Fan Behavior 101

I have never been so involved as a fan before. Thanks to Twitter that I get to engage in many fan stuff especially with my main idol, Coco Martin. This preoccupation began when I started tweeting about my then favorite primetime entertainment fare- Walang Hanggan. I wanted to share my thoughts on Coco and the teleserye and so I decided to sign up for a Twitter account. I got to know many personalities online, most of them share my liking for Coco and some of them came from the people behind the much-acclaimed teledrama. Needless to say, I have had not a few unsavory encounters online with fans who do not share my thoughts and opinions.

I have been called "matanda", "bobo", etc by fans of a particular celeb who I don't take kindly to, I must admit, because I just don't like her. My opinion of her is so transparent and her fans can read through my tweets. I am not sorry about not liking her in the same manner her fans seemed not sorry for wishing me ill everytime they read something I tweeted which ran counter to their worship.

I would like to think they are young and I should just extend to them the patience and understanding I give to my students but some actually get to my nerves at times. I also found out they are not all teen-agers . Some are probably as old as I am. On Twitter, I have tweeted one after another, some tips on how to behave as a fan. Let me recall some of these and call the lesson Fan Behavior 101. They are very applicable not just to my non-friends online but to me as well as I do not profess to act like I should all the time.

1. Celebs are private individuals. They only owe us their popularity which they gained through their talents. They do not owe us their personal lives.
2. Our idols may have had projects with a "ka-loveteam" but they should be allowed to grow in their craft and not be limited to doing projects with whoever we prefer.
3. Celebs, as human beings, also suffer from fatigue and could sometimes be grouchy or simply not in the mood. Let us not hate them just because they didn't smile at us.
4. Actors play different roles. Let us learn to separate roles from characters and let us not begrudge critics of the characters they play.
5. Bash the character not the actor although it may be true that the character simulates the actor's real persona at times.
6. Let us not impose on our idols who to love or do a project with. We can only suggest.
7. If we can't help but be negative about a celeb, there's this DM or PM feature we can use.
8. Let us respect the IG account of celebs. Let us not comment on their person using their own accounts or bash them about their own posts.
9. If we profess to support an actor, we should also be happy even if they get paired with another for as long as the project is a step up in their careers.
10. Let us not campaign against a celeb just because he gets in the way of a loveteam we love.

I could go on and on. What about you? Can you add to the list here about how fans like us must behave so we do not act like fantards?