Fansite

A fansite or fan site (also named fanpage) is a website created and maintained by a fan(s) or devotee(s) interested in a celebrity, thing, or a particular cultural phenomenon. The phenomenon can be a book, television show, movie, comic, band, sports team, game or similar.

Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, biographies, storyline plots), pictures taken from various sources, the latest news related to their subject, media downloads, links to other, similar fansites and the chance to talk to other fans via discussion boards. They often take the form of a blog, highlighting the latest news regarding the fansite subject.

Many sites utilize community and social networking tools to augment the experience.

Most fansites are unofficial, but a few are officially endorsed, where the subject will supply material and possibly reimbursement for the expense and bother of running the site. To state that they are unofficial, many fan webmasters put a disclaimer on a visible place on the website, which sometimes also includes the copyright of the site. Many celebrities prefer to create and run their own sites, in order to control the content and perhaps retail their personal views. They employ their own webmaster and own the copyright.

Motivations

A studycite web | url=http://www.amber-light.co.uk/resources/whitepapers/designing_fan_services.pdf | title=Fan Psychology: Designing Effective Fans Services Online (Whitepaper) | date= | accessdate=2008-09-18 | publisher=Amberlight Human Computer Interactions | author=] suggests that unofficial fansites are often built as an alternative to the "hard sell" approach of official fansites that carry commercial messages.

A classification system developed by Wann [Wann, D. L. Schrader, M. P. Wilson, A. M (1999) Sport fan motivation: questionnaire validation, comparisons by sport, and relationship to athletic motivation Journal of SportBehavior (JSB), 22(1), 114 - 139.] breaks down eight motives of fandom. These motives, particularly those related to group affiliation and self esteem, are a driving factor in the creation of unofficial fansites.

Satisfying the social psychology needs of group affiliation and self esteem by visiting fansites, and in particular participating in the community aspects of fansites, appear to serve to increase fan behavior.

Research of inter-personal attraction indicates that people generally prefer to socialize with those who are similar to them. [Rubin, Z. (1973). Liking and loving. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.] For example, sports fans fulfill this need by attending sporting events in person. In the online world, fans fulfill this need by building and/or participating in online fansites.

Many fans prefer to visit unofficial fansites for fan-related services, but still prefer an official fansite as the primary source for accurate information since it affords the closest affiliation with the target itself.

References

ee also

*Fan club
*Fan art
*Fan fiction