What are the most active fandoms?
December 21, 2017 3:57 AM Subscribe
I'm doing research for a project - what are the most active and passionate fandoms online? I'm in my 30s so all the things I come across in my social media bubble are things from 10-20 years ago like Buffy and the obvious things like Harry Potter and Dr. Who. What other stories / people inspire such intense participation & recontextualization online that an old like me might not be aware of?
A very simple way to find this out would be to go to ArchiveOfOurOwn and compare numbers of fics, but there are also initiatives trying to quantify the engagement in different fandoms on Tumblr. Try ToastyStats for regular posts on that kind of stuff.
I think there is another ongoing research project that is attempting to track the shifting dominance/hierarchy of various fandoms by crunching online numbers but I've just tried searching for that and the link completely escapes me now. Sorry!
posted by churlishmeg at 4:14 AM on December 21, 2017 [6 favorites]
I think there is another ongoing research project that is attempting to track the shifting dominance/hierarchy of various fandoms by crunching online numbers but I've just tried searching for that and the link completely escapes me now. Sorry!
posted by churlishmeg at 4:14 AM on December 21, 2017 [6 favorites]
Jane Austen.
posted by synecdoche at 4:35 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by synecdoche at 4:35 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's more a source for raw data than ready-made conclusions, but you might find some valuable research at Fandom Stats.
posted by kalimac at 4:42 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by kalimac at 4:42 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
In my slice of internet, Yuri On Ice and Hamilton have huge followings that are borne out in the AO3 tags. Star Wars is evergreen. Lots of podcasts have smaller but still passionate fandoms; The Adventure Zone and Welcome To Night Vale are the biggest ones I see regularly.
posted by tchemgrrl at 4:44 AM on December 21, 2017
posted by tchemgrrl at 4:44 AM on December 21, 2017
What area? It really depends on how you're defining a fandom. In terms of English language fiction creation, you'll get a huge bump for say Supernatural, but a lot of anime and k-pop fandoms have very active large fandom in other forums. Wattpad, Tumblr, ff.net, LiveJournal, even Facebook and Instagram are where fandom networks exist.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 4:58 AM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 4:58 AM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: I realize now that 'fandom' is a term that means fiction specifically to a lot of people, while I've taken it to include / mean things like 'obsessive tumblr curators'. Generally I'm interested in multimedia curation activity, e.g. the ubiquitous subtitled gif or series of gifs with commentary or new context below.
posted by thedaniel at 5:08 AM on December 21, 2017
posted by thedaniel at 5:08 AM on December 21, 2017
MCU is pretty huge right now.
posted by gideonfrog at 5:09 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by gideonfrog at 5:09 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Supernatural fandom seems to be huge. My 14 year old got interested in the show based on coming across so much fan stuff about it while searching out stuff related to Attack on Titan (which also seems to have a big fandom, but not as big as Supernatural.) There seems to be a ton of multimedia curation activity going on for both Supernatural and Attack on Titan. My kids are huge Hamilton fans and they love watching videos on YouTube with fan-made art accompanying songs from the show. There are apparently a lot of them, with new ones appearing all the time.
posted by Redstart at 5:15 AM on December 21, 2017
posted by Redstart at 5:15 AM on December 21, 2017
The Supernatural fandom seems to be huge. and if you go to this certain con the actual Sam&Dean show up, not the actors the real... sorry, the biggest actual fandom would probably be the that invented the term, Science Fiction, there are huge conventions all over the world. It is something of an umbrella that most others fit within I guess.
posted by sammyo at 5:32 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 5:32 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Rizzoli & Isles inspired a largely lesbian fandom known as "Rizzles." Detective Jane Rizzoli and Medical Examiner Maura Isles were supposedly straight women, but they had tons of chemistry.
posted by Carol Anne at 6:14 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Carol Anne at 6:14 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
This isn't about a specific community, but this talk is the best thing I've ever read about fandom and goes deep on the curation aspect.
posted by Jungo at 6:26 AM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Jungo at 6:26 AM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
You might find Tumblr Fandometrics to be useful. I'm thinking in your shoes i'd start with their Year in Review post.
posted by Stacey at 7:19 AM on December 21, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Stacey at 7:19 AM on December 21, 2017 [5 favorites]
The holy trinity of fandom on Tumblr, at least that I know of, is Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock.
