Expound Your Admiration

I once read this story about a guy in Indiana who created a unauthorized fan page about his favorite band - the Beastie Boys. He did a good job, enough so that his page came to the attention of the band and their record company. Rather than sue his ass for copyright infringement they brought him to LA and gave him the job of a lifetime. He worked with the band as their "technology consultant". He even got to go on tour with them so he could chronicle their tour with daily website updates. He's gone on to creating big-time websites for the Hollywood entertainment industry.

Could the a similar story happen to you? Perhaps, but don't quit school or your your day job until you get that phone call.

Your motivation for creating a fan page should be your unconditional love and admiration for the subject of your website. Your subject could be your favorite actor, actress, band, writer, performer, celebrity, supermodel, sports star, sports team, philosopher, poet, spiritual leader, hero, or even politician. Your subject can of course be living or dead. Actually there's nothing stopping you from creating a fan page for your favorite vehicle, computer, video game, software, restaurant or bar, food or drink, or even your favorite place or country. I'm trying to make the point that a fan page can be about almost anything. What makes it a fan page is its focus and your enthusiasm.

Fan or tribute pages are very popular. It is common in our culture for people to be a fan or fanatical about someone or something. It is far more socially acceptable for you to create a fan page to express your admiration than it is to become a stalker. When you create a fan page it brings you into contact with a larger community of individuals who share your passion. Their existence ( hey you're not the only one out there who loves Gopher from Love Boat ) validates your fanaticism. The tacit endorsement you receive lets you and your family know you aren't a nut - just a loyal fan!

Creating a fan page can be a rewarding way to harness your infatuation. You can have fun. I don't really think it matters that lots of other people have already created a "Drew Barrymore page" - or whatever. You can develop your page for the sheer enjoyment that comes from the act of creating it.

The biggest problems you may face in creating a fan page are copyright issues. It is very common for fan pages to include galleries of dozens, if not hundreds, of photos. Who owns those photos and have they given the website developer permission to use them?

Just because you've found some pictures on the internet doesn't mean you can use them legally. Same goes for images you've scanned from magazines. If you violate someone's copyright on their intellectual property you can be prosecuted. Many companies are quite aggressive in their prosecution of sites that violate their trademarks and copyrights. Of course they first go after the sites that are using the unauthorized materials in a commercial context. The trouble is that more and more fan pages do have a commercial aspect given the ease of becoming an amazon.com affiliate. Band fan pages can now easily sell the CD's. Movie star fan pages can easily sell videos or DVD's. Likewise literary fan pages can easily sell books.

I bring up this copyright stuff because I'd be remiss if I didn't clarify that anytime you violate someone's copyright you are putting yourself at risk. At the very least you need to be aware of the risks you are taking. Please don't take that as any kind of endorsement from me. For the 10 big myths about copyright explained click here. It will take just ten minutes of your time.

I hope I haven't gloomed up your enthusiasm to create a fan page! If I have that's a bummer. At least DesignStop.Com has lots of other ideas you can use ...

PS - I invite you to with any comments about this page. Please help me make it better.