The day that Elon Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X changed everything. For the particularly chronically online folks amongst us, that day — October 28 2022, to be exact — has gone down in history as the day stan culture truly died on the platform.
At a total cost of roughly $44 billion USD ($68 billion AUD approx), Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired Twitter. What ensued in the following days was borderline anarchy — including mass lay-offs for half the company’s staff.
Since the muskification of Twitter, we’ve seen a steady decline of users on the platform. In November 2024, The Guardian reported that the use of X in the US has dropped by 23 per cent since November 2022, just after the Musk takeover was complete.
Now, I’m sorry to all the tech bros out there, but hand on heart, I don’t know the first thing about the man himself. To me, Musk is a super rich dude currently in the throes of a very public, high-profile breakup, and that’s where my knowledge stops.
Elon vs Trump pic.twitter.com/ib6HAsBnfs
— SurvivorQuotesX (@SurvivorQuotesX) June 5, 2025
What I’m interested in is the fans. The stans, if you will. Growing up as a hyperconnected teenager in the golden age of the early 2010s means that I know the ins and outs of the slightly terrifying, incredibly unhinged beacon that is Stan Twitter.
Where are these communities now? What the heckaroo has happened to Stan Twitter?
I made good use of my day job and decided to find out.
So, officially, what is Stan Twitter?
Anecdotal definitions are all well and good, but let’s get the facts straight here.
“Stan Twitter is a series of smaller communities on Twitter. The driving force that brought these communities together came from a shared appreciation of a celebrity or celebrities,” said Dr Joanne Gray, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney.
The key factor that led to the crazy growth of Stan Twitter was the ability to not only connect with like-minded fans, but with the celebrities themselves too.
“It became this user-focused community where fans could get ‘noticed’ by their fave, and that kind of contact wasn’t replicated by any other platforms,” said Dr Joanne.
the most ICONIC moment in stan twitter history pic.twitter.com/SaMsnMbaL5
— natek // speak now era (@taytaeshoe) December 24, 2020
It was the early days of Twitter in the 2010s that really showed casual users and stans alike the true power of the platform.
“You could feel so connected to those around you in such a personalised way, but it was also so immediate — there was no delay. It’s a huge part of what made Twitter so successful.”
What was Stan Twitter like during its peak?
I definitely had my own experiences with Stan Twitter, yet some might call me an unreliable narrator. I’d call them haters, but that’s a story for another time.
Nonetheless, I reached out to Stan Twitter users in fandoms other than mine (yes, I was a Panic! at the Dicso stan, no, I don’t want to talk about it) to learn about their time on the platform.
Margaret* was a Stan Twitter user who joined the platform in 2012. When her little teenage heart decided that O2L (a YouTube supergroup in its absolute prime) was going to be her next passion, her entry into Stan Twitter was all but guaranteed.
“When I joined this online community, that was the very first time that I realised there were people out there just as into these guys as I was, with the same sense of humour, and all the same interests as me, too,” said Margaret.
Now at age 25, Margaret had a heap of reflections to share from her time knee-deep in fandoms galore.
“A lot of it was this sense of escapism. Starting high school, struggling to make friends — I couldn’t handle a lot of these changes in my own life. Twitter was my safe space.”
There’s no denying the benefits of Stan Twitter, and finding a community that just gets you, especially at such a tumultuous time in most young people’s lives. But with such intense closeness, there has to be a downside.
Emma Hudson, Communications Specialist and Independent Fan Studies Scholar, has led a fair few investigations into the nature of parasocial relationships, and how they function in an online sense.
“Parasocial relationships come from parasocial interaction theory. Essentially, it’s this idea that a media user has formed this one-sided relationship with a media figure,” said Emma.
A lot of people hear the term ‘parasocial relationships’ and immediately wig out, but honestly? It’s not inherently a bad thing.
“There are pros and cons,” says Emma. “It helps motivate fans, and it can definitely help quell bubbling feelings of loneliness.”
“On the flip side, it can make for some pretty damning and even borderline dangerous situations. A lot can go wrong when you feel super close to people that frankly, you don’t actually know well.”
Why does it feel like Stan Twitter has crumbled?
Margaret knows all too well the feeling of parasocial relationships that can crop up through a platform like Stan Twitter.
“I left the platform at 16 years old. Most of my friends at that time had left too. In hindsight, it’s so weird to me that I worshipped these guys. Like, they were just dudes. The kind that I’d see at a party. I felt like I was ageing out of it.”
Being on Stan Twitter at this point in my life is wild cause my moots are excited about securing tickets to shows and I’m excited that my 2.5 month old just held her bottle by herself 😂 I love living vicariously through them hehehe
— (Tor)tured Poet (@torischumann) May 8, 2025
Horrifyingly enough, the predatory side of Twitter is one that came to light for Margaret. She wasn’t the only one, either.
“All my friends and I had so many experiences with guys flirting with us over DMs, or suggesting we meet up — and they were always much, much older. It’s so weird to look back on, and definitely changes my perception of my time on the platform,” she explained.
All of this aside, another undeniable factor to Stan Twitter’s slow crumbling is the Musk-man himself.
“With a lot of Musk’s changes, there’s been a purposeful exit from people on the platform. Communities will inevitably shrink, and in turn, die — the numbers just aren’t there to support it,” said Dr Joanne.
What’s Twitter (sorry, X) like now?
Since the Musk takeover in recent years, Dr Joanne tells us that certain safeguards in place on the platform have quickly evaporated.
If what Maragret experienced was at a time where these safeguards were in place, one can only imagine how much this has escalated since.
“There were content moderation tools in place, and a lot more employees on deck who were involved in keeping the platform safe. Most of that has largely disappeared now,” said Dr Joanne.
As a notorious free speech absolutist, the influence from Musk himself is undeniable.
“Having no rules in place means that the most extremist voices tend to drown out everyone else. Whether this enabling is implicit or explicit, it’s enabling nonetheless.”
For Emma, she’s still on the platform today, and whilst a lot of it is different AF, there’s beauty in some of it staying the same, too.
“We’re still here, and that immediacy hasn’t gone anywhere. At Twitter’s core, the functionality is still the same,” said Emma.
“What I will say is that X hasn’t caught on. To all of us, it’s still Twitter. It’s a home to our communities, our friends, and that’s not going anywhere.”
My inner teenage fangirl is grinning so hard rn.
*Names have been shortened for anonymity.
