Community on the internet has been a focus for academic study. "Research into Internet communities and online behavior constituted one of the earliest and most dynamic fields of interest in the new field of Internet studies ... including understanding how social order was possible in mediated environments, the social and political dimensions of community, the impacts that online communities could have on their offline counterparts."[cit] Users have been drawn to YouTube, and other web 2.0 platforms in the name of community.

Jonathan Grey writes: "Televisual anti-fandom and non-fandom involve different viewing practices, different proximities from the text and, thus, different textualities." [cit]

"Although anti-fans attitudes towards a text are different from those of fans, their behaviors and strategies are often very similar," writes Melissa Click. [cit]