Snowflake Challenge Day 14: Crystal Ball
Jan. 14th, 2019 11:55 pmDay 14: Talk about what you think the future holds for fandom.
That's not a small question, is it? Certainly not one with an easy answer. But it's one that's often on my mind, and especially now, given how it feels like fandom is at a crossroads of sorts. Not just because of the changes at Tumblr; although certainly a factor, I feel as though people have drifting away from Tumblr for awhile now, and different sites have been attempting to supplant Tumblr as a fannish platform for awhile now -- there was the Imzy experiment, and now Pillowfort seems to be giving it a go, although I don't have much confidence in them. The resurgence of Dreamwidth continues, and so far has seemed more successful than past efforts to lure folks here from Tumblr. But there are reasons to think that might not work out long term -- in this post,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
muccamukk suggests that the lack of active fannish communities makes it too hard for new fans to meet each other, and that's a legit concern. (h/t to snickfic for the link! I still need to read through the discussion, which at first glance looks really interesting.) I also think people are going to miss the ease of sharing, and the multimedia options that Tumblr provided. So while I imagine that there will still be some fandom activity on DW in five years, I don't know that it will become the one true fandom platform.
Inasmuch as fandom ever had one true platform. I suspect that LJ is the closest we ever came, but even LJ wasn't a good home for artists, vidders, and other multimedia folks. There's a reason Tumblr took off the way it did. If Tumblr had ever embraced fandom -- allowing friends lock, better blocking and filtering tools, follow lists, and other better ways to personalize the experience -- I don't think we'd have ever left. But Tumblr was alway hostile to the way that many fans prefer to interact, and disallowing adult content was the last straw. (Has any fannish platform ever truly survived an adult content ban to remain a primary hub for fandom? FF.net, LJ, Tumblr... I seem to recall that was also one reason for the exodus from Yahoo! Groups.) Meanwhile, AO3 and DW were built by fans, for fans, and although their backend models are quite different, the end result is similar. Neither platform will ever serve every fan's needs, but I doubt that's possible anyway.
If I have an in-five-years prediction, it's this: AO3 will remain a significant platform for fanfiction, and DW an important hub for personal journals and conversation, but at least one shiny new site will rise to take their place, at least for a little while. (Probably a platform we can't even imagine yet.) Meanwhile, fans will continue their retreat into "walled gardens" like Discord and Slack -- private spaces for private conversations. Part of me hates this trend, but I also entirely understand the appeal. Public spaces have grown more treacherous to navigate in recent years, and it can be nice to have a place to escape from it all.
For me, it comes down to this: when choosing a social media platform, the social is more important than the media. Different media platforms attract different types of community, to be sure, but if the community I want to be part of is on a particular platform, that's where I'll be. That's why I stuck with Tumblr as long as I did, and that's why I hang out on a private Slack, and that's why I'll be on DW and Twitter and even Facebook as long as people I care about are also there. And I don't think that's about to change any time soon.
That's not a small question, is it? Certainly not one with an easy answer. But it's one that's often on my mind, and especially now, given how it feels like fandom is at a crossroads of sorts. Not just because of the changes at Tumblr; although certainly a factor, I feel as though people have drifting away from Tumblr for awhile now, and different sites have been attempting to supplant Tumblr as a fannish platform for awhile now -- there was the Imzy experiment, and now Pillowfort seems to be giving it a go, although I don't have much confidence in them. The resurgence of Dreamwidth continues, and so far has seemed more successful than past efforts to lure folks here from Tumblr. But there are reasons to think that might not work out long term -- in this post,
muccamukk suggests that the lack of active fannish communities makes it too hard for new fans to meet each other, and that's a legit concern. (h/t to snickfic for the link! I still need to read through the discussion, which at first glance looks really interesting.) I also think people are going to miss the ease of sharing, and the multimedia options that Tumblr provided. So while I imagine that there will still be some fandom activity on DW in five years, I don't know that it will become the one true fandom platform.Inasmuch as fandom ever had one true platform. I suspect that LJ is the closest we ever came, but even LJ wasn't a good home for artists, vidders, and other multimedia folks. There's a reason Tumblr took off the way it did. If Tumblr had ever embraced fandom -- allowing friends lock, better blocking and filtering tools, follow lists, and other better ways to personalize the experience -- I don't think we'd have ever left. But Tumblr was alway hostile to the way that many fans prefer to interact, and disallowing adult content was the last straw. (Has any fannish platform ever truly survived an adult content ban to remain a primary hub for fandom? FF.net, LJ, Tumblr... I seem to recall that was also one reason for the exodus from Yahoo! Groups.) Meanwhile, AO3 and DW were built by fans, for fans, and although their backend models are quite different, the end result is similar. Neither platform will ever serve every fan's needs, but I doubt that's possible anyway.
If I have an in-five-years prediction, it's this: AO3 will remain a significant platform for fanfiction, and DW an important hub for personal journals and conversation, but at least one shiny new site will rise to take their place, at least for a little while. (Probably a platform we can't even imagine yet.) Meanwhile, fans will continue their retreat into "walled gardens" like Discord and Slack -- private spaces for private conversations. Part of me hates this trend, but I also entirely understand the appeal. Public spaces have grown more treacherous to navigate in recent years, and it can be nice to have a place to escape from it all.
For me, it comes down to this: when choosing a social media platform, the social is more important than the media. Different media platforms attract different types of community, to be sure, but if the community I want to be part of is on a particular platform, that's where I'll be. That's why I stuck with Tumblr as long as I did, and that's why I hang out on a private Slack, and that's why I'll be on DW and Twitter and even Facebook as long as people I care about are also there. And I don't think that's about to change any time soon.