In the early hours of Sunday June 26, Krowe Media administration received an automated alert from their own developer hosting account that The Asian Entertainer was about to exceed its bandwidth. It didn’t seem possible since Krowe Media allocates an extremely generous amount of bandwidth for all its websites. But it happened as visitors from all over the world responded to the Park Yoo-Chun editorial posted two days earlier. The bandwidth issue was resolved quickly and visitors were able to continue without interruption.
When first posted on AE’s Facebook page, it generated little response during the first few hours. But what happened after that came as a total surprise. It all began with a #Yoochun hashtag on Twitter and RT from a single female fan in the Philippines. No one had to do anything else. We had unknowingly provided the matches, but it was Yoochun fans on Twitter who started the fire. Never underestimate a seemingly small voice or a network of fans on a mission.
Gauging by the volumes of fan-sites on the internet, the Yoochun following is no small group. But to actually witness a worldwide army form overnight and almost swallow a hefty website, boggles the mind. Although The Asian Entertainer referred to this in the editorial, the reality of how deep that fan base actually runs was overwhelming and is most likely only “the tip of the iceberg”.
While it doesn’t mean every visitor was a fan, the amount of positive feedback reflects that most were. The top 15 locations of unique visitors were (1)Malaysia (2)Thailand (3)Indonesia (4)Ukraine (5)Philippines (6)Russian Federation (7)Japan (8)Germany (9)Vietnam (10)China (11)Singapore (12)Mexico (13)Israel (14)Hong Kong (15)South Korea. The US was actually at #1 but not listed because those numbers also reflect routine traffic to the website.
Some feedback came from fans expressing their dismay of other entertainers with frozen careers stemming from accusations, either ongoing or had cases dismissed but living with the stigma of being involved in a scandal. The main concern of those fans was how certain media has influenced both the industry and public opinion, which again raises the topic of the problematic woes of epic proportions for South Korean entertainers.
The Asian Entertainer and its two additional counterpart sites were created for the sole purpose of promoting and supporting Asian and Asian Americans in the entertainment industry, from those behind the scenes to those in front of the cameras. But it is only equipped with a voice to raise awareness. As the Korean Wave continues to sweep the world like a tsunami, it is South Korea alone which has the power to implement policy and damage control to curtail the rampant and systematic destruction of its entertainers. The real root of the problem stems from the ones making false accusations. Zero tolerance by authorities for those wasting their time and resources, and zero profit from hush money by entertainment companies would make their schemes less attractive and easier for police to deal with real assault cases.
No comments:
Post a Comment