K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization
We examine how TikTok expanded into the South Korean landscape by utilizing K-pop as a vehicle, thus demonstrating the theory of ‘platformed glocalization’. After several failed attempts to enter the Korean market – having been stigmatized as a ‘vulgar Chinese app’ – TikTok Korea eventually launched...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2023
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE190100789 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94709 |
| _version_ | 1848765901888815104 |
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| author | Abidin, Crystal Lee, Jin |
| author_facet | Abidin, Crystal Lee, Jin |
| author_sort | Abidin, Crystal |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We examine how TikTok expanded into the South Korean landscape by utilizing K-pop as a vehicle, thus demonstrating the theory of ‘platformed glocalization’. After several failed attempts to enter the Korean market – having been stigmatized as a ‘vulgar Chinese app’ – TikTok Korea eventually launched a successful event series known as ‘TikTok Stage’ to leverage on the gaps in the K-pop market arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. While ‘platformization’ has been studied as the pervasive reach and impact of platforms on cultures, we showcase the potential for a variant that we term ‘platformed glocalization’, usually observed when domestic market cultures and their associated socio-politics are particularly strong. We investigate K-pop stars and fans’ ‘promotional labour’ during the events, which is essential in the process of platformed glocalization. We discuss how the mainstream entertainment industry and newly emerging social media platforms work in tandem to produce a market-specific mobilization of digital cultures. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:42:37Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-94709 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:42:37Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-947092024-09-25T06:02:19Z K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization Abidin, Crystal Lee, Jin We examine how TikTok expanded into the South Korean landscape by utilizing K-pop as a vehicle, thus demonstrating the theory of ‘platformed glocalization’. After several failed attempts to enter the Korean market – having been stigmatized as a ‘vulgar Chinese app’ – TikTok Korea eventually launched a successful event series known as ‘TikTok Stage’ to leverage on the gaps in the K-pop market arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. While ‘platformization’ has been studied as the pervasive reach and impact of platforms on cultures, we showcase the potential for a variant that we term ‘platformed glocalization’, usually observed when domestic market cultures and their associated socio-politics are particularly strong. We investigate K-pop stars and fans’ ‘promotional labour’ during the events, which is essential in the process of platformed glocalization. We discuss how the mainstream entertainment industry and newly emerging social media platforms work in tandem to produce a market-specific mobilization of digital cultures. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94709 10.1177/1329878X231186445 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE190100789 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Abidin, Crystal Lee, Jin K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization |
| title | K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization |
| title_full | K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization |
| title_fullStr | K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization |
| title_full_unstemmed | K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization |
| title_short | K-pop TikTok: TikTok's expansion into South Korea, TikTok Stage, and platformed glocalization |
| title_sort | k-pop tiktok: tiktok's expansion into south korea, tiktok stage, and platformed glocalization |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE190100789 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94709 |