Rise of K-pop fan platforms facilitates fan-idol communication, sparks debate on authenticity

Screenshot from Dear U bubble

Diving into the digital age of fandom, a 20-year-old college student surnamed Kim has recently been chatting with Yejun and Noah, two members of K-pop boy band PLAVE. Thanks to the Dear U bubble fan platform, virtual chats with her favorite idols have become her new reality.

Dear U bubble offers a one-on-one messaging service between fans and artists, with a monthly subscription fee of 4,500 won ($3.37). Kim, who joined the service last month, enjoys its personalized communication and exclusive content.

"Bubble has a lot of exclusive content, even though they eventually get leaked somehow," she said. "I can even set the name I want to be called by my favorite celebrity and communicate with idols in a more informal, friendly way."

In addition to PLAVE on Dear U bubble, Kim follows other K-pop groups like &TEAM and ENHYPEN on the fan platform Weverse. Introduced by HYBE in 2019, Weverse allows fans to communicate with artists, access announcements from agencies and directly purchase albums and merchandise.

There has been a notable rise in popularity of such real-time communication platforms between idols and fans.

Weverse, as of November last year, boasted approximately 113 million app downloads, while Dear U bubble reported around 2.3 million subscribers in the latter half of 2023.

Capitalizing on this trend, CJ ENM recently launched PlusChat 2.0, a service on the K-pop culture platform Mnet Plus.

The desire for fan-artist communication hae spanned across generations, from first-generation idols like H.O.T and Sechs Kies from the 1990s to contemporary fourth- and fifth-generation K-pop stars.

Fan engagement has undergone a transformation along the time. In the past, such interactions occurred predominantly offline, at events like fan meet-and-greets and concerts. However, the emergence of online fan cafes and official websites in the 2000s revolutionized this interaction, allowing for direct communication between artists and fans regardless of time and space. With the advent of mobile technology, official fan platforms have further streamlined this communication, making it more accessible and timely in an age where mobile phones are ubiquitous.

BTS member Jimin communicates with fans through Weverse live video in March 2023. Screenshot from Weverse

This shift has transformed fandom culture, fostering closer connections as well as raising concerns over the commodification of fan-artist interactions.

While enabling closer interactions between idols and fans, some argue that it has also fostered a trend toward individualization within fandoms.

Private communication with artists has become the primary focus of fan activities, overshadowing traditional fandom camaraderie, contributing to a gradual decline in their scale.

Experts also note that the monetization of communication channels could alter the dynamics of fandom engagement.

Kang Shin-kyu, a researcher at the Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corp. (KOBACO), stated in a 2022 paper titled "The Fans who Consume 'Communication': The Idol Fan Platform and Reorganization of Fandom" that the emergence of fan platforms has transformed fandom in a more "convenient but passive" direction.

"Even if fans don't make much effort or create something for artists, fan platforms automatically provide everything," Kang explained. "As a result, fandom as a single community is dispersed, and proactive and creative fans are decreasingly likely to be discovered."

The monetary value attached to communication with idols has also changed the relationships between stars and fans as platforms like Dear U bubble require payment for exchanging messages with their idols.

Despite the convenience and intimacy these platforms offer, they spark debate over the implications of commodifying communication and the expectations placed on artists to maintain engagement with their paying fans.

Consequently, the frequency of communication within artist fan platforms has become a yardstick for assessing the authenticity of their engagement with fans. Some fans even scrutinize the number of messages sent by artists in chats, blaming artists who do not communicate frequently enough.

For subscribers like Do, a woman in her 20s who follows K-pop boy band The Boyz's members through Dear U bubble, the evolution of communicating with idols raises questions about the nature of fandom in the era of paid platforms.

"I think the way of communicating with idols has changed a lot now. I believe there's now an increasing expectation for artists to prioritize communication beyond their official activities," she noted.

"However, with the shift of all platforms towards paid services, it creates a sense of obligation to pay in order to be a fan. I'm not sure this is the right way of change."