A review by bella613
Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It by Kaitlyn Tiffany

reflective medium-paced

2.5

This was disappointing. There was SO much potential in the topic but it just wasn't explored. I was really interested for the first few chapters and then I realized it was just a book on One Direction. There's nothing wrong with writing what you know, but of all the fandoms to write about, I personally think that One Direction's Fandom is neither representative nor inspiring. There are brief touches on fandoms outside music, and a tiny section (like a paragraph each) on Barbs vs Beliebers, The Beatles, and kpop in general. She looks a little into fandom wars but doesnt comment on how this has shaped or "created the intenet" as we know it. A giant section of the book is about Larry and a fake pregnancy joke inside one direction, which is frankly embarrassing for anyone who has ever considered themselves a fan of anything. Nothing about real-person smut fanfiction or shipping celebrities to the point that they must speak out and ask for it to stop, is okay or true fan behavior. It's horrible and mean and the opposite of consent, treating the person/people you "support" like your dolls rather than real people. It's worth writing on, but this book almost romanticizes and jokes about it, which is just not it. Why does she not explain how comradery in fandoms can be a giant power for good? Providing support for not only the fandom citizens but also outreach in charity donations, natural disaster relief, and speaking out on mental health and other health awareness? Why does she not emphasize the fact that fandom connections surpass class, ethnicity, gender, age, location, abilities, and language? Why does she not explore how it can give people reasons to love themselves through a love of others and their idols? Twitter is known as the most toxic place within most fandoms, and yet it's pretty much the only online space she mentions--even though the title implies that this book will comment on changes to the internet caused by fandoms. Accepting that this is a book only focusing on music fandom (which is what I'm mainly interested and involved in anyway) she misses almost everything in fandom worlds by focusing solely on One Direction, and even still outlining only what is widely known to people outside the One Direction fandom. (I learned nothing new about One Direction despite listening to an entire book on One Direction) 
She does look into chart manipulation, proxy streaming, etc but doesn't really talk about it beyond a brief explanation that it's considered good fan behavior by some and dishonest by others. There is very little said about fan account social media, and nothing at all about fan-made online communities,  fandom sourced  and aimed businesses, or even fan merch and edit accounts. There isn't even any mention of the main fandom-purposed apps and websites like Stationhead, Vlive, Weverse, Bubble, Cheoaedol, or voting apps for awards. These are all huge driving factors in shaping  internet interaction even outside of fandoms, and definitely worth exploring.