posted by dust.wind.dude at 7:56 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by dust.wind.dude at 7:56 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
It really, really depends on specifically what you're looking for, and it varies a lot year over year. Just from experience/fandom osmosis in my particular corner of (mostly Western media) fandom, a couple places to look:
-Yuri! On Ice is new but seemed to blow up out of nowhere and is now all over the place
-Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock fans have a reputation as being so passionate and/or obsessive and/or omnipresent that you'll see them referred to as a group ("Superwholock")
-MCU with crossovers into Marvel comics and other related properties has been a massive juggernaut since the first Avengers came out and is one of the largest fiction-writing fandoms currently]
-Hamilton is hugely popular
-Overwatch is all over my dash, I don't even play it but I know who everyone is and who the fandom likes to pair them with (the cowboy one is apparently a fave of slashers)
-Star Wars and Star Trek are always with us and tend to maintain a base level of fandom with spikes when there is new stuff
posted by oblique red at 7:57 AM on December 21, 2017
-Yuri! On Ice is new but seemed to blow up out of nowhere and is now all over the place
-Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock fans have a reputation as being so passionate and/or obsessive and/or omnipresent that you'll see them referred to as a group ("Superwholock")
-MCU with crossovers into Marvel comics and other related properties has been a massive juggernaut since the first Avengers came out and is one of the largest fiction-writing fandoms currently]
-Hamilton is hugely popular
-Overwatch is all over my dash, I don't even play it but I know who everyone is and who the fandom likes to pair them with (the cowboy one is apparently a fave of slashers)
-Star Wars and Star Trek are always with us and tend to maintain a base level of fandom with spikes when there is new stuff
posted by oblique red at 7:57 AM on December 21, 2017
Undertale and Five Nights at Freddy's.
posted by wsquared at 8:32 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by wsquared at 8:32 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
In my corners of the internet, Homestuck, Steven Universe, the MCU, Yuri on Ice, Star Wars, and Dragon Age are the juggernauts.
posted by telophase at 9:33 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by telophase at 9:33 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Other than the big mainstream stuff like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the MCU - Homestuck.
posted by bile and syntax at 10:17 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bile and syntax at 10:17 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Are you looking for "statistically, the most active," or "a list of a dozen or so very active fandoms?"
The first is very, very hard to gather data about. Tumblr makes it easy to see stuff similar to what you're already seeing; there are huge fandoms that you'll never see if you're not already connected to them. (Voltron. Voltron fandom is packed with people screaming about whether or not some of the pairings are evil child molestation because some of the teens are above and some below the 18 mark.) (There are loud, capslock-filled posts about whether shipping anyone with Shiro counts as "grooming" underage readers.)
Attack on Titan is big. Gets lots of cosplay at conventions; it's got iconic outfits that aren't too difficult to make and that are comfortable to move around in. Anime fandoms don't have a lot of crossover into western fandoms, and a lot of them are huge, especially the ones with video game franchises: Pokemon, Sonic, Final Fantasy.
Star Wars isn't small (ok, SW has been a fandom behemoth since the 70s), and is ramping back up. It gets the full range of activities: Fic, art, gifsets, crossover memes, and so on. Mark Hamill's active participation helps.
If you're looking for fanwork activity in general, hit DeviantArt, which has an entirely different set of active users from tumblr or AO3.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:14 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
The first is very, very hard to gather data about. Tumblr makes it easy to see stuff similar to what you're already seeing; there are huge fandoms that you'll never see if you're not already connected to them. (Voltron. Voltron fandom is packed with people screaming about whether or not some of the pairings are evil child molestation because some of the teens are above and some below the 18 mark.) (There are loud, capslock-filled posts about whether shipping anyone with Shiro counts as "grooming" underage readers.)
Attack on Titan is big. Gets lots of cosplay at conventions; it's got iconic outfits that aren't too difficult to make and that are comfortable to move around in. Anime fandoms don't have a lot of crossover into western fandoms, and a lot of them are huge, especially the ones with video game franchises: Pokemon, Sonic, Final Fantasy.
Star Wars isn't small (ok, SW has been a fandom behemoth since the 70s), and is ramping back up. It gets the full range of activities: Fic, art, gifsets, crossover memes, and so on. Mark Hamill's active participation helps.
If you're looking for fanwork activity in general, hit DeviantArt, which has an entirely different set of active users from tumblr or AO3.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:14 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
I really think that it would help if you narrowed your definition. For instance, does Pinterest count? If so, then boy howdy are there a slew of fandoms/active curation of stuffs there that wouldn't normally ping as fandoms (e.g. pins for office supplies, nail art, tattoo art, body mods, multi-function furniture , tiny houses/apartments, etc.)
posted by skye.dancer at 12:34 PM on December 21, 2017
posted by skye.dancer at 12:34 PM on December 21, 2017
nthing the recommendation for Supernatural as a huge and very passionate fandom, with an unusually high amount of interaction between the fans and the cast/crew, through social media and the incredible number of cons held every year.
