The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era

Zihan Wang

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11

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The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era

Zihan Wang

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 8, Issue 2)

Received: 18 February 2020 Accepted: 5 March 2020 Published: 17 March 2020

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Abstract

Over the past several decades, the once despised fans have been introduced to the central stage of audience study, challenging people’s stereotype about fans. Fans are considered as the most active and visible audiences since they are active producers rather than passive consumers. With the pervasiveness of the digital media, fans are provided with more opportunities to engage with the media production and challenge the authority of media industry. However, there are still some scholars argue that fans in digital era are prone to be exploited by media industry as free labor. These two contradictory aspects illustrate the main characteristics of fans in digital media era. This research aims to explore the reconfigured relationships between fans and professional media producers, critically discussing the extent to which fans are empowered and exploited in the digital media era. The analysis in this paper is organized from three main aspects: first, the transformation of fans’ images in the ever-changing media landscapes is illustrated, emphasizing the trend that fans are increasingly considered to be more active and influential in the media production process; second, the ways that fans engage with media production in the digital media era are explored in details, which supports the opinion that fans are empowered in digital media era; third, the emerging exploitations of fans online practice are demonstrated by employing the concept of free labor. By critically discussing both the empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era, in this paper, it is concluded that although the increasing productivity and influence of fans imply the reconfigured relationships between fans and media producers, the emerging exploitation of fans’ free labor should not be ignored which indicates that the power discrepancy between fans and media producers still exists. The empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era should not be considered as a zero-gum game. Since the digital fandom is more complicated than before, the binary opposition between empowerment and exploitation should be revisited and revised. Within the context of the emerging digital economy, fans and media producers are continuously negotiating with each other.

Published in	Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 8, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11
Page(s)	45-50
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Fans, Digital Fandom, Digital Media, Participatory Culture, Free Labor

References

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[2]	Gray, J. (2008). Television Entertainment. New York: Routledge.
[3]	Hayashi, A. E. (2018). Musicking, discourse, and identity in participatory media fandom.
[4]	Sandvoss, C. (2005). ‘Challenging boundaries: fans and cultural industries’, in Oakley, K. & O’Connor, J. (eds.). The Routledge companion to the cultural industries, pp. 357-370. Oxon & New York: Routledge.
[5]	Certeau, M., & Rendall, Steven. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[6]	Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[7]	Sullivan, J. (2013). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. SAGE Publications.
[8]	Gray, J., Harrington, L., & Sandvoss, C. (eds) (2007). Fandom: Identities and communities in a mediated world. New York: New York University Press.
[9]	Bird, S. E. (2011). Are we all produsers now? Convergence and media audience practices. Cultural Studies, 25 (4-5), 502-516.
[10]	Pearson, R. (2010). Fandom in the digital era. Popular Communication, 8 (1), 84-95.
[11]	García Avilés, J. A., (2018). Roles of audience participation in multiplatform television: From fans and consumers, to collaborators and activists.
[12]	Andrejevic, M. (2008). Watching television without pity: The productivity of online fans. Television and New Media, 9 (1), 24-46.
[13]	Sharma, R. (2013). Community clip show: Examining the recursive collaboration between producers and viewers of a postmodern sitcom. The Journal of Fandom Studies, 1 (2), 183-199.
[14]	Toffler, A. (1980). The third wave. London: Collins.
[15]	Bruns, A. (2006). Towards Produsage: Futures for User-Led Content Production. In: Sudweeks, F., Hrachovec, H., Ess, C. (eds.) Proceedings: Cultural Attitudes towards Communication and Technology, pp. 275–284. Murdoch University, Perth.
[16]	Yang, L. (2009). Fans, affective economics and new media. Social Science Front, 2009 (7), 173-177.
[17]	Beverungen, A., Böhm, S. and Land, C., (2015). Free labour, social media, management: Challenging Marxist organization studies.
[18]	Terranova, T. (2004). Network culture: Politics for the information age. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press.
[19]	Williams, R., (2010). Good Neighbours? Fan/producer relationships and the broadcasting field. Continuum, 24 (2), pp. 279-289.
[20]	Wittel, A. (2014). Digital labor: the internet as playground and factory.
[21]	Scholz, T. ed., 2012. Digital labor: The Internet as playground and factory. Routledge.
[22]	Yang, M. (2012). Fansub group and transnational communication of Japanese animation: Paradox of audience initiative. Journalism & Communication, 2012 (5): 48-55.
[23]	Hellekson, K. (2009). A Fannish Field of Value: Online Fan Gift Culture. Cinema Journal, 48 (4), 113-118.
[24]	Jenkins, H. (2006). Fans, bloggers, and gamers: Exploring participatory culture. nyu Press.

