Online Digital Media Practices on Twitter By Korean Pop Idol BTS and Fans:  A Case on BTS (방탄소년단) and their Fans

Abstract: The research conducted focused on the media practices by a South Korean band « BTS » and the named fandom « A.R.M.Y ». Through the use of Twitter, the research consisted in making use of BTS’s Twitter posts to study what they are doing on social media in order to engage fans, as well as the type of practices that are being executed. The second part of the study investigated the fandoms’ interaction, participation, and online engagement in regard to the media content tweeted by the south Korean band. Mix methods were used in order to answer the three research questions that were presented for this research. An analysis of media practices was conducted through a content analysis then followed by an online survey. The analysis highlighted that shared practices and regular media use were an important factor in the creation of a participatory culture. Culture was also shown to be an important component to the generation of fan engagement and artist interaction with their respective fandom. In addition, through fans high participation in online activities, the investigation was able to demonstrate that fans developed shared practices and shared identities, which were emerged from their activities. Furthermore, BTS members have shown that their cultural habits were important for engaging fans. Overall, the results of this study concluded that media practices are various and are executed in ways that allow the South Korean band to keep an online relationship with their fans through diverse media content that is published on their own personal managed Twitter account. In response to that, fans have shown a constant interactions and engagements by liking, retweeting, commenting to the bands’ tweets, along with other different activities that have been demonstrated in the analysis chapter.    Keywords: Social Media, K-pop, Fandom, Digital media practices, Participatory culture, engagement and interaction, Twitter