I’m a total fanboi. I feel lucky to get to be a genuine fan and it informs much of my product development thinking. Fandoms can make and break products, so I try to always start from a hopefuly plae when I learn something I’ve built has fans.

It probably helps that when it comes to books (authors, really), movies, music, journalism, video games, and cooking, I enjoy being deeply, genuinely, unironically excited about the topic. With food, The Menu perhaps hit a little too close to home, though I still don’t have a Pacojet but would happily create pacotizing sponcon.

Surfing in Costa Rica, I crossed paths with a Hollywood production executive who’s worked on movies I adore. Trying (and failing) to be cool and not fall into full-on movie nerddom. Trying not to hijack the entire conversation into a deep analysis of the Sinners dance scene, I was reflecting on how lucky I’ve been to get to work on my fandoms.

Fanning at Work

I dove into music at EMI. Spent more time on video games and virtual worlds than any other single product category. Books and writing were the foundation of Ampersand. Of course, journalism with NewsArc and SmartNews. Nothing with food or movies (yet) but it’s worked out pretty well to let my career chase my fan interests.

It’s more than just finding rewarding work, or work you’re an expert in. For me, there’s a real joy in working on products and content where I’m actively a fan of what competitors are doing, where I’d be spending time discussing and debating the topic with coworkers even if we weren’t working on it.

Breaking Down Fandom

I always think about fans and fandom when building products. Games and movies have complex relationships with their fans — when fandom becomes entitlement, toxicity inevitably follows which is incredibly unpleasant for everyone involved — but when products engage with fans productively, there’s real joy and learning to be had. Erin Reilly is a pioneer of fan research. Her work on “fan favorites” is worth a read for any product developer or community manager.

My experiences with products that engaged her different motivators is a topic for another post, but my top level advice is to be excited about deep fandoms, to expect them to develop around any product or experience that achieves product-market fit. To be open to how fandoms can have very similar forms of engagement and excitement, even when they are passionate about something that isn’t your favorite. Like every aspect of product and experience development, you’re constantly balancing a wild confidence and optimism to even try with a deep humility that your customers will always be right.

Fandom is the same. When fans emerge of your product, it’s just as likely (maybe more likely) to be there for some minor feature you barely remember adding as for the core, front-of-the-box element that you’ve been bragging about in press releases. That’s OK, but it sometimes makes it harder to investigate the emerging fandom with genuine curiosity and respect.

Fandoms easily fall into us-versus-them thinking. Don’t miss out on connecting with fans who are incredibly excited about what you’ve built.