Jamjamj had no idea her YouTube channel would amass nearly 250,000 subscribers in just five months. The 17-year-old American, who wishes to remain anonymous, started her channel in May 2018 out of a desire to create videos honoring her favorite K-pop boy band, BTS. Her first edited video was a tutorial for a mobile BTS game—and it hit 100,000 views in four weeks.
“I’ve been editing videos for a long time. I started when I was like 10,” she said. But it wasn’t until recently that her mother allowed her to start actually publishing her videos online.
The teenage BTS superfan is part of a larger generation of digital fans who are playing an active role in shaping fandom and entertainment. While a pre-internet world had teenage fans taping fold-out magazine posters of boy band members on their walls, Jamjamj and her cohort actually create original content on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr for each other to consume. Their content not only attracts new fans but also helps them better understand an idol, TV show, or storyline.
“Someone dm-ed me and told me my videos had helped her get more into BTS,” 21-year old ChimChimTrash wrote in an email. She’s a popular Danish BTS YouTuber who is also online friends with Jamjamj. “I was very touched by that, like I never expected to have that kind of influence on anyone.”
Hye Jin Lee, University of Southern California professor specializing in K-pop and popular culture, said: “Fans feel obligated to take upon the role of a manager to promote their idols. They do a lot of different kinds of labor.”
Fan-created content is one example of this type of labor.Thanks to ChimChimTrash and Jamjamj’s artfully edited videos, new fans don’t have to sift through endless hours of content to acquaint themselves with the personality quirks of each of the seven members of BTS—they can just watch a three-minute fan video instead.
“I would call my editing style ‘crack’ “– Jamjamj
With titles like ‘bts moments that boil my noodles’ and ‘bts being crackheads for 5 mins straight’, these videos zero in on the little things that make these K-pop idols so lovable and relatable to fans. They capture subtle eye glances, questionable touching, background reactions that might have been missed—all the small nuances that tell an untold story about the person.
“[One video] took like 12 hours straight to make, which was kind of overkill for me because I just sat all day editing,” Jamjamj said.
This type of meticulous dedication pays off. Both ChimChimTrash and Jamjamj’s videos are extremely popular, garnering anywhere from 30-100K views each. It’s clear that there is a thirst for this type of content within the fandom.
The fans who support the superfans
Allison Shao, 15, is a big Taylor Swift fan. Two years ago, the San Diego teenager decided to take her love for Taylor Swift to the next level, creating both an Instagram and a Tumblr devoted to her idol.
“I just wanted to post more about Taylor without being judged for it,” Shao said. “I also wanted to find a group of people who love Taylor as much as I do, so we could talk about her and not have it seem weird.”
“Taylor is probably the most down-to-earth celebrity, like ever.” – Shao
According to Joan Miller, a doctoral student at USC specializing in the impact of fan culture on social behavior, “When a group of fans have a similar affective relationship to a piece of media, it allows them to connect effectively. The two of you could start to become better friends just because you’re in such a positive emotional experience and environment.”
Building that type of positive environment within the fandom is what encourages fans to create more. Shao, who occasionally draws fan art of Taylor Swift, said she posts her drawings whenever she wants to kick up her follower count.
“It’s really nice to see the reception from my followers and it boosts my ego when they say it’s good,” Shao said.
“I think my subscribers trust me a lot, like, they know they will enjoy whatever I make,” ChimChimTrash wrote. She also makes videos in response to fan requests.
The sense of community that these fans have online often bleeds into real life. Shao said that she’s only known some of her fellow online Taylor Swift fans for three months, but they talk every day.
“It’s like a normal friendship, you know. We talk about how our day’s going, like spilling tea or whatever. We talk about Taylor, but not exclusively,” Shao explained.
She hasn’t met any of her online friends in person yet, but she plans on meeting one at Disneyland in a few months.
The entertainment industry’s reliance on fan labor
The passion that inspires fans to create content is playing a role in bringing mainstream audiences into fandoms, according to Henry Jenkins, University of Southern California professor and one of the leading experts in fan culture.
“[The internet] has created a space where fan activities that had once been hidden from you suddenly are so visible,” Jenkins said, adding that “more people are experimenting with being fans” nowadays because of increased exposure to what would historically have been niche communities.
This mainstream visibility means that fan creators play a significant role in influencing entertainment as a whole. Jenkins calls this “convergence media.”
The Star Wars series, in which storylines go back and forth through time and sometimes veer off towards side characters, provides a great example of how convergence media works. A newcomer to the series might not be able to understand it all by just watching one movie. Instead, he or she will most likely turn to the internet, where fan-created media might help them connect the dots.
“It depends really on the infrastructure fandoms provide in educating each other about the connections across those various stories,” Jenkins said.
Amanda Brennan, Tumblr’s insights manager and creator of the platform’s fandom statistic aggregator, “Fandometrics,” said that Tumblr’s K-pop fans are some of the most meticulous taggers she’s seen.
“They’ll tag [posts] with the band, the band member, the date the photo is taken, the place that it was taken, what tour they’re on,” Brennan said. “All these little bits and pieces to give a more holistic look at the content.”
Meticulous archiving is just one example. Other acts of fan labor include moderating forums, providing translations for non-Korean speaking fans, and even creating a fan album to ensure that the idols themselves feel the love from their fans.
“Like 10, 20 years ago, you needed to have mass appeal to be successful. But nowadays, you just need a strong, engaging fandom,” Professor Hye Jin Lee said.