K-pop and the support of International Fans
Fandoms
Korean Popular Music (Kpop) is a genre that originated from South Korean. Over the years this genre started to gain popularity, and now it has fans all over the world. The international fans are playing a crucial role in bringing the music style to a much broader audience. The consequences of this massive support could be because of the 24/7 interaction that happens within the Idol and the fan in Social Media. K-pop being a foreign music style for international fans, it is harder to keep in touch with their Idol activities, but it does not take away how active the international community is to keep up. The reason why international fans rely on social media especially the fan pages it is to get updates. I pick this topic because I became a K-pop fan last year, the influence of my best friend who is part Asian, and I actively participate in the community of international fans. Being immersed in the international support group on social media, I learned about the culture itself and discovered that intercommunication with the fans and Idols has a double-edged sword. International fans contribute to the spread of the genre, but there are also controversies that happen because of a misunderstanding of the culture, and the style of life Idols has to lives.
Instagram is the social platform I use the most to know the latest news of my Idol Lee Taeyong from NCT. Neo Culture Technology (NCT) is an unlimited boy group with subunits such as NCT127, NCT U, NCT Dream, and lastly Way V. They are under the #1 K-pop company SM Entertainment. Taeyong (TY) belong to the subunits NCT U, and NCT127 who is the leader. To be on track with news about him, I picked the most prominent fandom pages on Instagram. @Mrstaeyongg 142K Followers, @nctstation 141K Followers, @taeyongdiary 105K followers, @goodthings_nct 63.6K Followers, @nct.girlfriends 72K Followers, @i_love_taeyong 46.3k Followers, @nctzoo 15.3K Followers. For the project, I used my personal Instagram account. I don't utilize social media that often, meaning I don't post or share my life. However, I use Instagram to inform myself of my Idol movement. Last year, because of my desire to support NCT but the foreign barrier is a reality my best friend told me about the Instagram fandom pages. I came across with different Instagram accounts which are not about the owner but their bias.
Paying attention to these fan pages for five days straight, I observed others account reactions on the comment section whether favorable or not. Starting my inspection, I detected something that I didn't over one-year following these accounts, they all follow, share content and promote each other. The users have similar, to not say the same material, meaning videos and photos; the only content these fan pages have different is their memes. Also, I noticed that the majority of the comment section belong to women, and viewing some accounts who were not in private mode I recognize that the age range varied. Acknowledging that Taeyong is 24 years old, it is normal to have a diverse range of age.