Mat Whitehead of HuffPost described stans as 'volcanic', and added that they are 'organised. The Guardian noted, for example, that 'Gay male culture has always coalesced around female pop stars, from Judy Garland to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.' Polygon has described Stan Twitter as 'an overarching collection of various fandoms', and additionally as a community that ' individuals congregated around certain, specific interests ranging from queer identity to K-pop groups, and added that 'Stan Twitter is essentially synonymous with fandom twitter.' The Daily Dot wrote that 'Stan Twitter is essentially a community of Extremely Online like-minded individuals who discuss their various fandoms and what they 'stan'.' Stan Twitter has also been noted for its common overlap with LGBTQ+ Twitter communities. Stan Twitter has been noted by The Atlantic as one of the 'tribes' of Twitter. The term was originally a noun, but over time evolved and began to be used as a verb as well. The word itself was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017.
The origin of the term stan is often credited to the 2000 song ' Stan', about an obsessed fan, by American rapper Eminem featuring British singer Dido.
Rapper Eminem performing his song ' Stan' is often credited with the origin of the contemporary usage of the word stan.
