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Alison Genet - Twifans Owner
With numerous Twilight fan sites and vampire related sites on the web, you would think that they would all be somewhat identical, but there is one out there that has some uniqueness. Twifans offers its members the choice to have it their way. Owned by Alison Genet, Twifans gives its members the option to add their own content, photos, and video to the site. They can also make their own groups, forum questions, design their own page layout and chat live. Alison says, “We are like Burger King… have your Twilight YOUR way! At Twifans, not only do the administrator’s blog, but the members do too. These are the things that Twifans has to offer that most other sites do not. Alison is one of the friendly Twilight site owners. I know this because when I first started my Twilight site, she was very kind and helpful to me! Read the Q & A below to find out how you can contribute to Twifans and possibly have your own blog material moved to their main page.
Examiner: What inspired you to create your own site?
Alison: Well my husband actually inspired and put the keyboard in my hands. Given that I was completely obsessed with Twilight, he racked his brain for the perfect Christmas gifts for me. He reached out to friends and found someone to help him get me the saga autographed by Stephenie Meyer which was all the gift a girl would want. But then he said, “I have something else for you” and he took me to his computer. He designed the site with a friend and it hasn't changed from that design. But it will shortly.
He wanted a place for me to talk to other people about the books. I needed to talk things over and couldn't find anyone to really talk to about the series except my sister. She is obsessed, but maybe not as far out there as me. I needed others that couldn't get it out of there system and wanted to talk stupid, tiny details in a grand over the top form...like me.
I made everyone I know join the site just so I wasn't the only member, LOL. I maybe got 10 friends to join. Then I started to learn how to blog. I was the only blogger at first and tried to affiliate with a site who said flat out, no. Our chat was the best feature. People love to talk Twilight in the real time and slowly we began growing. But more importantly I have gone out of my way to get pictures that no one else has and content that I have personally seen. This means camping out at events, traveling to Vancouver, going to the first Creation event, etc. I was SO excited when we reached 500 members that I made my family take me out to a mock celebratory dinner. Now, we just hit 18,000 and I think they are taking me to dinner again.
Examiner: How did you get introduced to the Twilight saga?
Alison: I will never forget all the women in my family reading black books on Thanksgiving and not helping me cook. I was upset and curious at the same time. After I said get your ass up and help, my sister replied with “let me read this to you and hold your horses”. She read me a couple pages from the love story and I told her yea, I will get around to it sometime. That was the Thanksgiving before Twilight hit the theaters. I went to see Twilight the movie the first Friday night with my sister. When Edward said "I don't have the strength to stay away from you", my heart melted right there in the theater and I needed more. I didn't feel that the movie went into enough of the vampire's history or attributes. I was a vampire genre lover before being a Twilight lover and in that aspect of the movie I needed more.
So the next time I was shopping in Sam's Club I grabbed the four books. My husband laughed because he had never seen me read a book in fifteen years. He thought it was just going to collect dust. I read book one in a day. But because of the movie, it wasn't my favorite. I read book two on day two and I cried through the book like a baby. I actually stayed in bed in my jammies and the family took care of me, LOL. I felt like I had been broken up with. I read book three on day three and then book four on day four. It took me twenty-one hours straight...and I still wanted more.
Off to the computer I went to Google Mrs. Meyer. I found Midnight Sun. I know a lot of people say they don't want to read a half done book but I was so glad I did. Even half done it's my favorite.
Examiner: How did you decide on the name Twifans?
Alison: My husband picked the name and at first I didn't like it. That word was being thrown around in the press like Twifans were a negative thing. I didn't want anything negative to come close to my beloved Twilight Saga, but it grew on me. It's catchy, it's easy to remember and it's a good URL. My husband does marketing and he has drilled this into me that those aspects are like home buying. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
Examiner: Is it a lot of hard work to keep Twifans in the top sites?
Alison: We do a lot of work behind the scenes. We check blogs to feature, manage a MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, and a YouTube account. We add bulletins and share links on all of those sites and we have to moderate our chat because we do get some crazies from time to time. We also have to approve members, and groups. It's definitely full time.
