K-Pop Among Different Platforms
With the rise of K-pop, there have been many ways for fandom communities to interact with their favorite idols and connect with members. The two big platforms that come to mind when thinking of K-pop fandoms, Twitter and Instagram.
With Twitter, there seems to be a whole another culture regarding how fandoms interact as a whole. If you are not familiar with Twitter, it can be overwhelming, to say the least, when joining a fandom such as K-pop. To be a part of the community on Twitter, you must understand the lingo, the norms, and the rules that go into the community. You have to be respectful, not be “toxic,” and be kind. The K-pop fandom as a whole is all about loving and appreciating the celebrity you love to the fandom members as well. The term “toxic” in the community can be seen as anyone who puts you down for liking a: a group, b: multiple groups, c: the idol to an extreme degree.
Twitter has grown to be something good within the fandom community. A couple of examples include creating hashtags to bring safety and comfort to fans to promoting self-love within the community. This became a global thing for fans to keep from the band BTS members and fans not be bombarded at airports or concerts. Every day of the month is Selca day, meaning that you get to post a picture of yourself and your “biased” (their favorite idol of the band) to help promote happiness and self-love.
You just found your interest in a new band and want to dive into the crazy world of Twitter? Here are a couple of accounts I recommend following to keep up with the fandom you are a part of. Follow
- the official account of your favorite band (for example, the band Astro)
- follow fan translated accounts (this will allow you to learn the language and keep up to date with new information)
- voting accounts (this allows groups to have comebacks and win award shows)
- schedule accounts (this allows you to know when a music video will drop)
With Instagram, the community seems more user-friendly in regards to the platform. Upon further investigation, I found that it was tricky to find K-pop-related fandom accounts. While you can follow the celebrity on their personal account, it seemed time-consuming to find fandom-related accounts.
One Instagram account that comes to mind when thinking of the K-pop fandom is KpopJunkee. This Instagram account was created by the YouTuber Kpop Junkee to help everyone be informed on their favorite Korean celebrities.
Below I have attached some example of Korean celebrities’ instagram account.
Questions to consider:
- What are your thoughts on K-pop?
- Which platform would you likely interact with the most?
- What is one thing you found interesting?
