Augusto 1

Alexandra Augusto

Professor Gardiakos

ENC1101

08 November 2021

The Stan Twitter “Army” Discourse Community Ethnography

On June 13, 2013, a new South Korean boy group named “Bangtan Sonyeondan” (BTS)

had debuted and would garner fans almost a decade later listed in plenty of articles as one of the,

“Top 10 Most Loyal and Craziest Fans in the World.” It took the world by storm when this

group and fandom appeared seemingly out of nowhere and rivaled the strength of those from the

Taylor Swift and Beyoncé fandoms. As of April 2021, it has been estimated that BTS has 90

million fans worldwide, and to put it into perspective, that is more than the population of

Australia, Canada, and Taiwan combined.

As the title of the article suggests, the common conception people have of BTS fans is

negative. People have corresponded adjectives like delusional, crazy, annoying, loyal, and

dedicated to a very specific and loud community of BTS fans that many identify to be the entire

fandom. Those fans are the Stan Twitter Armys. The word “Stan” was coined by Eminem in his

song “Stan,” which combined the words “stalker” and “fan” (Arasa). In current years, the term is

used synonymously with super fans. In the case of BTS, the word “Army” is the name of BTS’

fandom, and together the phrase “Stan Twitter Armys” is in reference to the focal discourse

community. A focal discourse community is a community with a wider scope of participation

regionally and in this instance, this focal discourse community is online (Swales 551).
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John Swales is well known for his 6 listed characteristics of what makes a discourse

community a discourse community. In this particular community, the genre – mechanisms of

intercommunication among its members – used is the app Twitter (Swales 547). To thrive in this

community, it is important to be literate in the genre’s way of expressing opinions and support

(Tweets, Retweets, Likes) and have one’s ide

@@@talk ab twitter being the genre hahaha ehheeh … importance of being literate on

twt (fans help others be literate in terms of streaming)

@@talk ab how people can identify this discourse community (the little 7) … their

values (identity kit time)

@@how i researched

To analyze the community, I

The K-Pop industry has labelled celebrities as “idols,” and this is a very harmful title to

have when considering what the definition of an idol is. An idol is defined as, “An image or

representation of a god used as an object of worship” (The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and

Fable). To hold any individual to such a high standard is very concerning, especially under stan

culture. Some extreme fans who worship Korean idols – or any celebrity – have been found to

oftenly put moral and logic aside in exchange for their blind and unwavering support. The K-Pop

industry is not only aware of this, but they utilize the dedication fans have for promoting and

protecting the well-crafted image companies have made of their idols.

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As mentioned previously, members of this discourse community possess an unhealthy

protectiveness towards BTS. With the manipulation from BTS’s entertainment – Big Hit

Entertainment – fans have, dangerously, become BTS’s own PR team. Many actions of the group

that can be viewed in a negative light have been reported or taken down, and the truth that

remains for the public is often distorted to preserve an image that their idol is perfect. This also

prevails in negative comments or criticism made towards BTS.

In November 2019, BTS member Jeon Jungkook was reported to have hit a taxi driver

while violating a traffic law. The discourse community’s response? Armys had used a tactic on

stan Twitter referred to as “clearing the searches.” When fans “clear the searches,” Twitter’s

algorithm pulls words that have been recently and frequently associated with the searched

keyword(s) (Antlobo). This tactic is used to trend and hide the true events that the fans do not

want others to see. In this instance, YouTube commentator Pierce Kavanagh (Kavos) had seen

Jungkook trending on Twitter and was interested in finding out the reason why. Upon clicking

the Jungkook trending tab, Kavos was met with a bunch of tweets from the discourse community

of varying positive phrases or comments. Examples of some of the tweets are, “Jungkook cute,”

“Jungkook kind,” and, “Jungkook talented.” The repeated tweets had successfully “cleared the

searches” and Kavos, like many users after believing they had seen why something was trending,

was about to leave the trending tab until he noticed a tweet announcing to other members of the

discourse community helpful keywords to use to help clear the searches. This piqued his interest

and after further research, he was surprised to unveil the buried truth of the car accident.

Kavos tweeted his opinion of the danger in fans, “...See[ing] no wrong in their idols and

[doing] anything to cover up their mistakes.” Kavos’ tweet quickly went viral with 9.5 thousand
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likes and had been met with harsh backlash from the discourse community. Many of the

members commented negatively on Kavos, threatened to report his account, and emailed BTS’

company to report and sue Kavos for “malicious activities” against the group. This is a common

occurrence in the discourse community fostered by Big Hit Entertainment when the company

had released a legal proceeding document and encouraged fans to report and alert them of any

negative comments towards the group.

Not only are members of the discourse community protective towards the group, but they

are also very protective of their image as it reflects on BTS. In September 2021, James Corden

on his “The Late Late Show with James Corden” referred to members of the discourse

community as “15 year old girls” and made some comments about BTS’ presence as “unusual”

at the United Nations General Assembly. Corden’s words set a fire to the discourse community,

especially since BTS had previously attended his show as well as other activities of his, and

members of the community repeated the actions they had done to Kavos. The biggest retaliation

of the community was to quickly and effectively plunge the ratings of his late night show from a

rating of 4.2 to 1.6 (Cosmopolitan). As of November 2021, the show’s ratings have further

declined to 1.2 and comments are still being made expressing their discontent.

