The Power of Fandoms in Today's Media

Reading the introduction chapter to Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture got my mind firing on the brief mention of fandoms and fan made content in today's media, and the effect that is created by it. Jenkins' focus was mainly on the issues that fan-made content creates for a company and the fight with or against it. He mentions how much power the consumer now has on this subject, but he never really explains the effect this can have on the media. It was almost inconceivable a few decades ago to think that obsessed fans of a certain show, book series, etc. could actually have any great effect on how it progressed or changed over time.  Today though, again and again fans do end up changing the canon of a fictional universe, not directly, but indirectly. Most companies realize that to keep fans they have to continue to appeal to them and provide them what they want. Although a company cannot completely take one of their fans opinions, ideas, and work due to copyright issues, they can use the basis of them or at least the idea behind them. For the most part, producers of today's media creations will view this content, at least to a minor degree, sometimes more. If enough fans have the same opinion on what they want from it or how they want the canon of a certain character to be, etc., there will be adaptions made, solely for the reason to keep current fans and gain more. Take an ongoing show for example. Say this show is released this year and the first season becomes so popular that it spawns a fandom of adequate size. These fans discuss it, make content from it, etc. About a half a year to a year later, the second season comes out and already, you can begin to see the show adapting to the fans it has gained. Season after season is released and with every one more and more of the fandom's influence can be seen as it and the show grows. For the most part, this is a good thing. More money is made by the company that produces the show as they gain more fans along with an increase in support and moral, and the fans are serviced by seeing what they want on the show. This influence by and adaption for the fans can and often does go too far though. Companies don't know when to stop adding these services to the fans, and fans often don't know when to stop demanding until it's already too late. Although fans want to see their influence in a show, they also enjoy the show for the same reason they originally did. That can easily be lost when this happens. A show that is literally all a service to its fans is definitely not a good thing. Fans realize this too when the show loses the appeal it once had because of what they have turned it into.