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APA Style

Zihan Wang. (2020). The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era. Humanities and Social Sciences, 8(2), 45-50. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11

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Zihan Wang. The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2020, 8(2), 45-50. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11

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AMA Style

Zihan Wang. The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era. Humanit Soc Sci. 2020;8(2):45-50. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11,
  author = {Zihan Wang},
  title = {The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {8},
  number = {2},
  pages = {45-50},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20200802.11},
  abstract = {Over the past several decades, the once despised fans have been introduced to the central stage of audience study, challenging people’s stereotype about fans. Fans are considered as the most active and visible audiences since they are active producers rather than passive consumers. With the pervasiveness of the digital media, fans are provided with more opportunities to engage with the media production and challenge the authority of media industry. However, there are still some scholars argue that fans in digital era are prone to be exploited by media industry as free labor. These two contradictory aspects illustrate the main characteristics of fans in digital media era. This research aims to explore the reconfigured relationships between fans and professional media producers, critically discussing the extent to which fans are empowered and exploited in the digital media era. The analysis in this paper is organized from three main aspects: first, the transformation of fans’ images in the ever-changing media landscapes is illustrated, emphasizing the trend that fans are increasingly considered to be more active and influential in the media production process; second, the ways that fans engage with media production in the digital media era are explored in details, which supports the opinion that fans are empowered in digital media era; third, the emerging exploitations of fans online practice are demonstrated by employing the concept of free labor. By critically discussing both the empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era, in this paper, it is concluded that although the increasing productivity and influence of fans imply the reconfigured relationships between fans and media producers, the emerging exploitation of fans’ free labor should not be ignored which indicates that the power discrepancy between fans and media producers still exists. The empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era should not be considered as a zero-gum game. Since the digital fandom is more complicated than before, the binary opposition between empowerment and exploitation should be revisited and revised. Within the context of the emerging digital economy, fans and media producers are continuously negotiating with each other.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era
AU  - Zihan Wang
Y1  - 2020/03/17
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 45
EP  - 50
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11
AB  - Over the past several decades, the once despised fans have been introduced to the central stage of audience study, challenging people’s stereotype about fans. Fans are considered as the most active and visible audiences since they are active producers rather than passive consumers. With the pervasiveness of the digital media, fans are provided with more opportunities to engage with the media production and challenge the authority of media industry. However, there are still some scholars argue that fans in digital era are prone to be exploited by media industry as free labor. These two contradictory aspects illustrate the main characteristics of fans in digital media era. This research aims to explore the reconfigured relationships between fans and professional media producers, critically discussing the extent to which fans are empowered and exploited in the digital media era. The analysis in this paper is organized from three main aspects: first, the transformation of fans’ images in the ever-changing media landscapes is illustrated, emphasizing the trend that fans are increasingly considered to be more active and influential in the media production process; second, the ways that fans engage with media production in the digital media era are explored in details, which supports the opinion that fans are empowered in digital media era; third, the emerging exploitations of fans online practice are demonstrated by employing the concept of free labor. By critically discussing both the empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era, in this paper, it is concluded that although the increasing productivity and influence of fans imply the reconfigured relationships between fans and media producers, the emerging exploitation of fans’ free labor should not be ignored which indicates that the power discrepancy between fans and media producers still exists. The empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era should not be considered as a zero-gum game. Since the digital fandom is more complicated than before, the binary opposition between empowerment and exploitation should be revisited and revised. Within the context of the emerging digital economy, fans and media producers are continuously negotiating with each other.
VL  - 8
IS  - 2
ER  -

