【Action Archives】

For 20 years,Action Archives J.K. Rowling has been forging a relationship with fans -- millions and millions all over the world in a way that can feel deeply, deeply personal (who among us hasn't tweeted at her hoping for a fave?).

"The online Harry Potter fandom has become a global phenomenon with its own language and culture, its own wars and festivals, its own celebrities," Rowling wrote in the foreword for Melissa Anelli's 2008 book Harry, A History. What she may not have realized was how integral she was to this phenomenon, from when she barely touched it to when she became the force at the center, typing words onto the web.

On the twentieth anniversary of the original publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the U.K., it's easy to see how that powerful relationship between creator and fans has grown and changed in new, pioneering ways as technology and the web has grown right alongside the beloved series.

Let's look back.

SEE ALSO: J.K. Rowling sends heartfelt tweet to fans after rare 'Harry Potter' prequel is stolen

Part 1: Life before the internet

As a society, we're now so bad at remembering analog life that older people frequently speak to millennials as if we were clutching a smartphone dearly to our tiny infant chests.

There was indeed a time before the internet gave rise to rampant fandom, and it was in that time the Harry Potter phenomenon snuck up around us. There was no #content, no #takes, no lists of what made it great that sourced popular tweets and Instagram posts. The story's success was entirely from word of mouth -- and from the numbers. Staggering sales revealed a so-called children's book that was climbing bestseller charts reserved for ~*~real literature~*~.

And just like that, J.K. Rowling became a household name. She rarely gave interviews and to this day doesn't have an official biography or autobiography. Unofficial accounts of the author's Cinderella story started popping up in bookstores next to shelves of Potter in the first few years,yet Rowling remained elusive.

In 1999, if you wanted a relationship with Rowling you could write her publisher a letter via snail-mail. She tried to read everything, but as we know, she was about to have more fans than she could ever have imagined.

J.K. Rowling meets fans at a reading and signing of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' at the Natural History Museum on July 20, 2007 in London. Credit: cate gillon/Getty Images

Part 2: The wizarding web

As the internet began to grow, Harry Potter fandom and J.K. Rowling were growing right along with it. Online fan communities, as we now know them, were shaped by what began in sparse forums and fan sites in the early 2000s, where people around the world searched for a place where they could talk about their favorite boy wizard that wasn't just an AIM convo with their bestie.

Fan sites

Fan sites popped up everywhere, the most prominent being MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron. Beyond the latest news about the next book release or film production, they became an extensive archive for quotes, images, essays, and literally anything else to do with all things Harry. There was now a place for fans to discuss burning theories with anyone, the world over. We take it for granted now, but prior to these sites if you wanted to share your "Actually, Snape is a Vampire" theory your options were limited to...your personal blog?

Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Rowling was aware of these sites when she launched her own (more on that below), and each month she shouted out a fan site that was doing exceptional work. In 2005, she even invited MuggleNet's Emerson Spartz and TLC's Melissa Anelli (famous to fans) to interview her in Scotland, connecting herself to fans on an unprecedented level in a way we'd never forget. That interview was a big one for fandom in general, with Rowling acknowledging and honoring just how special her relationship to superfans was and, in a way, bringing us all into her home.

A door to Jo

In the two years between publication of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixand Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, something incredible happened: Copious amounts of fanfiction.JKRowling.com. It was here that Harry Potter fans got to know the woman to whom we owed so much -- it was now that Rowling became Jo for so many of us.

The site would be impressive even today: It was set up to look like her desk, and hovering the cursor over any item from a piece of paper to a misshapen coffee stain led to different pages about news (working on book six!), rumors (it's not called Harry Potter and the Pillar of Storgé!), and fun facts (Dean Thomas is half-blood!). Seemingly innocuous objects hidden around the site could be unlocked to reveal old writings and drawings Rowling scanned to share. Compare this to, say, the LucasFilm site or George RR Martin's blog today. It's an entirely different level of intrigue and interaction for fans.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The most crucial page of all on JKRowling.com contained nothing except a locked door with a 'Do Not Disturb' sign hanging from it. At first, no one could make sense of it, and then one day, the sign came off.

In the coming years, this would become a rallying cry to the fandom: "The sign is gone," or "The door is open" meant "GET TO YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT THIS SECOND WE HAVE NEW BOOK INFORMATION!!!!1!" This is how news broke pre-Twitter, and it was glorious.

Behind the door, we found obstacles and riddles. Sometimes you couldn't open it unless you watered the plant next to it or acquired a key from another part of the site. This sense of fun that Rowling brought to even a silly part of her website helped fans feel like she was in on something with them, deepening that creator/fan connection.

It was behind that door that Jo teased several chapter titles from Half-Blood Prince and gave us the title of Deathly Hallows through a game of hangman. There was comfort in knowing that she cared about the fans enough to share these tidbits along with her thoughts and feelings. When the books ended, that slowly faded, and we were left wanting for more.

Part 3: Queen of Twitter

Finally, in 2009, Rowling joined Twitter, and the fandom erupted. For years, she tweeted sporadically, and without updates to JKRowling.com or new books on the way, every tweet was the closest we'd come in years to seeing that door without the 'Do Not Disturb' sign.

But her appearance on Twitter marked a shift for all of Harry Potter to the internet -- Harry Potter now wasn't just popping up in pockets of fandom seeking to write fanfiction or compile information or geek out over the series; it was everywhere. As she began tweeting more, it was a way for fans to feel a personal connection with her 24/7. Fan questions rolled in daily, and miraculously many were answered.

Who would win in a fight, Crookshanks or Mrs. Norris? Is Lavender Brown dead? (Jury's still out on that one.) Social media lends itself to obsession, and obsessing is what Potter fans have always done best -- only now we could get a friendly Twitter fave and the answer to a burning question if we obsessed at the right time, which was unheard of up until this point.

This relatively unfiltered access to our creators means they could obsess right along with us. They can tweet at each other, share their opinions and jokes or photos of their dogs. Rowling can express herself if she's having writer's block or just rolling her eyes at the government.

J.K. Rowling signing autographs for fans at the world premiere of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2' in London in 2011. Credit: dave m.benett/Getty Images

Part 4: Pottermore and beyond

In 2011, Jo used Twitter to announced Pottermore, and the interactive website is now a primary source for Harry Potter news and extras -- a task that belonged, a decade ago, to fan sites and to the old version of JKRowling.com. Pottermore is now the authority on if Minerva McGonagall was ever in love or news about upcoming Fantastic Beastsmovies and is still regularly updated.

Harry Potter is "done" now in the way that in 2017, nothing will ever be done again (buckle up for four more Fantastic Beastsmovies over the next handful of years). It seems obvious now that Rowling -- while also writing other works -- will never truly leave the Wizarding World. Not that we're complaining.

We've long known that Harry Potter changed the world as we know it, but the way this fandom evolved right along with the internet and social media was a phenomenon in and of itself. We've gone from snail mail to forums to fan sites to Twitter, and now the Potter fandom continues to flourish in an era where sci-fi and fantasy rule the realm of Reddit and beyond. In 2017, obsessing online about a fictional character isn't weird at all -- and 20 years later, we have Rowling to thank for that.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Unlocking a chamber of secrets about the 'Harry Potter' movies

---

Topics Books Harry Potter