The Barbs. The Arianators. The Beehive. The Swifties. Although these words might sound like gibberish, they actually hold value in the land of stan Twitter. Nevertheless, the term “stan Twitter” might also sound like gibberish to the majority of adults and teens without social media.
One may first question the meaning of the word “stan”
The word “stan” originates from Eminem’s hit song of the same name which was released Nov. 21, 2000. This song details the fictional story of a boy named Stan whose love for Eminem slowly becomes an obsession.
Almost two decades later, teenagers on the internet claimed this name and transformed the previous negative connotation. Stan is no longer just a fictitious character symbolic of obsession but is rather used as a noun, adjective, and verb online. In fact, the word was officially added to the Oxford dictionary in 2017 and to the Merriam Webster dictionary in 2019.
The noun “stan” refers to a person who is an enthusiastic and devoted fan. These stans usually have fan accounts online, and it is not uncommon to see some of these accounts having thousands of followers. When it comes to defining stan as a verb, Merriam Webster says that it means “to exhibit fandom to an extreme or excessive degree.”
So what is stan Twitter?
Stan Twitter is one of the biggest communities on the Twitter platform that bond (or fight) over their love for particular artists, celebrities, and shows. Within the community, there are hundreds of fan groups, most commonly called fandoms, with identifiable names. However, do not confuse these fandoms for the average fan club.
One of the biggest groups within stan Twitter is the fanbase for the Korean boy band BTS. They call themselves “ARMY,” which stands for adorable representative M.C for youth. While this boy band is from South Korea, their fans are from all over the world; it would be impossible to calculate the number of ARMYs on Twitter, one fan account for BTS has 4.7 million followers, while another fan account, @USBTSARMY, has over 600,000 followers and doubles as an official non-profit organization.
Stan accounts on Twitter go over and beyond for the people that they love and admire from far away. These fanbases will do anything to protect whoever they stan, which is the reason why many problems arise in the community. However, we cannot deny that stan Twitter holds an essential part of success in the entertainment industry. These stans help promote new album releases and seasons of shows in a way that challenges the traditional press. Stan Twitter is becoming its own culture and even has its own slang. There is no doubt that this community will continue to grow as well as its impact.