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How Being a Fan Goes Viral
By Carolyn S. Peterson

I may be dating myself, but in the day I was quite the fan.  I was a member of the Shaun Cassidy Fan Club, the Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man Fan Clubs, and never missed a copy of Tiger Beat.  My bedroom walls were filled with posters of Andy Gibb, Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson, and a few photos of Scott Baio.  I confess to writing the occasional fan letter; you never knew when one of my teen idols might possibly pick my letter out of the thousands he received each week and read of my undying love.  Don’t laugh — a girl can dream, can’t she?  There was little chance of ever meeting my teen heart throbs, but with the internet and the online chat sites of today, you just never know who is reading about your secret crushes.

Two Guys and One Creative Way of Getting a Hug
For Charlotte, NC native and Auburn University senior Michael Wekall and his roommate Ryan Leander, goofing around with a video camera and filming funny short films was something they enjoyed.  “We were always taping something and sharing with our friends.  Although I am a history major, I hope to one day be a film director, so it is a hobby.  One day I was sitting in class and I came up with the idea of posting videos and blogs about contacting Taylor Swift, the country singer, and getting a hug from her.  I thought it would be a fun way of getting a lot of people and friends involved,” said Wekall.  Wekall and Leander are fans of Swift and once read that she believed the world would be a better place if more people hugged.  Nice guys that they are, Wekall and Leander just wanted to do their part toward achieving that goal.  Very philanthropic of them, don’t you think?

With the Internet, Things Spread Fast…
Once Wekall and Leander shared the ‘A Hug from Taylor Swift’ idea with their friends, in person and online, the whole quest for a hug spread rather quickly.  “When people started to jump on board with the idea, we had to make sure we had a website and Facebook page so we could get our videos and blogs out there.  So far, over 2,000 people have been to our web page and we have over 1,700 visits on Facebook.  The ultimate goal is for Taylor Swift to hear about our project and contact us, but until that happens, Ryan and I are having a great time hearing from people all over the country who think this is a pretty cool idea,” commented Wekall. Wekall’s friends are somewhat used to his crazy ideas, “Ryan usually is the one who reigns me in on some of my ideas, but he is behind this 100% and we are really enjoying filming each video and reading the responses.  We try to film a new video every 7-10 days, if there is some new idea or information on accomplishing the ‘hug,’ but the whole thing has brought us a lot of laughs,” stated Wekall. And who knows?  These two guys just might get a hug out of all their hard work.  I think ‘A Hug from Taylor Swift’ would definitely make the worlds of these committed fans a whole lot better.

To follow the “A Hug from Taylor Swift’ project, visit www.ahugfromtaylorswift.com or go on Facebook and type in A Hug from Taylor Swift in the search box.