiences (their words, not ours) spend more time engaging with fan-made content than original material. They’re more interested in the real-time and raw reactions, the takedowns and clap-backs than the sanitised stories brands are putting out – so it’s time to relinquish control.

It can be hard to let go of (parts of) the carefully curated brand you’ve spent time building, but nothing exists in stasis or a vacuum. The moment you release something, it’s taken on by culture to be morphed and reformed anew. Rather than shying away from this, lean in and learn.

Tap up those who have something to say, harness their enthusiasm and lived experience and use it to your advantage – like Tottenham Hotspurs Women’s team who’ve been working with SELFHOOD community member and Baesianz FC founder Nicole to shape fresher fan-driven, ground-up narratives in football that have ripple effects into reaching new audiences.

THE KNOW #2:
SOCIAL CONNECTION ISN’T STATIC

Our social lives are stimulants – fertile grounds of emotional and intellectual enrichment. And, like our cognitive abilities, we need to ‘use or it lose it’. Keeping an active social network helps keep our brains healthy, and digital communities and spaces give us more ways and means to participate on our own terms.

THE DO #2:
MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE

Fandom, community and participation is a linear journey for an individual – they move themselves from general awareness and passing interest, through being part of the club, into fully paid-up participant and full-time stan, and brands can only nudge that progress at best. 

So it’s about fighting the urge to drive people through the funnel we’re all so accustomed to. There is no ‘conversion’ goal we can reach. Attributable brand love is a myth. 

Instead, brands should be selfless (no easy feat, we know) and put out the things people really want in these stages (spoiler: not branded messages). Maybe it’s as light touch as light entertainment after a heavy day at work, or it goes deeper with a (metaphorical) backstage pass that makes them feel part of the crew. Brands have got to give a little to get a little, you know?

THE DO #3:
ANONYMITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

Despite the positive connective power of digital spaces, we also have to question their dark underbelly. The freedom of online communities, where we can be whoever we want to be relatively unchecked, can quickly tip into toxic behaviours that spill into the real world.

THE DO #3:
TAKE IT OFFLINE

As we said in our November drop, brands can be the force for good – modelling and rewarding positive behaviours both URL and IRL. Get people off their phones and into the real world with local activations that bring fans, communities and participants together in beautiful symbiosis. 

How can your brand fuel the shared love that exists amongst these people? (We’re not talking about an occasional repost on your social feeds, amongst a myriad of brand comms.) And how can use your platform (commercial and communication) to be the carrot, not the stick?