If you delve into the world of Supernatural, there's an excellent book you might be interested in called Family Don't End With Blood, with essays by cast members and fans about how the show changes lives, edited by Lynn S. Zubernis.
Also, you might want to check out Hannibal (Bryan Fuller's show Hannibal that aired on NBC), which has a very small but passionate fandom that's been working hard to get the show brought back for a fourth season.
What's the focus for your research? If you shared your parameters, maybe we could make more targeted recommendations.
posted by the thought-fox at 2:38 PM on December 21, 2017
If you delve into the world of Supernatural, there's an excellent book you might be interested in called Family Don't End With Blood, with essays by cast members and fans about how the show changes lives, edited by Lynn S. Zubernis.
Also, you might want to check out Hannibal (Bryan Fuller's show Hannibal that aired on NBC), which has a very small but passionate fandom that's been working hard to get the show brought back for a fourth season.
What's the focus for your research? If you shared your parameters, maybe we could make more targeted recommendations.
posted by the thought-fox at 2:38 PM on December 21, 2017
Survivor and Big Brother definitely have a big fandom. Tons of podcasts, constant subreddit discussions as well as other sites. I know reality TV is a different side but it is quite big! Rob has multiple podcasts every week on these shows.
posted by SarahElizaP at 2:50 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by SarahElizaP at 2:50 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
I mean, if you wanted to talk about Hannibal fandom, you have, ahem, a few people right here on MeFi that you could talk to. Feel free to MeMail me.
posted by Stacey at 3:05 PM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Stacey at 3:05 PM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
I came in here to mention the SuperWhoLock phenomenon, noted above. Definitely all three shows have a massive following, and of course, in Sherlock's case, it's building on a larger, preexisting fandom from the original ACD series and all its other iteration. I would say they're notable in that there's a lot of different axes of fandom activity, in terms of fanart, fanfiction, and just general tumblr activity. (I think the long wait between episodes and the small number of episodes makes the Sherlock fandom particularly rabid.)
Game of Thrones is pretty big too, I would say. In particular, there's a huge amount of effort spent speculating and predicting and picking apart all elements of the show and book.
And yes, the Hannibal fandom is smaller but very passionate! Nowhere near the kind of numbers of SuperWhoLock, but we make up for it in enthusiasm. There's even a fanfare club.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:41 PM on December 21, 2017
Game of Thrones is pretty big too, I would say. In particular, there's a huge amount of effort spent speculating and predicting and picking apart all elements of the show and book.
And yes, the Hannibal fandom is smaller but very passionate! Nowhere near the kind of numbers of SuperWhoLock, but we make up for it in enthusiasm. There's even a fanfare club.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:41 PM on December 21, 2017
These are all very WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) dominated fandoms in that they're English-speaking media fandoms with WEIRD-centered fans. The recent death of SHINee singer Jong-Hyun took over my Tumblr and other fandom spots because Kpop is a huge sprawling fandom that intersects a lot of Asian fandoms (and is huge in Brazil!). There's a lot of fan-made media for K-pop and I'd bet there are huge fandom communities in Spanish, Chinese and Russian that aren't as big in English-language communities. One Direction is still pretty damn big too globally. (article on fandom statistics btw)
I'd nominate Sherlock Holmes as one of the oldest fandoms still kicking happily in different formats around. Or you could go back to Tijuana Bibles and comic strips - or even go all the way back to biblical fanfic and renaissance art! If you picked a current time period, it'll be skewed by whatever most recently hit the screens.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:12 PM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'd nominate Sherlock Holmes as one of the oldest fandoms still kicking happily in different formats around. Or you could go back to Tijuana Bibles and comic strips - or even go all the way back to biblical fanfic and renaissance art! If you picked a current time period, it'll be skewed by whatever most recently hit the screens.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:12 PM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
ubiquitous subtitled gif or series of gifs with commentary
I used to see so much of this for Shadowhunters that I ended up watching the show just so I would know what was going on. Plus, most of the cast and crew are devoutly involved with discussing the show on various social media platforms.
Other big ones right now:
-Brooklyn 99
-Taika Waititi interviews
-Stranger Things
-Hockey (clips of NHL games and player interviews)
posted by a fiendish thingy at 4:43 PM on December 22, 2017
I used to see so much of this for Shadowhunters that I ended up watching the show just so I would know what was going on. Plus, most of the cast and crew are devoutly involved with discussing the show on various social media platforms.
Other big ones right now:
-Brooklyn 99
-Taika Waititi interviews
-Stranger Things
-Hockey (clips of NHL games and player interviews)
posted by a fiendish thingy at 4:43 PM on December 22, 2017
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