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Author Information

Zihan Wang

Department of Digital Humanities, Faculty of Arts & Humanities, King’s College London, London, UK

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Zihan Wang. (2020). The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era. Humanities and Social Sciences, 8(2), 45-50. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11

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ACS Style

Zihan Wang. The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2020, 8(2), 45-50. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11

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AMA Style

Zihan Wang. The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era. Humanit Soc Sci. 2020;8(2):45-50. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11,
  author = {Zihan Wang},
  title = {The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {8},
  number = {2},
  pages = {45-50},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20200802.11},
  abstract = {Over the past several decades, the once despised fans have been introduced to the central stage of audience study, challenging people’s stereotype about fans. Fans are considered as the most active and visible audiences since they are active producers rather than passive consumers. With the pervasiveness of the digital media, fans are provided with more opportunities to engage with the media production and challenge the authority of media industry. However, there are still some scholars argue that fans in digital era are prone to be exploited by media industry as free labor. These two contradictory aspects illustrate the main characteristics of fans in digital media era. This research aims to explore the reconfigured relationships between fans and professional media producers, critically discussing the extent to which fans are empowered and exploited in the digital media era. The analysis in this paper is organized from three main aspects: first, the transformation of fans’ images in the ever-changing media landscapes is illustrated, emphasizing the trend that fans are increasingly considered to be more active and influential in the media production process; second, the ways that fans engage with media production in the digital media era are explored in details, which supports the opinion that fans are empowered in digital media era; third, the emerging exploitations of fans online practice are demonstrated by employing the concept of free labor. By critically discussing both the empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era, in this paper, it is concluded that although the increasing productivity and influence of fans imply the reconfigured relationships between fans and media producers, the emerging exploitation of fans’ free labor should not be ignored which indicates that the power discrepancy between fans and media producers still exists. The empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era should not be considered as a zero-gum game. Since the digital fandom is more complicated than before, the binary opposition between empowerment and exploitation should be revisited and revised. Within the context of the emerging digital economy, fans and media producers are continuously negotiating with each other.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Complicated Digital Fandom: Empowerment and Exploitation of Fans in Digital Media Era
AU  - Zihan Wang
Y1  - 2020/03/17
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 45
EP  - 50
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20200802.11
AB  - Over the past several decades, the once despised fans have been introduced to the central stage of audience study, challenging people’s stereotype about fans. Fans are considered as the most active and visible audiences since they are active producers rather than passive consumers. With the pervasiveness of the digital media, fans are provided with more opportunities to engage with the media production and challenge the authority of media industry. However, there are still some scholars argue that fans in digital era are prone to be exploited by media industry as free labor. These two contradictory aspects illustrate the main characteristics of fans in digital media era. This research aims to explore the reconfigured relationships between fans and professional media producers, critically discussing the extent to which fans are empowered and exploited in the digital media era. The analysis in this paper is organized from three main aspects: first, the transformation of fans’ images in the ever-changing media landscapes is illustrated, emphasizing the trend that fans are increasingly considered to be more active and influential in the media production process; second, the ways that fans engage with media production in the digital media era are explored in details, which supports the opinion that fans are empowered in digital media era; third, the emerging exploitations of fans online practice are demonstrated by employing the concept of free labor. By critically discussing both the empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era, in this paper, it is concluded that although the increasing productivity and influence of fans imply the reconfigured relationships between fans and media producers, the emerging exploitation of fans’ free labor should not be ignored which indicates that the power discrepancy between fans and media producers still exists. The empowerment and exploitation of fans in digital media era should not be considered as a zero-gum game. Since the digital fandom is more complicated than before, the binary opposition between empowerment and exploitation should be revisited and revised. Within the context of the emerging digital economy, fans and media producers are continuously negotiating with each other.
VL  - 8
IS  - 2
ER  -

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