The Rapid Growth of K-Pop Culture in Social Media

Absztrakt (kivonat)

Western pop culture has dominated the global market for the past 50 years. Starting in the 1950s, pop music and culture have influenced different nations' lifestyles worldwide due to globalization. However, recently, South Korea has risen to the global stage with K-Pop songs. South Korean pop music has transcended a music genre into a pop culture sensational in 20 years, which is called the “Hallyu Wave”. K-Pop music has driven the global market to consume more Korean products. The success of K-Pop also gathers young people around the world to form a culture based on itself. The culture has grown so fast through the traditional media, and recently become prominent on digital media and social media. This thesis explored the concept of "Hallyu" or the Korean wave which refers to the phenomenon of Korean popular culture which came into trend in Asia and then the world. Stuart Hall’s Circuit of culture and Bok-rae Kim’s paper is used to analyse the concept of K-Pop culture. The circuit of culture suggested that the elements of culture have a link between other and should not be studied in compartmentalized way. All elements should have an effect on each other. This framework is carried onto reviewing the concept of K-Pop culture. Data from Korean Culture and Information Service is used to understand the industry’s structure and the famous artists’ star making system. The aim is to find out the most significant key factors that made K-pop so popular in social media. The method is to create a mixed survey, both qualitative and quantitative. The survey was spread in English and targeted the young English-speaking people of Lao PDR. The respondents were asked to provide comments and opinions on different elements of K-Pop culture. Lao is a developing country in Southeast Asia and not have the same language, culture with South Korea. They have a population of around 7 million people and in that only 49.1% use social media and 59% are children and young people below the age of 25. In order for K-Pop to penetrate beyond the South Korean market, the K-Pop key factors should also work with countries like Laos. Therefore, the data from developing countries like Laos could be used to present the worldwide spread of K-Pop culture, as well as narrow the scope of the research. The results of the survey suggest that the critical factor behind the popularity of K-Pop in social media is centred around the talented K-Pop Idols. The K-Pop idols or the artists have undergone a massive amount of training through the star-making system in South Korea. They became multi-talented stars that can dance, sing and conduct a performance exceptionally well. With the help of global marketing, the idols have young supporters from all around the world to gather and form a culture around the Idols on social media. Excellent marketing could also be the reason why K-Pop is successful in social media. However, it is not just traditional marketing but is social media marketing. Media technology developed over time, and better technology would replace the older ones. Due to the ease of use and accessibility, as well as K-Pop companies adopting business-to-customer model it has won the hearts of the global consumer. With the company and idols that care about the consumers, communities structured around caring and merits, there is nothing wrong with joining the fandom. Hence, the popularity of K-Pop in social media.