Logistics-driven parcel pickups organically grew into early fan meetups

Evidence

Mass meetups were impromptu gatherings in which masses of customers could collect their goods at physical locations as opposed to awaiting their packages by post. They were held by blogshops around festive periods when the local postal service would be overwhelmed with an influx of parcels, causing delivery delays that extended beyond the usual three business days. As a popular solution around the Chinese New Year, Christmas, and New Year periods, such pickups ensured that customers could adorn their new wares at celebrations and parties in time. … In addition to being logistically practical, mass meetups were conceptually the first iteration of “fan meetings,” in which customers and readers who were fans of blogshop owners and models would queue in line for a photo opportunity with their role models, often bearing gifts, flowers, and personal letters in kind. — Crystal Abidin and Megan Lindsay Brown (eds.), Microcelebrity Around the Globe, 588

Categorization

• XREF: Institutional infrastructure (postal delays) accidentally generating parasocial ritual resembles how other platform forms emerge from mundane constraints. — connects to: Social transactions require intersecting time-space paths at stations — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1322

Broader Connections

• Social transactions require intersecting time-space paths at stations #expands (0.72) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1322