Negotiating fan identities on Facebook : the case of AKB48 fans

• Main Author: Wong, Stanley Wei Shuen
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55808
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Most studies of fan communities largely focus on homogenous communities, ignoring how fans construct their identities and display them within online sites containing heterogeneous communities that have their contexts collapsed, like Facebook. This study focuses on fans of AKB48, a Japanese idol group, and seeks to understand how they construct their fan identity within these spaces. Using a mix of participant observation, online and face-to-face interviews, and analysis of Facebook posts made by respondents, this paper shall argue that fans undertake presentation strategies and facework to present a fan identity that is acceptable to their non-fan-Friends and conveys enough information about themselves to fan-Friends on Facebook. This is informed by their perceived stereotypes against them by non-fans, and the composition of their Facebook friend network, and the tendency to avoid conflict. However, Facebook and real life are linked; presentation of fan-identities may fail because of this, which has negative consequences for fans.