Producer Fans: How Twilight Fans are Using Facebook to Blur the Lines Between Media Producers and Consumers

摘要

The purpose of this study is to understand how a new medium is used by Twilight literature fans and how users are gratified through their use of the new medium. A qualitative content analysis (with quantitative elements) of fan-based profiles will analyze the uses and gratifications ofTwilight-fans on Facebook. The fans of theTwilight Sagaby Stephenie Meyer are used as an example of how fans are blurring the lines between media content producers and media content consumers. Fans are categorized in one of two ways (consumer-fans and producer-fans). The uses and gratifications of the fans are analyzed to develop these two categories. Public Facebook profiles ofTwilightfans will be chosen at random for this research project and separated into the two defined categories.Consumer-fans are defined in this study as fans who use social networking sites to form communities in which they are able to find others of like-mind and express their thoughts and feelings toward their enjoyment of the subject matter. The producer-fan is defined as a fan of an original form of media who in turn generates media content based off of that original work.Facebook was originally launched as a website to allow college students to interact and connect on a virtual platform.Twilightfans use Facebook to create communities, share information and experiences, and to engage in their ownTwilight-based fan writing. Analysis of the profiles will illustrate the differences and/or similarities between producer-fan and consumer-fan uses and gratifications. While the act of fans producing their own media content based off of the original work of art is not unique within the history of fandom (Star Trek fans, Xena fans, etc.), the fact that fans are now using Facebook as a platform for fan-fiction writing and role-playing is. Despite the fact that Facebook has a uses policy that prevents the creation of false identities,Twilightfans are using this platform in order to createTwilightcharacter profiles and are using said profiles to create their own media content.This research performs a qualitative and quantitative content analysis with a purposive sample ofTwilightfan profiles on Facebook. The new terminology of producer-fan and consumer-fan is defined in this research because fans are using Facebook in divergent ways that must be addressed in other to further the current scholarship of fandom.