Everyone who uses online media has an online identity, which is how people present themselves digitally. It is a term similar to persona, that was either reflecting the real-self or an imagined character. 

I also have an online identity throughout my social media accounts. My first and personal account portrays me as one part of my usual self, which is slightly adventurous, shy, calm and growth. In real life, I can be quite talkative to people that I’m close with and very emotional (that calmness hides my anxiety). When I look back, I notice that I seek approval through the likes as it makes me more confident that my post matches myself. However, since I am not a social person, I only post once in a while and soon that search for validation disappears. 

This brings me to reflect on the image that is portrayed by the online public figure, especially those who I feel like I have connection with. This is called a parasocial relationship where the audience perceives a one-sided connection with an online presence of a public figure (Martin, 2023). For instance, I recently love watching co-op gameplay of Stumpt and feel like I have a bond with one of the gamers as most of our stances on mundane stuff are the same. It feels like I know him closely despite there is no interaction between us, even through the comments section. Nonetheless, I know the boundary between attachment and entertainment and thus I remind myself to shape my identity based on my own values, and not based on people who don’t know me. 

At the same time as a fan of various fandom, there are various signs of fan echochamber where fans remain in their comfort zone of biased views, limited exposure and reinforcing belief (Cabianca et al., 2020). Some echochamber that I have seen include blind loyalty, assuming the correct interpretation, and selective in accepting storyline as canon. I realized that I’ve been trapped in the echochamber for a while but now, I've been trying to step out of the bubble to expand my viewpoint from various aspects. 

One of the echochamber that I've noticed recently is fans directing their anger/disappointment toward the artist, rather than the management/company who are responsible for the artist’s role. 

believing that artists are responsible for their fan’s actions. It causes the fans to collectively boycott or harass the artist despite the artist having no control over the issue.This leads to victimization of the artist as it was not their responsibility to take the fault of their high-ups’ decision.

Two situations that I encounter is the negative response toward the voice actor (VA) of Taki Ibuki in Akatsuki from Ensemble Stars update in 2024, and controversy of Xiao Zhan and AO3 fandom in 2020. Both incidents consist of instances where fans (whether within fandom or from other fandom) blamed the issue on the artists rather than the actual people who are responsible. The VA of Ibuki was targeted simply for voicing his assigned character, while Xiao Zhan became the main target for his fanbase that he has no direct control of. 

This situation makes me reflect on how my opinion was shaped by public opinion, either through influential people or echochamber. It helps me to be more self-aware in online content and community, and think deeply before making my judgement. I can tell that if I was extremely active and attached to the fandom, there is a possibility that I might join in sharing boycotting contents. 

Fragments of Fanatic's Library

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