The Life and Death of Fandom Platforms

The Life and Death of Fandom Platforms | LiveJournal, Archive of Our Own (AO3), Tumblr, and ??? is a video essay by Casey Fiesler, published to YouTube on September 25, 2020. It explores the subject of fandom migrations and the changing usage of digital platforms by fans over time. 
The essay is based on a survey that Casey Fiesler and Brianna Dym conducted (and promoted on Tumblr) in 2018, asking long-time fans to share their memories and experiences of the platforms they had used to create and consume fanworks, and interact with fellow fans, over time. The full results of the survey were published as an academic paper in the journal 'Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction' under the title Moving Across Lands: Online Platform Migration in Fandom Communities. In her video essay, 'The Life and Death of Fandom Platforms', Fiesler set out to share the highlights of the research.
==Background==
Casey Fiesler, a professor of information science and researcher into fan communities and human-computer interaction, and her PhD student Brianna Dym launched a survey in March 2018 that set out to examine how fan communities move across platforms. They put out a call on TumblrHave you been in fandom for a long time? Help us out with our research!, cfiesler via Tumblr. Published March 8, 2018 (Accessed September 26, 2020). for survey responses from fans who had been "been part of fandom for at least ten years (even non-consecutively)" and had "used multiple platforms in that time (Livejournal, Tumblr, AO3, Usenet…)". The survey contained a mix of multiple-choice and free text response questions, of which fans could complete as many or as few as they liked.
The post gained more than 2,400 notes and garnered so many responses to the survey that Fiesler and Dym closed the survey relatively quickly as they already had ample data. Another post with some initial data analysis, including a graph that charted fandom platform use over time, was published five days after the initial call for survey responses.Survey Results: Fan Platform Use over Time, cfiesler via Tumblr. Published March 13, 2018 (Accessed September 26, 2020). Fiesler also gave an interview to Slate about the research and fandom migration,Why Did Fans Flee LiveJournal, and Where Will They Go After Tumblr?, Heather Schwedel, Slate. Published March 29, 2018 (Accessed September 26, 2020). and discussed the research on an episode of Fansplaining (Episode 91, in January 2019), mentioning that the survey had received "almost 2000 participants". 
The full research paper based on Fiesler and Dym's survey was published in May 2020 in 'Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction'. The discussion by a number of survey participants of the fandom norm clashes arising from different fandom generations moving to and joining fandom on different platforms also gave rise to a second paper, 'Social Norm Vulnerability and its Consequences for Privacy and Safety in an Online Community', also published in the same journal, and referenced in Fiesler's video essay. In September 2020 Fiesler then created the video essay, 'The Life and Death of Fandom Platforms', to talk about the highlights of the research and the papers and other discussions that it had given rise to.
==Excerpts from the Essay==
==Fan Comments==
==References==
Category:Fandom Migration
Category:Surveys by Fans
Category:2000 Meta
Category:Social Media Feature-Meta Monday