*Sigh*

Psy is a South Korean singer who has recently become known worldwide for his pop song ‘Gangnam Style’, however he has been known domestically in South Korea since 2001, having released music there since this time. Psy also is an avid songwriter, and is well-known in the online community. His official music video for his song Gangnam Style is actually the most watched video on YouTube of all time, with over two billion views.

Psy is a great example to talk about when we discuss Asian diasporic groups, because of the way that he has gained worldwide fame, after such a long time only being recognised in his home nation. He is also an avid social media user, which makes him perfect for a case study into the way that it can be utilised for his own promotion online.

I find Psy’s fans to be really interesting – I wanted to look into whether he had die hard fans not only in South Korea, but also in other nations that were not affiliated with the culture over there.

After researching fan bases for Psy, I found an official fan page on public website Fanpop. This is basically a hub for information about Psy – including videos, photos, blog posts and forums. I think this is a great example of how social media can be used to connect fans, no matter what their geographical location may be. Although this is a great way for fans to come together, it is in no way affiliated with Psy himself, which can be considered a downside.

In saying this, Psy also has an official Twitter account that has regular updates. After looking at his account, I found that his tweets were not actually written by Psy, but rather a publicist or management type, and were focused on what he is doing in the global pop community, rather than personal updates.

This is interesting to compare to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, who I talked about in my last post, who interacted quite personally with her hometown fans through Twitter.