Meeting My Best Friends on BTR Stan Twitter

When we first went into lockdown, I found myself with all this extra free time and nothing to do. Naturally, I turned to social media, specifically Twitter, and found this group of people in a niche corner of the internet. 

I have been obsessed with Big Time Rush ever since I was a kid. The show came out when I was five, and for the next four years, I sat in front of my TV and watched every single episode. I don’t know what it was about this band that first caught my attention, whether it was the heartfelt lyrics to “Worldwide” or the fact that I definitely had a crush on Kendall and Jo, but here I am eight years later falling back into the rabbit hole. 

Back in 2017, I had mindlessly made a stan account dedicated to the (formerly) dead band. I never thought that just a few years later they would reunite, let alone get together to perform again. When they released the new cover of “Worldwide” during quarantine last year, it was like the fandom had come back to life. Before that, there were a few fans here and there, but there’s only so many times you can tweet “I miss Big Time Rush” before people get tired of it. 

I have a few friends in my personal life that are casual listeners, maybe even fans, but no one was ever as invested in the band as I was. Luckily for me, amidst all the rumors that the band was getting back together, I saw a tweet asking for people to join a BTR group chat. I really wanted to make new friends that shared this fixation with me. So I retweeted it and was added to the group. 

Let’s get this clear: I am no stranger to stan Twitter. I think I’ve been on the bird app since I was 12 or 13, maybe even younger. Either way, I have plenty of experience with Twitter group chats. You connect with a bunch of people, then within a couple of weeks, months if you’re lucky, you start to die down. It wasn’t like that in this case. 

 I wish I could remember what the original name was, but at some point, we started going by Whoretense, an inside joke from the show, inspired by Logan’s last name. (P.S. I believe you can tell a lot about a person by their BTR bias. Mine is Logan, do with that what you will.) And not to be a super “niche internet micro-celebrity,” but we became kind of iconic. We had cameos from the boys saying our group chat name, a separate account for the chat, and drama—tons of drama. 

Whether or not we started this drama is a different story, but being a part of Whoretense and BTR stan Twitter was truly the highlight of my summer. From the start, we all clicked really well, and those of us who didn’t were,how do I say this, exterminated? Like I said, we had a lot of drama and that included in-house. There were a few pests we had to control, and some really funny moments that came from that. As you can tell, we bonded over everything and became really close. 

We hosted fandom stan awards and even a “Palmwoods Prom.” There were nights where we stayed up past midnight just to chat. The group chat and the people in it became like a second home to me. They were people from all over the world. Despite  the distance, I felt closer to them than I did to some of my friends at the time. 

Some people are going to read this and find the whole thing very silly. You met your best friends on BTR stan Twitter? Yeah, what about it? All jokes aside, for many of us, Big Time Rush was such a significant and impactful part of our childhoods, and having a chance to connect with a fanbase on this level doesn’t come very often. 

If the band had not reunited, we would have never met. I can’t imagine my life without Cam, Nive, Toby, Kaitlyn, Marian, Jess, Syd, Kdin, Allie, Roe, Skylar, Arely, and anyone else I may have missed. Our group chat may die one day, but friendship is forever. Who knows, maybe the band will get back together! ;)