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After the release of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s 2016 audiovisual album Lemonade<\/em>, fans of the singer went into a frenzy. While many were left in awe of the artist\u2019s project, others felt sympathy for the superstar, who, throughout the album, chronicled her husband Jay-Z\u2019s infidelity.<\/p>\n Unfaithful partners are not unique to stardom, but a specific subset of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s core fans, often referred to as the \u201cBeyhive,\u201d launched themselves on a hunt for Jay-Z alleged lover. Eventually, the Beyhive zoned in on the rapper\u2019s former business partner, Rachel Roy, and launched a deluge of social media insults and threats on her and her daughter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Clearly, this was a case of fandom gone wrong.<\/p>\n But digital identity is evolving, and with it fandom itself. Web3 technology enables fans to interact with each other, media, content creators, and even the celebrities they adore \u2014 all in a more interpersonal way. By envisioning fandom as a two-way street, both the fans and creators could enjoy more humanizing experiences. In addition to these, there could also be incentives that fundamentally transform the way we think about the concept of celebrity itself.<\/p>\n A fandom is best defined as\u00a0a\u00a0group of individuals who have feelings of empathy and camaraderie for one another because they share a common interest. Today, many fandoms are full-blown subcultures, with their own way of speaking, dressing, and acting. <\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t always this way. <\/p>\n Once, fans could only converge in person or online in chat rooms, but social media provided new channels for people to communicate, offering new ways to empathize and relate to each other. This, in turn, even gave rise to superfans<\/a>. And these devout lovers of their own unique interests found they no longer needed to operate in silos.<\/p>\n Throughout the 2010s, fans were empowered to share their fandom on social media for all to see, even gaining the ability to follow the daily lives of their peers and idols. From Justin Bieber\u2019s \u201cBeliebers\u201d, to the \u201cWeebs\u201d and \u201cOtakus\u201d of anime fandom, and even devotees of the Fifty Shades Of Grey<\/em> film and book franchise, fandoms went mainstream<\/a> thanks to platforms like Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter.<\/p>\n The power that social media affords us to quickly and efficiently communicate with people all over the world has now been distilled even further. And after nearly two decades of stagnancy, the concept of fandom is getting a major facelift in Web3. <\/p>\n As artist Dave Krugman stated in a previous interview with nft now<\/a>, similar to how social media opened up new channels for fans to communicate, the blockchain has made it possible to create a close tie between fans and creators. \u201cIn the age of interconnected creative communities, the name of the game is incentive alignment. If the things that benefit my audience also benefit me, we are able to create a social symbiosis,\u201d Krugman said. <\/p>\n In Web3, fandoms are manifesting by way of NFTs. While the jury is still out on whether gaming and other forms of entertainment could yield the same community-building results as digital collectibles, the NFT space has become a stomping ground for art and tech fandoms.<\/p>\n A lot of people think Bored Apes is only cool because they can make you rich. But the reality is that this isn\u2019t really the case. While there is much to be said about the earning potential of NFTs that brings consumers into the space, the community <\/em>aspect of the non-fungible ecosystem has continued to give greater meaning<\/a> to the blockchain-based microcosm.<\/p>\n Regardless of gains and losses, Web3 users choose to engage with each other via Twitter and Discord not just to swap trading tips, but to make friends, share culture, root for their common interests, and feel like they belong. This is exactly why Bored Apes and other membership-based NFT projects have gained such prominence.<\/p>\n Of course, while BAYC certainly sets the highest example of the community-building possibilities in Web3, it\u2019s just one fandom erected through the use of generative avatar (PFP) NFTs. There are countless other project and collection-centric fandoms that have come into being through NFTs.<\/p>\nFandom has evolved in the last century<\/h2>\n
How have fandoms changed in Web3?<\/h2>\n