Tech
You’re Canceled: Stan Culture Brings the Best and Worst of Social Media
Twitter is a whirlwind. Likes, followers, content, mutuals, these are all confusing terms to latch onto at first, but as a frequent Twitter user, I’ll guide you through them and show you a new side to the social media platform you may not know about.
Stan Twitter is a section where users dedicate their accounts to supporting a music group, solo artist, TV show and more. It’s how you connect with people who share the same interests as you and have a fun time creating content—or, if you’re like me—liking and retweeting everything about Adachi Yuto, a member of the Korean pop group Pentagon, which you should definitely listen to! Out of the nine members of Pentagon, Yuto doesn’t post as often, but when he does, I’ll like it, retweet, spam the comment section and all.
Stan culture is a more modern way of supporting your faves. Sarah Poulter, 43, co-executive director of WriteBoston, reminisced about how teens supported their favorite celebrities in the (g)olden days. “When I was in high school, email addresses, phones, the internet, didn't exist. I bought posters. I had mini Michael Jackson pins, posters and a lot of items like t-shirts, folders, things were branded,” she said. Before the age of social media, industries could profit off celebrities by creating physical items for consumers. But, in the stan Twitter age, we can find artwork, memes and various content just a simple click away for the extremely low price of free!
Stan groups have a fan name, and they section off into fandoms. Think of it like the great hall tables in Harry Potter. You exist peacefully in your chosen fandom, or you can mingle around and choose to be a multifandom, stanning more than one group/artist at once, and curating your online presence to surround them.
If spending time on the internet keyboard smashing on your fave's new cute selfie doesn’t seem like a new concept, then what's good about stan culture? Well, have you ever fallen in love with an underground artist and found yourself not being able to talk about them because no one knew them? Stan Twitter resolves this issue by quickly creating a fandom to support underground artists, and you won’t have to feel like you’re the only one who has interest in the artist.
Stan culture also allows you to make a place for yourself in online communities. People who are shy, or have a hard time making social interactions in real life have a platform to make mutuals. Mutuals are accounts who you follow, and they follow you back. They are like an acquaintance you’d make at school and wave at while you pass them in the crowded hallways. Also, these accounts help you escape the hectic schedule of day to day life. Having an online space to relax and look at cute pictures of your faves is a stress reliever to many.
However, stan culture isn’t always the best place to be. Constant fan wars and hate messages make stan Twitter less enjoyable. Mare Chavez, @pandayanan says, “So far, on stan Twitter no one has sent me hate yet. But, as I gain more followers, I’m expecting people to be more judgemental and negative. Back when I was on Tumblr and had a popular aesthetic blog, I’d get hate for no reason, nothing but the fact that I had a lot of followers.”
When I ran my Tumblr blog I stuck to myself, reblogging content I enjoyed, art that I liked, and I enjoyed being part of the Voltron fandom. Tumblr has a feature where you can send a user a message or ask someone questions, with the option of being anonymous. I got nice messages often and it made me happy that someone out there liked the content I posted. I once got a hate message and the user didn’t bother to use the anonymous option, so it made it easier to report the account and have some of my mutuals report the user too.
Cancel culture is the act of unstanning someone because they did something negative, either currently or in their earlier years. Cancelling happens when an artist does something way out of hand, like saying a slur that doesn’t belong to them. Once a famous person has been cancelled, it takes them a lot to gain what popularity and respect they had before. Cancelling is done by some fandoms out of spite, who want their faves to succeed, and they’re willing to go as far as dragging others down to see that happen.
Stan Twitter is fun and all, but take time to invest in other activities. Feed the fish that you haven’t fed in a while. Take the chicken out of the freezer before your mom comes home. Clean your room and find ten dollar bills lying around. Your life isn’t tied to how many likes you get, or the amount of mutuals you have.