Oh, I don't think it's new, it's just that for me the Internet has been the only way that I've experienced fandom, and without it I probably never would have become fannish about Buffy other than just watching the show each week, nor would the train of events have been set in motion that led me to The Libertines. A lot of what appealed to me about the Libs was also tied to the Internet - the postings Peter and Carl made online to the fans and to each other, the release of demos and his personal journals online by Peter, the abundance of clips and gig videos on YouTube, etc. Honestly, without the Internet I'd have never have even heard their music, as it's not played on the radio here, and I wasn't into music enough before I found the Libs to have sought it out on my own. I think what the Internet has done in part is to bring people like me who have fannish tendencies, let's say, but who would perhaps not have had the motivation or knowledge to find media and groups of fans on their own into the larger fandom community.