Alisha Menzies, Ph.D.Gibson, Genoa2021-08-192021-08-192021-08http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11868/2098This study aims to investigate the changing idea of what it means to be a fan in recent years through an interconnected web of social media relationships and decreasing authenticity factors. By contextually analyzing an existing fandom, The BeyHive, and combining the research and scholarship of pop culture, mediated pop culture, fandom, and social media, I can contextually analyze fandom, celebrity, and authenticity to consider the changing nature of fandom culture. The analysis concluded that while celebrity culture and social media continue to grow as a part of our society, it also damages the existence of fandom culture as we know it. By looking at the cycling effects mediated pop culture, celebrity, and fandom culture have on each other, we have seen how celebrities shape our behaviors as we, in turn, shape theirs.en-USPop cultureFandom cultureSocial mediaThe BeyhiveCelebrity cultureMediated pop cultureThesis