5 Ways to Make Fandom Friends
Fandom can be a great place to make friends who enjoy the same things you enjoy. While finding people who are the same fan of a somewhat obscure webcomic that you love can be hard in real life, it’s usually a little bit easier on the internet.
However, if you’re new in fandom, it can be hard to know how to start connecting with new people. A lot of the advice often handed out about making friends in real life either doesn’t apply or needs to be adapted to work in online spaces.
Here are some tips on making fandom friends:
1. Post on social media
Social media is the main place where conversations happen on the internet today, for better or worse. That’s true in fandom as much as it is in other communities. While there are a lot of ways that fans communicate with each other, a lot of it comes back to social media sites like Twitter or Tumblr.
Other fandom events are often organized and promoted using social media, so having a social media account will help you stay informed of things that you can participate in.
Social media also offers you a great chance to make friends by giving you a way to communicate with other fans. There’s no harm in responding to someone’s tweet with your own thoughtful opinion or complimenting a fanwork they created. The more conversations you start, the more likely you are to create lasting connections.
2. Comment on others’ fanworks
People who create fanworks, including fanfiction, fanart, and gifs, usually love getting kind comments on their work. While it isn’t guaranteed that you’ll become friends with an author, many fan creators do love interacting with people who enjoy their work, and this can be a great way to get active in fandom. Sharing your favorite fanworks on social media and other fandom spaces is also a great way to start conversations with fellow fans.
3. Make your own fanworks
Creating your own fanworks is also a great way to make friends. While the majority of people who read or look at a fanwork won’t end up commenting on the work, many still do, and these can start great conversations that even lead to friendships down the line.
Plus, creating fanworks is just a lot of fun! It gets you more involved with the community at large, and it means you can participate in fandom events, which helps forge even more connections.
You don’t need to be an expert artist or an amazing writer to start making fanworks either. Fanworks are a great place to learn a new skill and see what works and doesn’t work. While there will always be negative comments, fandom can be a very supportive place to be a creative as well.
4. Participate in fandom events
Fans are always holding events, both virtually and in person. Many fandoms have events such as gift exchanges where every participant creates a fanwork for someone else. These can be a lot of fun and help you connect with other fans. Other fandom events involve everyone creating fanworks around the same prompt. Yet another type of fandom event, called a Big Bang, involves a writer and an artist collaborating together to create something. All of these are great ways to become more involved in the community and talk to more people.
If you’d rather meet people in person, there are also in person events for many fandoms. Conventions in particular can be a great place to meet more people. While there are large conventions that many people travel from far and wide to attend, there are also many smaller ones all over the place. It’s worth researching to see what smaller conventions there are much closer to home. These smaller events can be great for finding fellow fans who also live nearby, and forming a real life friendship can be very rewarding for many fans.
5. Volunteer or run fandom events
Of course, some fans also have to organize all of these events, both digitally and in person, so one day, you may decide to do that as well, which only helps you meet more people!
I wouldn’t recommend jumping in the deep end on this one. Many people can be surprised at how much work it takes to organize a fandom event, even a digital one that seems relatively straight forward. It’s always good to have experience participating in a certain type of event before you help lead it.
However, once you think you’re ready, organizing the events yourself can be a fun time. That’s especially true if you’re running it with a whole group of people. Running an event together can also bring people closer. At the same time, it can be stressful and isn’t for everyone. You’ll need to be ready for ups and downs.
Making friends within fandom can feel challenging at times. Being primarily online means that many of the usual ways of making friends don’t apply. But fandom can also be a warm, welcoming place, and you can make some of your best friends through it if you only put yourself out there.
