We asked her about her research into the series:
QUESTION: How did you approach researching this topic/theme?
MYRIAM BROUARD: "By studying online spaces through a method called "netnography," which looks at online cultures and communities by observing users' participation to understand their online social interactions and content. Research shows that when a hobby becomes "platform-visible," the fans often end up policing each other to survive the transition into the mainstream."
Q: How do you explain the growth of this series?
MB: "The growth of this series is staggering: in just one month, the show's U.S. streaming time jumped from 30 million to 324 million minutes. On the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3), the number of stories written by fans has skyrocketed from 360 to nearly 8,000. But when a niche book series becomes an overnight massive TV hit, the community around it changes in ways that aren't always positive, leading to a phenomenon called the "Ouroboros Effect," or accelerated fandom."
An Ouroboros ring: When a fandom grows this fast, communities don't have time to figure out their unwritten rules and values and, instead, enters a cycle like an Ouroboros the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail.
Q: What do you mean by this?
MB: "When a fandom grows this fast, communities don't have time to figure out their unwritten rules and values and, instead, enters a cycle like an Ouroboros the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail. That entails:
- The Loop: Fans work hard to share and promote what they love.
- The Success: Their passion makes the show a mainstream commercial success.
- The Change: That success brings in social media algorithms and corporate attention that change the community's original "vibe".
Q: What kind of impact can this have?
MB: "Soon, fans can start fighting. Instead of turning their ire toward the "big bad network," this can lead to internal conflict as "legacy" fans and "newcomers" clash over who is a "real" fan and whose participation actually counts."
