In Synthesizing Research Methods, I limited my keyword perception to customer perception. My only publication focused on the great value the fan economy can bring to the business. My research interest is deeply related to marketing communication, and the reason is that I was once one of the samples of the fan economy; or, to speak commonly, I was once a crazy fan girl.

In my publication (which you can read on this site), my main case is Harper’s Bazaar’s digital magazine launch in China, which relies on featuring celebrities’ themes. And Harper’s Bazaar used purchase rankings to lure the celebrity’s rabid fans into buying multiple digital duplicates of the magazine to achieve the purpose of solidarity with celebrities and show fan identity. I sympathize with this phenomenon because I have done something similar: buying a lot of merchandise for anime characters and multiples of each. Since what I support are virtual characters, the reason for such a large purchase is more to consolidate my position in its fandom (these goods are made in China. Ironically, as a Chinese, I need to purchase on the Japanese website, then pay the exorbitant shipping costs to send it to China or the US). Even though all this has become a thing of the past for me, I still find discovering this act with its potential logic fascinating; of course, it is more like a “review” than a discovery for me.