BTS and Squid Game Soared on Twitter Wings

BTS Starts Tweets Before Debut... Strengthening Fandom Through Communication Since Trainee Days
Kim Yeonjeong, Twitter Executive at KOCCA 'MUCON': "Creating a Syndrome Without National Gaps"
'#SquidGame' Reaches 160,000 Tweets in One Day... Establishing Itself as a Word-of-Mouth Epicenter

Twitter is at the heart of the K-pop fandom. From July last year to this year, there were 7.5 billion related tweets?a number unimaginable back in 2016. The number of K-pop tweets first surpassed 100 million in 2014. It increased by about 200 to 300 million tweets annually until July 2017, when it surged sharply. By June the following year, it had reached 4.1 billion tweets. Since then, it has grown by over 1 billion tweets each year.

Several factors contributed to the spike in tweets between 2017 and 2018. BTS won the Top Social Artist award at the Billboard Music Awards for the first time. They were actively engaged both domestically and internationally, including participating in Seo Taiji’s 25th-anniversary concert. EXO released "Ko Ko Bop" and launched an official Twitter account. They also enhanced their international stature by performing at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics closing ceremony. Around this time, many notable rookie groups like Wanna One emerged, all gaining explosive popularity.

Last year, the rise seemed to slow due to the spread of COVID-19. Offline events such as concerts and fan meetings were all canceled. However, the number of tweets continues to increase. Now, reaching 10 billion tweets is within reach.

Disappearing Borders Between Countries

K-pop groups interact with fans in various ways even in untact (contactless) situations, such as live streaming and online fan meetings. Leading groups include BTS, NCT, BLACKPINK, EXO, and TREASURE. The country with the highest number of tweets and users about these groups is Indonesia, followed by Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and the United States. Yeonjeong Kim, Executive Director of Twitter Global K-pop & Content Partnerships, said at the keynote session of the Seoul International Music Fair (MU:CON) hosted by the Korea Creative Content Agency on the 1st, “There is almost no gap between countries.” She added, “K-pop is creating a global syndrome not only in Asia but also in the Americas, South America, Europe, and the Middle East.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The first generation of K-pop, including HOT, SES, Fin.K.L, and Sechs Kies, also had fandoms. They set the standard framework for idol groups starting from 1996. Entertainment companies such as SM Entertainment, JYP, and YG Entertainment built management systems and industrialized based on this. The groups produced through this process are classified as the second generation of K-pop, including TVXQ, Super Junior, Big Bang, 2NE1, Wonder Girls, and Girls’ Generation. They did not only promote in Korea but targeted the Asian market from the start, cultivating fandoms in Japan, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

Twitter played a significant role in market expansion. It launched Korean language service in January 2011. As an open live platform, it was perfect for breaking away from the closed nature of fan cafes and accelerating overseas expansion. It encouraged a new form of fandom through conversational clusters. The biggest beneficiaries were the third generation of K-pop, including EXO, BTS, GOT7, BLACKPINK, TWICE, Red Velvet, NCT, SEVENTEEN, and MONSTA X. As borders between countries disappeared, they expanded their performances beyond Asia to the United States, South America, and Europe, growing the industry scale.

K-pop 4th Generation Following BTS

BTS is considered a leading third-generation K-pop group that proactively used Twitter. They posted their first tweet on December 18, 2012, six months before their debut. They communicated with fans since their trainee days, showing sincerity. Thanks to this, they secured a favorable position in global promotion and marketing, solidifying their scalability.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

K-pop 4th generation groups such as ATEEZ, THE BOYZ, Stray Kids, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN, TREASURE, aespa, and ITZY are following this path. On average, they open Twitter accounts about four months before debut to communicate with fans. The volume of tweets is about six times higher than the second generation and about twice that of the third generation. Executive Director Kim said, “If the third generation of K-pop are idols to fans, the fourth generation are like friends.” She added, “Having gone through harsh trainee days and the process of success together, fans inevitably feel like companions.” She continued, “The difference in communication style is enough to distinguish between the third and fourth generations of K-pop. Generations can be divided according to changes and acceptance of media.”

Beyond K-pop to K-movies and K-dramas

The most popular drama recently is director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Squid Game. It is the first Korean drama to be the most-watched worldwide on Netflix. According to FlixPatrol, an online video service (OTT) ranking site, on the 30th of last month (Korean time), it topped the charts in 80 countries where Netflix officially operates. The only countries where it did not rank first were South Africa (2nd), Ukraine (2nd), and India (3rd). Twitter is behind this explosive interest. On that day, about 158,500 tweets with the hashtag #SquidGame were posted?the highest among all movies and dramas worldwide.

Director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite also went through a similar process, gaining huge attention. Bong’s remark calling the Academy Awards “local” became a hot topic on Twitter. At the press conference celebrating his four Academy Awards, Bong said, “When we first campaigned for the Academy Awards, we didn’t intend to provoke anyone.” He added, “It was just a word that came out comparing it to international film festivals like Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, but young Americans seemed to post a lot about it on Twitter. It wasn’t a deliberate strategy. It came out naturally during conversations.”

As a result, Parasite was a global hit. It sparked a renewed interest in Bong’s previous works such as Snowpiercer, The Host, and Mother, creating a syndrome. It also led to increased attention toward Korean directors like Park Chan-wook, Lee Chang-dong, and Yeon Sang-ho, forming a K-movie fandom. Korea is the only country where an alphabet is prefixed to content titles. This also originated from text on Twitter that was generalized to “K” through text mining.

Executive Director Kim said, “The significance lies in the fact that this DNA emerged spontaneously.” She added, “Now, ‘K’ is expanding to more content such as dramas, webtoons, games, fashion, and beauty. Through collaboration or strengthened partnerships, we will support exclusive content and emojis, and enhance the connection between artists and fans to promote globalization.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.