K-pop's Fan Culture and a Fan's Job

K-pop fans are all around the world now; these fans have their different methods to communicate, gather and share information especially through social media and the internet.

Usually, Korean pop singers will have one official fanclub and one official website include a fan forum (a.k.a personal fancafe) after they debut. However, for fans who are not Koreans or who don't speak Korean,it is hard for them to become a member of these official fancafes. And also, many fans are not just satisfied with such official websites. As a result, more and more K-pop fans choose to create websites or forums by themselves to support their favorite singers or celebrities.

I am one of these k-pop fans, too. Last year, I became a member of a Chinese fans website "Joon House"  and I joined its management team in February. It was my friend who created the website and also asked me to help her and other Chinese fans to manage this small fancafe for Joon Lee, a Korean pop music singer and a member from the boy band called MBLAQ.

For this kind of fancafe, it is very amazing because all the things are set up by the singer's fans. Normally, a fancafe will allow anyone to register with a few of basic requirements such as a general fan test for the singer. A typical website will provide information, news, videos, photo galleries, discussion board, and etc. And of course all of the contents relate to this singer.

The reasons why most K-pop fans built fancafes are because they like the singer or the band; they want to switch information with each other; they want to communicate with fans from other countries, and they want to do something to show their support. They are unpaid but they still enjoy such jobs with their passion.

I accepted the job from "Joon House" because I like Joon Lee and I was very curious that how a fancafe run.

My job is including several things to do. First, I need to catch news or information that posted or published in English about Joon Lee. I need to get the news or the information translated to Chinese. I will also help on translating Korean if it is needed. I'm not a good translator but it is a great chance for me to practice. I might also need to help on making some short video clips, too.

Below is a screenshot from the intro page of "Joon House", and of course it is designed by one member from the management team.

Additional information about the Korean singer, Joon Lee---- He was born on February 7, 1988. His real name is Chang Sun Lee, but now he is better known by his stage name Lee, Joon. He is an idol singer, dancer, actor, model and member of the Korean male group MBLAQ from Korea. The group is now very popular in many other countries include Peru, as they are the first K-pop singers who take over South America. Lee also participated in the Hollywoodmovie called "Ninja Assassin" in 2009, acted as Teenage "Raizo", one of the main casts.