In 2011, most of the world’s news spread quickly across the globe thorough various Social Networking Sites.
Those who could not find an outlet to voice their opinions also utilized SNS to express their thoughts and at times, changed the world. These same social networking sites became a gateway of communication between JYJ and their fans.
The three JYJ members Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun, and Kim Junsu were once members of the greatest idol group, TVXQ under SM Entertainment but publicly revealed their unfair contracts and became independent.
The three members were once part of the wildly popular group, but suddenly became distant from their fans once creating JYJ. There really was no way for them to properly communicate with their fans.
They desperately needed to build a bridge in order to be able to reach their fans, and SNS became the obvious answer. After leaving TVXQ in July of 2009, JYJ publicly released two albums but it was not easy for the public to have access to their music or their performances.
Due to reasons unknown, the boys are unable to publicly perform on television programs or cable channels. Despite this, the boys sold over 320,000 copies of their two albums released in 2010 and 2011, proving that their fame knows no bounds and fans still highly support their career.
In the past, even famous idol groups such as H.O.T and Sechs Kies who were met with an explosive reaction from fans an routinely sold over a million records didn’t last long.
JYJ has proven to be exactly the opposite, their fame only growing with time, despite being unable to publicly perform on a broadcasting stage.
The best way for JYJ to reach out to their fans is via Twitter. The three of them began utilizing Twitter to connect with the public in October of 2010, a year after they broke away from TVXQ.
JYJ’s Kim Jae Joong (@mjjeje) had 672,205 followers as of January 3rd, 2012- the most out of the three. He has also tweeted the most with 1,030 tweets. This simply means that he is making a conscious effort to consistently communicate with his fans. He also has 20,248 on his “Lists”.
Park Yoochun (@6002theMicky) currently has 531,137 followers with 17,401 ‘Lists’, while Kim Junsu (@0101xiahtic) has 539,037 followers and ’16,777′ lists.
Junsu’s Twitter was unfortunately hacked into late last year and on December 19th, the singer created a new twitter, @1215thexiahtic.
Not even a month after he created his new Twitter page, Junsu had 97,807 followers and is on 2,066 lists.
One follower (@100t****) wrote, “I think the members are being more honest and real than they were when they were with their previous label. Before, they seemed unattainable celebrities but now they seem more approachable; they answer questions and fill fans in on the things fans are curious about.”
It’s much like a reality show, where the JYJ members interact with people they are close with via their Twitter pages, and their fans get to see it happening live.
A Twitter follower and JYJ fan @tr***** wrote, “Fans often forget about even their most favorite idols once they stop making television appearances, but while other celebrities are talking about themselves on TV programs, JYJ updates fans on their whereabouts so it actually makes us feel closer to them.”
