Liam Payne Is Lying Low And His Fans Are Starting To Fret

Liam Payne is no stranger to social media. Liam is probably the most active One Direction member on social media, and that fact makes it feel even more strange when Payne goes dark. Over the past few days, fans have begun to wonder where Liam is, and a call has gone out to track him down. The holiday period saw Liam’s bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan splashed across the gossip columns as each of them were linked with possible new girlfriends, but of Liam, there has been little sign.

As every One Direction fan is all too well aware, Liam and his mates will shortly be going their separate ways to pursue some solo projects. Payne and the rest of the boys are heading off for a well-earned break from touring after a five-year stint that saw them spend more time on the road than at home. While the rest of the boys have been spotted out celebrating the holiday festivities, fans fear that Liam has headed into hibernation.

The last we saw of Payne was around Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Liam made an appearance on Instagram, when he posted a photograph to wish his big buddy Louis a happy 24th birthday. Liam wished Louis a happy birthday and admitted that he was already missing him.

Liam also posted a short message on Twitter, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Since then, Liam has been the invisible man apart from a single message that had some One Direction fans drooling into their Christmas leftovers. The Daily Mail reported that Liam posted a shirtless photograph of himself on Instagram with the comment that he had “dusted” any weight he had gained over Christmas.

As you can see, Liam’s fans seem to approve of the photo that has attracted over 900,000 likes in a week. Since posting that picture, neither sight nor sound of Liam has emerged. As a result, Liam’s fans have instigated a lighthearted “Where Are You Liam” campaign on Twitter, and this being the One Direction fandom, the hashtag #WhereAreYouLiam has started trending.

Liam’s fans have been tweeting messages and well wishes to Payne and, of course, we have seen a rush of the usual amusing meme’s emerging.

Liam’s fans are not used to protracted social media silences from the 22-year-old One Direction star so it seems like the hunt is on.

Box: Liam? Where Are Y…#WhereAreYouLiamhttps://t.co/HRJzSaFL29

— TrendsetAM (@TrendsetAM) January 5, 2016

Of course, Liam’s fans have no need to worry. Payne went dark for a couple of weeks back in June of 2015, and the Inquisitr reported in January of 2015 that Liam had disappeared from social media. On that occasion, Liam reappeared the next day with his now-famous Twitlonger post in which Liam said that he wanted to use his fame to make a real difference in the world.

I don't ever claim to be a good person I'm not. But I feel that I wanna be a humanitarian with all of this (cont) http://t.co/qKPA6HrGcX

— Liam (@LiamPayne) January 22, 2015

As Popcrush reported, Liam said in his post that he thought the world was “messed up” and that he thought that young people could change it. Liam later said he had been drunk and didn’t remember making the post. With the benefits of hindsight, we can probably see that Liam’s message was the inspiration for the Action1D campaign that One Direction launched in July 2015.

As MTV News reported, Action1D set out to enlist the help of their fans to put pressure on politicians to take meaningful action to end extreme poverty, tackle inequality, and slow down climate change.

There is no need for Payne’s fans to panic. It may just be that Liam is keeping a low profile while he works out his latest master plan. Watch this space.

[Photo by John Davisson/Invision/AP]