Brony research thoughts

[Lockheed 44]

Hi guys

For the past six months I have been studying the brony community (as well as Justin Bieber's Belieber fandom), which has resulted in a master thesis on online fandom and how media companies should, for a lack of a better word, "manage" them. 

 

As, I consider myself as a fan my number 1 priority was to speak for the fans as I believe that many companies just exploit their fanbases without actually showing appreciation of them. As I am a business school scholar, my primary goal was to investigate how value is created in fandoms. Anyways, I just wanted to share my results

 

I found a rather complex relationship between the fandom and the fan object. Here, I argued that the brony fandom is not only about MLP, but it just as much, and even more about connecting with others. Essentially, much of the value comes from participating in the fandom and not necessarily in the act of watching MLP:FiM.

 

What do you think about this? Do you agree with me on this or isn't the fandom that important to you? I would love to hear your thoughts and please feel free to ask questions I have attached the full-length thesis if somebody out there is interested https://www.academia.edu/26626889/Fandom_in_the_Digital_Age

 

Thank you for welcoming me to the community. I have really enjoyed my time here

 

[Jeric 46,835]

A Masters Thesis? Business academia? You absolutely just entered my sphere of knowledge! I will absolutely devour this later today. My concentration was finance, so my Thesis was fairly pedestrian by comparison. I do agree with your conclusion, but I'm interested to see if you tackled the psychology or marketing ramifications. That may be outside of the scope of you research though.

 

Either way. I'll let you know what I think.

 

Also +1 for Excalibur reference in username and avatar

[TinkyBlue 71]

Here, I argued that the brony fandom is not only about MLP, but it just as much, and even more about connecting with others. Essentially, much of the value comes from participating in the fandom and not necessarily in the act of watching MLP:FiM.

 

I completely agree ! I really like the show, but the thing I love the most is seeing how it inspires its fans. There are so much fanwork, and even some with such high quality, like Warpout's Lullaby for a Princess animation (and even Ponyphonic's Lullaby for a Princess actual song) or Fallout Equestria (like the story or not, you can't deny how much work went into this fanfic).

[Lockheed 44]

A Masters Thesis? Business academia? You absolutely just entered my sphere of knowledge! I will absolutely devour this later today. My concentration was finance, so my Thesis was fairly pedestrian by comparison. I do agree with your conclusion, but I'm interested to see if you tackled the psychology or marketing ramifications. That may be outside of the scope of you research though.

 

Either way. I'll let you know what I think.

 

Also +1 for Excalibur reference in username and avatar

 

 

Yay! I am so looking forward to your thoughts.

 

In this study I was more concerned with fandom from a consumer behaviour and branding perspective, which is kind of atypical in fan studies. I have actually also written a paper on the brony fandom from a psychology/sociology perspective I fell in love with the community back then and had so much more to explore!

 

However this time, I really wanted to emphasize that I consider fans as more "advanced" consumers, who consumes for the emotional rewards that the product gives them. This stands in great contrast to current perception of consumers which is often tend to focus on being symbol-driven e.g. people buying Starbucks just for the symbol value of walking with a Starbucks cup. As such, I believe that marketing and consumer behaviour scholars can learn a lot from fans! 

I completely agree ! I really like the show, but the thing I love the most is seeing how it inspires its fans. There are so much fanwork, and even some with such high quality, like Warpout's Lullaby for a Princess animation (and even Ponyphonic's Lullaby for a Princess actual song) or Fallout Equestria (like the story or not, you can't deny how much work went into this fanfic).

 

Yes, exactly! In my paper I also call the relationship for "symbiotic". Like both Hasbro and the Bronies need each other to survive. The bronies use MLP:FiM to facilitate the community engagement that is beyond canon and where the show perhaps isn't that important, but the community still needs the show to exist in the first place and to further develop. It is though interesting to consider whether the community at one point in future don't even need MLP:FiM, because the community is so strong in itself. I believe that this might be true with the bronies, but with the beliebers I think that the fandom will slowly die if Justin stops making music/being in the spotlight.  

[Foxy Socks 2,596]

I think it is both of course. The main part of being in a fandom other than being a fan is being in the fandom! I love the show and the community, even if it can have issues. Without a community, there isn't a fandom.