Effects of Social

Media on
Korean Pop Culture
By Caitlin Lee
 Outline of My Research

Globalization of Korean Navigating the Pitfalls: Social

01 Music Through Social 02 Media’s Negative Influence on
Media Korean Pop Culture

The Power of K-pop Fandom:

03 Social Media for Good
Causes
What is K-pop?
 01
HOW HAS SOCIAL MEDIA
FACILITATED THIS
GLOBALIZATION?
 Before Kpop
● Before 1990s - Government largely controlled the type
of music that South Koreans listened to.
● Strict regulations of television and radio broadcasting.
● Predominantly featured ballads or “trot” music.

“HangukHwa” by KimYongwan
 AFTER MEDIA INFLUENCE
South Koreans became exposed to Western Pop and started to take influence
from them.

“I know” by Seo Taiji and

Boys
 “introduction by YouTube of subtitles on the screen,
along with the introduction of automatic captions
through speech-recognition technology, lowered the
language barrier and enabled the growth of the YouTube
K-pop audience” (Dal Yong Jin, 2016).
 02
Navigating the Pitfalls: Social
Media’s Negative Influence on
Korean Pop Culture
 Two main downsides

Unrealistic Beauty Standards Cancel Culture, Hate Bandwagon

Unrealistic Beauty Standards
 MAGIC
03 You can enter a subtitle
here if you need it
Case Study: Sulli from F(x)
Kpop Fans For Good Cause
 Works Cited
Kim, Youna. The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global. 1st ed., Routledge, 2013, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315859064.

Kim, Hwewon, and Tae-Im Han. “Body Image Concerns Among South Korean Kindergarteners and Relationships to Parental, Peer, and Media Influences.” Early Childhood Education Journal, vol. 49, no. 2, 2021, pp. 177–84,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01059-z.

Elfving-Hwang, Joanna. “K-Pop Idols, Artificial Beauty and Affective Fan Relationships in South Korea.” Routledge Handbook of Celebrity Studies, 1st ed., vol. 1, Routledge, 2018, pp. 190–201,
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315776774-12.

Park, Sejung, and Jiwon Kim. “Tweeting about Abusive Comments and Misogyny in South Korea Following the Suicide of Sulli, a Female K-Pop Star: Social and Semantic Network Analyses.” El Profesional de La Informacion,
vol. 30, no. 5, 2021, https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.sep.05. .

Staff, Billboard. “Jay Park, BTS, CL, GOT7’s Mark & More Korean Artists Show Support for Black Lives Matter.” Billboard, 11 June 2020,
www.billboard.com/music/music-news/korean-kpop-artists-support-black-lives-matter-george-floyd-9394672/.

Velez, Jennifer. “BTS, Big Hit Entertainment and the BTS Army Donate over $2 Million to Black Lives Matter.” GRAMMY.Com, 8 June 2020,
www.grammy.com/news/bts-big-hit-entertainment-and-bts-army-donate-over-2-million-black-lives-matter.

Admin, Annelle Digital, and Name. “BTS Marketing Success: The Kpop Kings of Social Media.” Annelle Digital, 21 Aug. 2021, www.annelledigital.com/blog/bts-marketing-success-the-kpop-kings-social-media/.

Ralf. “The Most-Tweeted KPOP Idols over the Past Year.” Allkpop, 1 Oct. 2022, www.allkpop.com/article/2022/10/the-most-tweeted-kpop-idols-over-the-past-year.

Cadja, Carmela. “Behind Closed Glass Doors: The Hidden Reality of the K-Pop Industry.” Edina Zephyrus, 13 Jan. 2023, edinazephyrus.com/behind-closed-glass-doors-the-hidden-reality-of-the-k-pop-industry/.

Sherman, Maria, and Yoonsoo Kim. “Investigating Exploitation in the K-Pop Industry.” Cosmopolitan.Com, 10 Mar. 2020, www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a31088096/k-pop-dark-side-exploitation/.

Kim, Yeonjeong. “#KpopTwitter Reaches New Heights with 7.8 Billion Global Tweets.” Blog.x.Com, 27 Jan. 2022, blog.x.com/en_us/topics/insights/2022/-kpoptwitter-reaches-new-heights-with-7-8-billion-global-tweets.

Romano, Aja. “How K-Pop Became a Global Phenomenon.” Vox, 16 Feb. 2018, www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/16/16915672/what-is-kpop-history-explained.

Devoe, Noelle. “Here’s Everything to Know about Weverse, & How It’s Changing.” Elite Daily, 1 July 2019, www.elitedaily.com/entertainment/weverse-app-explained.