Examiner: Do you see yourself running the site for a long time?
Alison: I do. We just started to redesign the site. It has been a couple months in the making but I think our design is going to set us apart from the other sites. We are evolving from plain Jane with no graphics to custom graphics with animation. I think we will be so cool that everyone will want to show ALL their friends. Right now we have no graphics, but people love us for the up to date news and social interaction with people just like you. I also love to blog and interact and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon...still obsessed.
Examiner: Do you maintain the site by yourself?
Alison: No, I haven't done this by myself. I have 5 wonderful admins that help things run smoothly. And, whether you are one of the admins or a member, you can blog at Twifans. On our site anyone can be the star of the day. If your blog is good, and if you have sourced your material and it's something we haven't seen, you can move to the main page. Therefore we have 18,000 potential bloggers who are all Twilight obsessed and informed if you ask me.
Examiner: Where is Twifans based and what is the Twilight phenomenon like in your area?
Alison: We are based out of Arizona. The admins are from Atlanta, California, New York City and beyond. Twilight is pretty chill around me, which is surprising being in SM country. I always expect HUGE lines and never come across them. We need to step it up, LOL.
Examiner: Will you be going to the premiere?
Alison: Yes I will be camping...I am a true fan and I don't want to miss anything. I want the FAN EXPERIENCE cause I am first and foremost a fan.
Examiner: Do you find that most of the other Twi sites are friendly, or do you find some of them so competitive that they are afraid to be friendly?
Alison: I find most friendly, but I also find some to not like the way our site does things. Most sites don't post paparazzi photos because they think it damages the stars. I however, being a huge fan, love any pictures we get of the cast. If some photos are taken and we don't like them, let's discuss them on the site. I think everything that opens a discussion is good. Whether we agree or disagree we are both fans of Twilight. It's okay to be different. We are not a news funnel. We are posting what is interesting to us and if it's interesting to us then it will be interesting to someone else. We have only censored once and that's because nudity is not allowed on the site.
Examiner: Tell me about the Book Babe Auction. Didn’t you win Stephenie’s prom dress?
Alison: I was so excited to go to this. I really wanted the lunch so I could gab with "my soon to be after lunch BFF", but I got scared because the bidding went high fast. Then the dress came out and we were told that it was the only real item that was one of a kind. There could be more manuscripts in Stephenie Meyer’s closet, maybe one for each month. But, the dress had been worn by Stephenie and she had been photographed wearing it. It was so exciting to win and *wink* beat 2 other big sites out of getting it. The new girl on the blog stole the thunder, LOL.
Examiner: What was it like meeting Stephenie Meyer?
Alison: It was surreal and normal at the same time. I was floating, but I was also totally there in the moment because I didn't want to miss a thing.
Examiner: Do you think the majority of the Twilight fans take their obsession a little too far, or are most of them just devoted fans that know when obsession becomes a problem?
Alison: I don't think any fans have taken things too far.
Examiner: A lot of articles state that the majority of Twilight fans are young girls under the age of 16. Being a Twilight fan myself and well over the age of 16, I know this is not entirely true. What is your opinion on this?
Alison: Twifans did an age poll on our readers and members. I think we were surprised that the 20 to 30 year old bracket beat everyone. I was most surprised by how many fans were 40 plus.
Examiner: Are there any contests or events coming up in the future at Twifans?
Alison: With the re-launching of the site, we are going to have contests everyday with amazing prizes. This should be in about two weeks or so.
Examiner: Why Twilight and not another vampire tale?
Alison: The love story is historic...enough said.
Examiner: Team Edward, Jacob or Switzerland?
Alison: Team Edward
Anyone that would protect and love like that, so unselfishly, is the guy I am on the team of. Plus I could have slapped Jake myself if I had seen him try to kiss Bella. I didn't like his desperate games.
Twifans is my second featured site. Stay tuned to see who our next vamp-worthy site of the month will be. It could be you!
Raelynn will be featuring a vamp-worthy site monthly. If you are interested in being a featured site or would like to tell her about a great site, please send an email to VampireExaminer@gmail.com .
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