Sharing Your Passion - Making a Fan Page

What Are You Passionate About?

Almost everyone has something or someone that they really love. It’s human nature to seek out things in life which bring fun and give us pleasure, and to show enthusiasm towards what we enjoy. 

While some might deride “fangirls” or “fanboys”, we recognise the value of passionately supporting something or someone, and we’ve created a perfect space to you to celebrate your passions.

Read on to learn more about what it means to be a fan, and how you can create a lasting tribute to the person or people that you admire the most.

What Is a Fan?

A fan is a person who shows a strong interest, admiration and enthusiasm for something or someone. This could be a musician, film star or actor, book or movie, or even a politician. Or it could be a sports team, or a whole genre, such as sci-fi or fantasy.

The word “fan” originates from the word “fanatic”, a word first used around 1550 in England. Fanaticism is defined as “ a belief or behaviour involving uncritical zeal or an obsessive enthusiasm.” It was predominantly used in the context of religion and referred to blind faith and the persecution of people who dissented with a particular view. In the 17th century, if someone called you a fanatic they probably meant that you’d been possessed by a demon or were likely to be a proponent of burning heretics!

Fortunately, now, there are more pleasant connotations around being a fan. Being a fan is about more than having a mild liking for something, though - it’s a strong devotion to the concept or person in question. Sometimes this means some changes to the fan’s lifestyle. They might attend conventions, post online about the object of their admiration or collect items relating to them, maybe even decorating their home with emblems or memorabilia.

Why Being a Fan is Good For You

There is a growing field of evidence which shows that being a fan is actually good for you and brings health benefits as well as a sense of purpose. Fans have better mental health and a strong sense of belonging.

A  major part of being a fan is being part of a larger community. This could mean being a member of an official fan-club; older readers might remember sending off stamped addressed envelopes to join the snail mail fan clubs of the 80s, and getting signed postcards and badges in return through the post.

Young people, in particular, tend to build a community around the music that they like - it reflects who they are and sometimes who they are friend with, and they may dress and behave accordingly. This holds true for the indie kids of the 2020s, just as much as it did in the 1960s and 1970s when the youth of Britain identified themselves as mods or rockers.

There’s an ancient kind of tribalism about fandom, which we also see with sports fans too, who wear their team’s strip or colours and chant songs together. Sharing your passion with others makes you feel like you are part of something bigger than yourself. Science tells us that identifying with a sports team can help prevent depression, while music fans benefit from a huge dopamine release when their favourite band plays.

Research has also shown fans of sports and TV dramas to have advanced critical thinking - this seems to be partly connected with imagining complex situations involving sports players on the field, and suspending disbelief when immersing oneself in a complex alternative reality in a TV show. This is a far cry from the perceived lack of critical thinking of the religious fanatics of yore.

Why Make a Fan Page?

There are plenty of ways you can show your interest in something or someone online. You can follow them on social media or sign up to their mailing list, or write about them on your own social media. Some people even go so far as writing fan fiction about their heroes or heroines, or set stories in the fictitious worlds of the genre that they love.

Our offering goes further than this. You can write a whole page of your own, dedicated to the person or people that you admire, and that page will last forever on the internet. You might choose a famous musician like Adele or Prince, or a sporting legend like Sir Alex Ferguson.

Hi24 gives you the freedom to express your admiration in whichever way you choose - you can upload photographs and videos and tell your own story. Perhaps you’ve met your favourite celebrity in real life, or there’s a particular anecdote about them that you want to share? Maybe you want to tell the world about the first time you heard their music or saw one of their movies, or about where you were when your team won an important match.

Hi24 gives you a platform to share these memories.

You might also want to write a tribute to a lesser-known celebrity or personality. Perhaps there’s a band you love, who not many people have heard of, and you’d love them to have a wider audience. Or maybe there’s an influencer or writer who’s made a big difference to your life and you think their work could help other people.

Either way, Hi24 gives you the chance to show your appreciation. It’s more personal than “liking” a Facebook page or following someone on Twitter, and it has more depth than simply sharing snippets on social media. And who knows, the object of your admiration might even see your page, and appreciate knowing how much they are appreciated and loved.

Get Started Now!

Getting started is easy! All you need to do is go here and get started. 

Who will you choose? Film star, musician, influencer, author, sports hero? The options are endless and the choice is yours!