The Characteristics And Process Of Fans' Participating In Interaction In Virtual Community

The emergence of the Internet has changed the structure of various social organizations and the mode of social communication,triggering the reshaping and reorganization of the whole social structure as well as its organization mode,which leads us into a brand-new "virtual society".With the expansion of fans' impact and the enhancement of fans' industry penetration,fans have formed a new interpersonal interaction mode relying on virtual communities.In previous researches on interpersonal interaction,interaction theory involves face-to-face interpersonal interaction,and rarely involves non-face-to-face or interaction mediated by some technical media.However,the rise of the Internet makes the interaction of the body absent a common social phenomenon.Therefore,it is particularly necessary and urgent to figure it out how this new type of interaction works.This thesis take the "Jay2u Fans Association" community as an example to delve into the types and specific processes of interpersonal interaction in the community,subsequently explaining the real interaction in the online fan community.First and foremost,this research briefly describes and analyzes the research objects in terms of the interaction in the virtual fan community.Based on the long-term virtual ethnography,the "Jay2u Fans Association" community is essentially an informal virtual organization centered on idols with its own goals,regulations,core structure and operation process.Meanwhile,the Internet,which is regarded as the technological driving force for the development of the fan community,has continuously alerted the state of the fan community and the individual fans in the community,thus laying the foundation for the special interaction process in the online fan community.Secondly,this thesis elaborates the characteristics of interpersonal interaction feature in fan communities.Through observation and in-depth interviews,it turns out that the emergence of the online fan community has made up for the alienation of traditional fan relationships,which accounts for the interpersonal interaction within the community present a "online+offline" integrated communication mode.On the one hand,online interaction shows the characteristics of frequency and diversity that Fans enable to communicate around idol or fan life frequently and form "special codes" to separate alternative fans.On the other hand,offline interaction supplements fans' lack of cognition of online interpersonal interaction subjects and promotes the formation of long-term relationships within the fan community.On the basis of the above analysis,this research further discusses the specific process of interaction in the virtual fan community and divides it into three stages from shallow to deep perspective:first of all,fans are allowed to enter the community by virtue of their idol worship and common pursuit;Second,fans are spilt up into three levels:core fans,ordinary fans and marginal fans due to differences in community participation and economic investment,which presents a "pyramid" special structure.Last but not the least,fans at different levels based on their own needs form a stable"small group society",that is,a "detached community" with common goals,strong sense of identity and sense of belonging.The emergence of the Internet has indeed changed the characteristics and specific process of interpersonal interaction in the fan community.However,the research of fans is bound to be considered in the entire cultural industry system.Attempting to break away from the consciousness collection of the star-making industry,fans,idols and commercial capital have formed a complicated interactive relationship.On the one hand,relying on the development of the Internet,the idol operation team creates the illusion that fans' power is continuously expanding,and fans enjoy the ability to create income for idols while satisfying their own spirit and consumption needs;On the other hand,the intimate interaction in the fan community paralyzes fans' ability to think independently.Commercial groups obtain dividends by controlling the fan community,allowing fans to take the initiative to undertake the task of making stars,while enhancing fans'dependence on the community,which illustrates that the seemingly spontaneous interaction process in the fan community is actually controlled by commercial groups.