[Political Fandom] ④ Numerous 'Jaemyeong's Village' VS High Views 'WithHooni'

'Withhooni' Opened Before 'Jaemyeongine Maeul'
Common Features: Location Tagging, Photo Sharing, Fan Art

Editor's NoteIn Korean politics, 'fandom' has become an indispensable presence. There is even talk that fandom dominates politics. The Democratic Party actively utilizes fandom as a political asset, following former President Moon Jae-in with former leader Lee Jae-myung. Newly appointed People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon also secured party leadership centered around fandom. However, fandom is also criticized for exhibiting extreme behavior that causes political polarization and expands conflicts. We have diagnosed and analyzed the reality and reasons behind political fandom and examined the possibilities for change. ① "Han Dong-hoon is a tool" "Lee Jae-myung is qualified" ② Activities expanding beyond online and offline to YouTube and media ③ Buying books to raise lawyer fees and relay donations by following politicians' SNS ④ 'Jaemyung's Village' with many members VS 'WithHoonie' with high views

Recently, the activities of political fandoms have been actively taking place on online fan cafes. Former Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung's fan cafe 'Jaemyung's Village' and People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon's fan cafe 'WithHoonie' are representative examples. We compared the fan cafes of these popular politicians representing the two major parties, former leader Lee and leader Han.

Member Count: 'Jaemyung's Village', Views: 'WithHoonie'

Main gate photo of Jaemyeong's Village and Withhooni Cafe [Source = Jaemyeong's Village, Withhooni]

As of the 25th, Jaemyung's Village has about 206,000 members. On the same day, WithHoonie has about 91,000 members, less than half of Jaemyung's Village. However, the 'daily visitor count' on that day was higher for WithHoonie, with about 49,000 visitors compared to about 20,000 for Jaemyung's Village. Jaemyung's Village was established after former leader Lee lost to President Yoon Seok-youl in the 2022 presidential election, and over 200,000 fans joined within a month. WithHoonie was created in July 2020 when leader Han was working as a prosecutor, and the number of members, which remained around 20,000 before the 22nd general election, exceeded 90,000 after the election and party convention.

Although WithHoonie was created earlier than Jaemyung's Village, the total number of posts in the cafe is higher in Jaemyung's Village due to the difference in membership. As of that day, Jaemyung's Village had about 1.07 million posts, while WithHoonie had 112,184 posts. Over 500 new posts were uploaded in WithHoonie on that day alone.

Commonalities: Article Tagging, Photo Sharing, Fan Art

Fan art of former Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung created by members of Jaemyeong's Village [Source=Jaemyeong's Village]

One commonality between the two cafes is 'tagging coordinates' and 'photo sharing.' When articles about leader Han and former leader Lee are published, cafe members share them among themselves and request 'comment' support to boost their favored politician. In Jaemyung's Village, some members frequently share articles under the name [Important Articles]. WithHoonie also shares articles through a cafe board called 'Han Dong-hoon Article Collection' and requests support with phrases like "We're falling behind. Please join here."

Withhooni member's fan art of Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People Power Party. [Source=Withhooni]

On the boards where photos of former leader Lee and leader Han are shared, members share news photos and appreciate them. Through comments, they express words of encouragement and affectionate remarks such as "cute" and "handsome" toward the two politicians. Additionally, members of both cafes create 'fan art' of these politicians themselves. Typical examples include emoticons using the faces of leader Han and former leader Lee and posters encouraging voting.