@@@transition into their lexis and slang (slang reflects their values) **ways of being

@@transition into conflict and conventionalisms in the sense of you can only have

positive opinions (Conflict = any negative comments, even positive criticism … any act that is

viewed as anti-convenitional is viewed as hate and therefore conflict)

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@@@transition to streaming which is another value of theirs and then vvvv

@@@ understanding the actions done in the community, understanding the cost of

affiltiation (++ TALK AB THE EXTREMITY FANS GO TO STREAM AND SHAME

OTHERS)

@@@hierachy of fans (Talk ab the cost being especially high for the more occupational

twitter accounts and maybe like hourly accounts)

@@values and ways of being in the discourse community

Talk about my own experience for observations + youtube videos

Goals: Protection of idols, promotion of group with Fancams, show accomplishments,

and help streaming of songs

- ***use James Cordon calling fans 14 year old girls among other things and how it

impacted his ratings

Cost of affiliation: mentally draining, must be careful with wording… demanding

environment
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What are the characteristics and goals of this discourse community and how are

those demonstrated through observed activities and genres?

- Goals: Increase streams on music videos/songs, promote the group, album sales

- Characteristics: Very protective, entitled (for liking the group),

Step 1: Collect Data/Observations

Observe members of the discourse community while they are engaged in a shared activity; take

detailed notes (What are they doing? What kinds of things do they say? What specialized

language do they use? What do they write and communicate? How do you know who is “in” and

who is “out”?).

- Using Hashtags, following guides, “BTS paved the way,” purple heart, you know who is

in our out based on the little 7 … Defending BTS and praising them on twitter … BTS

topic @charts_k = Bts Charts and Translations (garnered 1.1 m followers).. They use stan

Stan twitter language… bts popper

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Collect and analyze anything people in that community read or write (their genres)—even very

short things like forms, football plays, notes, IMs, and text messages.

- Twitter is THE GENRE of this community. To be literate, people must understand the

terminology of stan twitter, likes, retweets, quote tweets, etc … direct messages/group

chats … carrds!

Discuss how members of the discourse community move through the hierarchy of the

community. Take us through the process of how one enters and moves “up” through the

discourse community. This should include how people create identity and gain authority.

- Followers and time in the community. Connections with other popular accounts.

Talk about the division… refer to class assignment

Step 2: Analyze the Data

Use the researchers we read (James Paul Gee, Ann Johns, John Swales) to help you organize and

analyze the data you’ve collected. Feel free to use any other research or authors you find relevant

to your discussion. You should use the terms and concepts from these readings and authors to

discuss the observations that you are making as part of the presentation of your study.

Step 3: Present Your Findings

Given all the data you’ve collected and analyzed, decide what you want to focus on in your

paper. Is there something interesting regarding the goals of the community? Types of literacies in

the community? Its lexis or genres? Refine the above research question to fit your purpose(s).
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Then construct an essay that demonstrates what you’ve learned about discourse communities,

reviews relevant literature, describes your methodology and your findings, and presents an

answer to your specific research question.

Think of your paper as being an informative text to your audience about all of the aspects of a

discourse community.

Consider your paper to be an educational resource for others to learn about this specific

discourse community from an in-depth perspective.

Works Cited

Antlobo. “R/KPOPHELP - What Does Kpop Twitter Mean When They Talk about ‘Clearing

Searches’?” Reddit, 29 Sept. 2019,

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www.reddit.com/r/kpophelp/comments/db5zem/what_does_kpop_twitter_mean_when_th

ey_talk_about/.

Arasa, Dale. “Have You Ever Wondered What Is Stan Twitter?” INQUIRER.net USA, 2 Apr.

2021, usa.inquirer.net/67142/have-you-ever-wondered-what-is-stan-twitter.

ChewingSeok. “R/Unpopularkpopopinions - BTS Did Not Pave the Way. Just Accept It.” Reddit,

3 May 2019,

www.reddit.com/r/unpopularkpopopinions/comments/bk4xoy/bts_did_not_pave_the_way

_just_accept_it/.

Fattaut, Lentry. “An Analysis of Slang Words Used by BTS Army Community Conversation on

Twitter.” IAIN Salatiga Repository, 26 June 2020,

e-repository.perpus.iainsalatiga.ac.id/id/eprint/8675.

Kavanagh, Pierce. "BTS ARMY: The Worst Music Fans EVER." YouTube, uploaded by Kavos, 5

March 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u_mjTS2eqs&t=617s.

S.P. “Big Hit Entertainment Takes Legal Action for BTS and TXT Regarding Malicious

Comments.” Soompi, Soompi, 30 Dec. 2020,

www.soompi.com/article/1446074wpp/big-hit-entertainment-takes-legal-action-for-bts-a

nd-txt-regarding-malicious-comments.

Swales, John. “Reflections on the Concept of Discourse Community.” Writing about Writing, by

Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford Books St. Martin's, 2020, pp. 544–558.
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The Editors. “The BTS Army Legit Tanked James Corden's Ratings after He Called Fans

‘15-Year-Old Girls.’” Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan, 25 Sept. 2021,

www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a37720621/bts-army-tank-james-corden-rat

ing-tweets/.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. “Idols.” Oxford Reference, 2006,

www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095956880#:~:text=An%

20image%20or%20representation%20of,admired%2C%20loved%2C%20or%20revered.

US BTS Army. “BTS Stream & Purchase Guide.” US BTS ARMY, 2021,

www.usbtsarmy.com/stream-purchase-guide.