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Fandom Migration
| Synonyms: | |
| See also: | Fandom and the Internet, Fannish Drift, Migratory Slash Fandom |
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Fandom Migration refers to the mass movement of fans between communication platforms. Migration can occur due to advances in technology and natural shifts in what fans want from their social networks. It can also occur more suddenly and distressingly when fans feel that they are no longer welcome on certain platforms.
Specifically, fandom migration has been used to describe the move from print to net in the early 90s, from mailing lists to Yahoo! Groups in the late 90s, from Y!Groups to LiveJournal/Fanfiction.net in the 2000s (See The Impact of Blogging on Fandom for a more in depth look), and from LiveJournal to Tumblr in the 2010s.[1]
Many may also use the term to discuss the shift from Delicious to Pinboard for fannish bookmarks in 2011.
Migration for specific fannish output occurs in smaller amounts, but does happen, such as the 2010s move to AO3 for fanfiction, and the late 2000s move to Dreamwidth for roleplayers.
The Tumblr NSFW Content Purge sparked new conversations about fandom migration. Some suggested the need for A Network Of Our Own.
After Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter/X in 2022, many fans intended to migrate again and looked for Twitter alternatives, such as Bluesky, Cohost, and Mastodon. Fandom has now spread to more microblogging websites in disparate amounts, though it is still very much present on Twitter.
Further Reading & Meta
- Internet Fans Controversy Du Jour (Sandy Herrold) (1997)
- Arguments for/against LJ and Tumblr can be found at LiveJournal #Arguments Pro and Con and Tumblr#Controversy
- The Here And Now by morgandawn at Dreamwidth (25 May 2015) (Accessed 28 September 2017)
- fandom and migration by seperis at LiveJournal (17 April 2009) (Accessed 28 September 2017)
- Navigating Game of Thrones Some differences in visibility and use on FFN and AO3. byyourlibrarian on squidgeworld (Originally posted May 21, 2019)
- The Life and Death of Fandom Platforms | LiveJournal, Archive of Our Own (AO3), Tumblr, and ??? (25 September 2020), a video essay by Casey Fiesler on her research into fandom migration