Everything I Need I Get From You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It

Everything I Need I Get From You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It is a 2022 nonfiction book by journalist Kaitlyn Tiffany. It focuses on One Direction fandom as a case study of online fandom. 
==Some Topics Discussed==
*The author's personal journey as a One Direction fan starting when she was a college student
*why and how people become fans
*One Direction fandom
*Stan twitter
*Fandom on Tumblr
*History of fans' use of the internet
*History of female music fans
*RPF and tinhatting
*Larry Stylinson, Larry Is Real, Larries
*Babygate
*the experiences of Black and LGBTQ+ fans
*Rainbow Direction, Black Lives Matter, K-Pop Stan Twitter, and fan activism
==Fansplaining Interview==
The author appeared on the Fansplaining podcast in July 2022 to talk about the book. Explaining why it focused on One Direction, she said,
The discussion also included covering fandom as a journalist, journalists' perceptions of fandom, and her previous reporting on One Direction fandom and Larry Stylinson conspiracy theories. When asked about her bravery in reporting on fandom conspiracy theories, Tiffany commented that she had simply not thought about it in advance as she was "22 and just a loose cannon". She remarked that she now considered her previous coverage on Babygate to be somewhat cringey and that she wouldn't approach it the same way now. She had thought Babygate "goofy" at the time, but when researching the book she was surprised to learn how much pain Larry and Babygate had caused in the fandom. She gave a specific example of an incident a Black fan had told her about how upsetting it was when larries explained away Louis saying the N word in the infamous 2014 weed video as his management staging the video to force a false frat boy persona on him.
Tiffany noted that because of her previous reporting, larries were unwilling to be interviewed for the book:
==Fan Reactions: Research Phase==
===2019===
In September 2019 Tiffany put out a public call on twitter for One Direction fans to participate in interviews for the book she was writing. As of 2022, the tweet had 75 replies, 87 retweets, 72 quote tweets, and 366 likes., 20 September 2019. (Accessed 27 November 2022.) Reactions were extremely mixed, with many fans filling in the Google form with their contact information, 23 September 2019. (Accessed 27 November 2022.), while many larries tweeted that they would not participate:
*"I cannot stress this enough.....NO", 21 September 2019. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"Maybe One Direction fans should write a book about you instead, titled 'Why are you this obsessed with us?'", 21 September 2022. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"Weren’t you really horrible to us? So no thanks, keep it." , 21 September 2019. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"You're creepy. Move on from One Direction." , 22 September 2022. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"So you can keep writing your derogatory articles about us? No thanks, you can f*ck the right off." , 21 September 2022. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"if you’re a larrie please don’t participate in this, she wrote an article about how larries suffer from mental illness." , 21 September 2022. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"I swear if any of y’all participated I’ll kick your asses out of this fandom! We’re not here to feed this bitch so that she can twist the truth and make us to be the bad people here. We’re better than that, so don’t you dare." , 22 September 2022. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"How about you just leave us alone you weirdo" , 21 September 2022. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
*"If you actually had a brain, you'd be writing a book about the entertainment industry and their history of closeting artists and explain how the use BODY LANGUAGE, which speaks louder than words, can be used to decipher truth and stop worrying about stan twitter." , 21 September 2022. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
Tiffany also posted a link to the google form on her tumblr account, where larries reacted similarly., 21 September 2019.
Some non-larries noticed the commotion and became interested in participating:
===2021===
In June 2021, Tiffany had reached the fact-checking phase of the book and contacted everyone quoted in the book with requests to verify whether what she had written about them was accurate. 28nachos, a tumblr larrie, reacted publicly to Tiffany's emailWayback Machine copy, 28nachos tumblr, 9 June 2021., which brought the book back to the fandom's attention. 
Other Larries on tumblr talked about it:
Larries also spread the news on twitter:
*"a anti larry journalist wants to make a book that basically drags larries. she has researched the biggest larry blogs on tumblr and wants to put them in her book without their consent. she has written articles before about bbg and about larries and how paranoid they are", 10 June 2021. (Accessed 25 November 2022.)
*"I firmly believe some things should stay in the fandom. That's the whole point of fandom - the inside jokes and the memes are for fun and putting that out for the general public to dissect will do absolutely nothing to stop the fandom from continuing to do what it does.", Jun 9, 2021. (Accessed 25 November 2022.)
*"basically an obsessed solo harrie journalist has written a book about larries:) and she has contracted both big anti and larry blogs but she is an anti... so yeah:))))", Jun 10, 2021. (Accessed 25 November 2022.)
*"they wanna make a whole book based on us?? thats genuinely crazy wtf thats an obsession thats not healthy whatsoever", Jun 10, 2021.
*"so an adult has nothing better to do than this? And couldn’t the tumblr people press charges if it isn’t with their consent?", Jun 10, 2021. (Accessed 27 November 2022.)
One theme mentioned by a few people was a fear that the book would negatively impact Louis Tomlinson himself. This idea was first brought up by 28nachos, and when an anon asked them how Louis could be affected by a book on the fandom, 28nachos said that if they personally got doxxed and their employer was contacted as a result of the book being published, then their employer would investigate 28nachos's claims and discover that Louis' baby was fake., 10 June 2021.
A few non-larries noticed the commotion. The Shit Larries Say podcast had an episode reacting to 28nachos' reaction.Shit Larries Say , reblogged by back-to-louis, 11 June 2021.
==Fan Reactions: Post-Publication==
The book was published in June 2022. As of November 2022, on goodreads the book has a 3.75 out of 5 rating, 907 ratings, and 267 reviews. Some reviews are negative, from people who weren't interested in 1D and felt betrayed by the title, and some reviews are positive, from both (apparently) nonfannish readers and 1D fans. A few quotes from 1D fans:Goodreads: archive.ph copy. (Accessed 29 November 2022.)
*"me and my one direction friends are passing this book around like a blunt"
*"this book was insane I laughed so hard. never did I think I would be reading a book where the “he’s in there” niall bad1dimagines was referenced."
*"Also it was very fun to read a book about Larry Stylinson, and the weird ass world of 1D Twitter and tumblr. Very nostalgic. "
*"I also wish the treatment of Larry mythology had been a little different. I don't think it was necessarily unfair, but it did feel ungenerous – I think there's so much interesting stuff behind how and why so many people became unbelievably invested in that specific conspiracy theory."
*"i feel like i finally understood why i loved one direction when i was 13 and even a little bit now, ten years later. did i learn a lot? not really but it was a good time!!!!"
An overall positive review from a larrie contained a caveat for the Larry-related chapters:
yessoupy and back-to-louis, both of whom were interviewed for the book, discussed the book on their Shit Larries Say podcast and gave it a positive review.Shit Larries Say , 10 August 2022. (Accessed 29 November 2022.)
thisiskatsblog--a larrie who agreed to be interviewed for the book, but only in her capacity as a Rainbow Direction founder--posted all of her written answers the day before the book came out to "share my version of the story"., 14 June 2022. (Accessed 29 November 2022.)
twopoppies said she hadn't read the book, but that its author was "a total moron. From the bits I saw, she understands nothing about fandom and even less about this specific fandom.", 22 October 2022. (Accessed 29 November 2022.)
==Links==
*Fansplaining (July 27, 2022)
*Goodreads: 
*The Hairpin: by Kaitlyn Tiffany (September 18, 2017)
*The Verge: by Kaitlyn Tiffany (April 8, 2016)
==References==
Category:One Direction
Category:2022 News Media