Stevie's+Twilight+Fandimonium

The Twilight Saga has taken the world by storm. The four books, written by Stephanie Meyers became an instant sensation and vampire fever set in. Two of the four movies; Twilight and New Moon were box office sensations and the third installment, Eclipse, is set to be released later this year. As a result, the Twilight Saga has developed an incredibly strong following. Affectionately known as "twihards" kids, teens and adults alike have created fan based communities all around the world.

The website http://toptwilightblogs.com provides links over one hundred different Twilight blogs with varying focuses and interests.

As you can see on the left, a drop down menu allows users to navigate through character or movie/book specific blogs as well as general Twilight Fan communities. Additionally, TopTwilightBlogs.com has links to pages for Twilight Saga fans around the world such as TwilightSweden, TwilightItalia, Russia, Germany, Portugal and more! Each individual link shows both monthly and average site usage activity as well as a brief description of what their site hosts and boasts.

TwiFan is an online fan community that hosts blogs, twilight news/updates, pictures, widgets, music media and even connects users to other fans. Self described as "Twispace" the site prides itself on the motto; " Twilight for the people by the people" and is a place where twilight-obssesed can come and share, talk to and learn from people just like them.



On the TwiFan site, there are over 1,557 groups members can join based on their specialized interests, character favorites etc. The first group that caught my eye was "I'm Having Trouble Dealing With the Fact that Edward Cullen is a Fictional Character". In this group 73 other people have become so emotionally involved in the lead vampire character they have allowed him to cross the barrier from fiction to reality. Members post pictures, responses and feelings about Edward the fictional character but more importantly, Robert Pattinson, the actor who plays him. Beyond groups there are many full websites, blogs, chat rooms, picture libraries and beyond dedicated solely to the beauty that is Robert Pattinson. Below are links to some of these sites:



http://www.robsessedpattinson.com http://robertpattinsonwho.com http://letterstorob.wordpress.com

A central issue to Twilight fans is the debate __Team Edward vs. Team Jacob__. For those who have not read the books or seen the movie, both Edward (a vampire) and Jacob (a shape-shifter) are in love with Bella (human). Edward and Bella are in love, but Jacob never gives up hope that one day Bella will choose him. The actor who plays Jacob, Taylor Lautner, has become a heartthrob in his own right. All different forms of popular culture collectables have sprung up favoring Team Edward or Team Jacob. In November of 2009 in accordance with the release of the New Moon Movie, Burger King offered limited edition collectable cups for patrons with affinities towards either Edward or Jacob. The debate reached critical level when Taylor Lautner hosted Saturday Night Live and parodied the sensation. Which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkm-zXCDbDU. On the TwiFan site there are multiple groups whose dedicated members argue on the merits and of course "hotness" of Edward and Jacob.

Personally, I am on Team Edward. I joined the group and wrote on the group wall.

Next, I joined the group FOREVER EDWARDBELLA to express my sentiments towards both the fictional relationship between Edward and Bella as well as Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. There are 87 members and the administrator of the group is based in Italy. The group posts pictures, paraparazzi clips and updates about them.

Earlier today during my usual browse of PerezHilton, I came across a post that talked about Rob and Kristen's relationship and included a quote that basically insinuated that they were together. I posted my findings on the EDWARDBELLA FOREVER wall because i felt my fellow enthusiasts would enjoy this newfound information. And here is the hyperlink for the actual article. Thanks Perez! http://perezhilton.com/2010-02-23-r-patz-admits-to-screwing-kstew One of the great features on TwiFans.com is the chatting with other twilight fans. So I decided to take my chances and ask my fellow TwiFans how they felt about twilight fan communities online. Unfortunately as you can see, only one person responded to me by saying "I think they rock!" It seems like the people chatting knew each other because they were talking directly to one another and telling each other what they had to do in school that day.

In the background of this screen shot you can see MyPage. On MyPage you can track all of your activity on the site. Im trying to build up my page so i uploaded some of my favorite twilight photos (from google) and joined some more groups. I don't have any friends on the site so i dont have any "gifts"...yet! Some of the groups require the administrator's permission to join. I found one group called "Cullen Wedding" that I wanted to join because Edward and Bella's wedding was my favorite scene/part in all of the four books combined, so i asked for special acceptance. I also joined the group "Im Having an Affair With Twilight" and "Eternally Twilight" On MyPage, I uploaded a picture (of Edward and Bella) as my profile picture. To see my entire page click here: http://www.twifans.com/profile/Stevie Many members of the TwiFans website post picture manipulations that they made themselves. They import the faces of characters and create images of scenes from books and upcoming movies. Some look so real you cant even tell which are real and which are not. Below are some of the best ones I have come across, and i commented on a few of them. In an attempt to become more involved with other fans on the site, I started a discussion group topic about what its like to be a fan of twilight on this website or any other websites. Hopefully i will get some feedback and then I can start building relationships from there and learn/get insight about other forms of Twilight fandom! I joined three more groups!

I got two responses to my discussion question forum about what its like and why people are so enthusiastic about being Twilight Fans. ANow that I have actively participated in every and all elements of the TwiFans website. I have decided to explore a more forum-discussion based fan website. After looking through a few, I decided to look into the website TwilightForums.com. The first thing I did once i accessed the site was to click on the Introduction Tab on the forum. Here, I found very explicit instructions about how to introduce my presence on the site. After I read the introduction page, I decided to register. Before allowing me to create my user name the site made me agree to the terms of use, which I read and subsequently agreed to. Once I registered, I created a new topic and introduced myself. Now that I am a member of this forum site, I looked through some of the topics and decided to post my thoughts in the Relationship section. Just as I was posting on another forum wall, I received this very interesting and bizarre private message. I then got another message fromt this person saying they forgot to ask the question they meant to. But then sent the same thing as before. So i responded and am now engaging in a private message thread with this person.

Angesaurr quickly responded with this question: So I responded: I thought this role playing game was very interesting and started thinking about how this "role playing game" was just a further extension of media fandom in a different form. Although I have a twitter but am not really active on it, I am still very curious about what this game entails, and how it connects other Twilight fans!!

She was very prompt with the response!

TheTwilightForums.com site is much more conducive to interacting with other members and Twilight Fans. People are direct and open with their private messages and are quick to invite you to join role playing games and discuss your love for twilight!