K-pop, etc.: A coolsmurf Q&A

"coolsmurf" is someone's internet alias that has quite a following among Asian pop music enthusiasts, specifically of contemporary Korean music known as K-pop. As a university student, his turf was YouTube and, as avid blogger, was often credited as source of information, photos and even of videos of  K-pop related matters, by users of online forums since about 2007.

"coolsmurf" is one of two people who were key to the spread of videos that became very popular, of teen singer Charice Pempengco's, particularly of her translated and subtitled first appearance in Korea's Star King variety show in 2007 which "coolsmurf" uploaded to his YouTube channel in the same year. (The other key person being Filipino "FalseVoice," whose name appears on the liner notes of Charice's eponymous debut album¹ and who uploaded videos of her Little Big Star competition videos, among others.)

"coolsmurf"'s video upload of Charice's first appearance in Star King eventually got the attention of American talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who, in turn, extended the momentous invitation on television for Charice to guest and sing live on the Ellen show and, subsequently, of Oprah Winfrey's staff in their search for talents for her program's recurring World's Most Talented Kids segment. Because of  "coolsmurf's" and "FalseVoice's" videos, the rest, as they say, is pop music history.

A bit more of "coolsmurf"

"coolsmurf" is Alvin Lim, out of university and now, fittingly, Content Editor of the popular site AllKpop.com. It was a pleasure exchanging emails with "coolsmurf," and I would like to thank him for his permission to share our Q and A below:

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K: What country are you from?

Alvin Lim (coolsmurf): Singapore.

K: When did you start getting interested in K-pop and why?

AL: I was exposed to K-Pop earlier on with Lee Jung Hyun because Hong Kong singer Sammi Cheng used her songs to sing in Cantonese. But it was not until when I watched Princess Hours starring Yoon Eun Hye and that led to me watching her variety show, Xman, which in turn led me to discover Kim Jong Kook and from then on, I was hooked onto K-pop.

K: What was in the Star King segment where Charice appeared that appealed to you enough to sub it and upload (or, was this something you regularly did with all other K-pop related videos in your free time back then)?

AL: I did regular subbing of shows back then. Primarily for Xman and interesting clips. Then a Super Junior fan suggested for me to take a look at this young girl belting out tunes. I didn't think much at first, but when I saw her singing And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going, it just felt like I was there in person even if I wasn't. It was just sensational. Charice's entrance on Star King episode (2007) singing "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)". Note coolsmurf's English subtitle (bottom of image) and chicklet below the TV station ID "SBS" (right-hand corner). Duet with Super Junior's Kyu Hyun in the same episode from coolsmurf's defunct YouTube channel.

K: Would you still remember exactly when you uploaded that segment?

AL: It was two weeks after it had aired in Korea.

K: What was your process like, i.e., did you upload as soon as the show was over or did it take days/weeks?

AL: I got the request about a week after the show. Then it took me half a day to complete and upload. Pity it got killed by YouTube at 5million hits and counting due to SBS strict copyright laws (which it had the right to do, of course).

K: I read that you are with Allkpop.com as Content Editor, and I am wondering if that's correct. (I did read in your last entries at the "coolsmurf" blog that you were scouting for a job last year, and I am curious as to what came of that.)

AL: Yes. No one offered me a job other than that.

K: I read about your videos as being popular on a "UCC" channel but I am lost in my search concerning that. Is it still active and to what market does it cater?

AL: UCC channel refers to user-created content. It's just a common term to coin video sharing websites in Korea like Daum, Naver, Tagstory, Egloos, etc. YouTube is of course the No.1 website of this kind in the world.

K: Were you aware of the impact your uploads would have given Charice back then?

AL: I wasn't aware. I just did the request for a Super Junior fan who wanted to understand the whole segment. But I guess the Super Junior factor + Charice can really sing + English subs just made it popular in the world.

K: How big do you think is K-pop as a music influence in Southeast Asia? [i.e. Korean drama series are big here in the Philippines and a few groups...do make it on radio (i.e. Wonder Girls, Super Junior) but not any bigger than Korean TV actors and actresses, in my opinion, because of their daily exposure...]

AL: It's hard for music to become a big influence outside of their fans because of the short attention span of people these days. Dramas play longer than 3-5 mins of a single song, so that's why people can identify with them more easily. It's also easier to market dramas, movies than music. It's more of selling the image over music these days in Korea even though the latter is still crucial.

K: Who were the Filipino musicians who you were aware of before Charice, and who do you know today? How about [musicians] in your country [who you follow]?

AL: My knowledge is strictly limited in this area. The only one I knew of, and [still know] now is Regine Velasquez because she sang a duet with Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung before. There isn't much of a following for me in Singapore because of the lack of interest.

K: Charice returned to Star King, as you know, which will be aired in Korea in 3 days2. Do you think that in those years since she appeared, that she had a good following among Koreans before this latest guesting on the show again?

AL: Yes, she has a good following because of her talent and she didn't just come back for the 3rd time on Star King for nothing!

K: With her US career building up, would you say those who follow her in Korea took her seriously as a musician (before today, that is)?

AL: Yes, because she is recognized for her vocals.

K: How do you feel about her as an Asian making it in America, and do you think she really helps in giving other Asians the opportunity she has?

AL: It's great to see that happening and it just gives people hope that dreams do come true in some cases.

Alvin Lim, aka "coolsmurf," (second from left, standing) with Charice (seated, left) and her followers. [Used with permission]

K: I saw that you and Charice did meet in Singapore [in December 20093]. Other than that, though, did you ever get to see her in person before?

AL: That was the one and only time. And it might just stay that way. 1"Charice," the album, peaked at #8 on the Billboard charts when it was released in May 2010. 2The Star King episode was telecast on SBS channel in Korea on 24 July 2010. 3At the finals night of Singapore Idol in which Charice was special guest.

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Some notes on subbed YouTube videos, YouTube phenomena

coolsmurf—Alvin, rather—mentioned in the Q & A above that besides the presence of [members of] Super Junior and Charice's singing, that his translation and subbed videos helped make this particular segment popular among viewers outside the K-pop environment since it first appeared on his YouTube channel.

Since then, many of Charice's appearances in many countries, particularly of those in the Philippines that have been recorded and uploaded to YouTube, continue to be translated and subbed specifically targeting English-speaking viewers such as those seen on the channels tmgtw, tmgtwASIA and tmgtworld. These channels are maintained and operated by a loose but dedicated subb'ing group of YouTube users from Asia (the Philippines/Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea), the U.S. and Canada, and Europe (i.e. Germany) collectively known as the "CTV Crew"^a.

Similar to what "coolsmurf" and other music/celebrity aficionados had started on sites like YouTube, and with newer, faster technologies that provide users the chance to communicate and exchange notes and information across boundaries, translated videos continue to thrive on YouTube and in many other video sharing sites as well. Most of these types of videos are without the prodding of the featured musicians or celebrities, but were created out of personal or group interest, or from a fan request, or as alternative way of promotion by interest-specific groups. Not all of these types of videos have become as popular as that of  "coolsmurf"'s , nor taken on a true viral status as videos with funny or unusual subjects.

It's a perpetual cat-and-mouse game that these subbed "uploaders" continually dodge, specially with regards copyright complaints and such, as what also happened to "FalseVoice"'s YouTube accounts when the Philippine network ABS-CBN appealed to have his channels banned despite soaring viewership count, or they—the "uploaders" and channel owners—being collectively instrumental in even more doubling the number of YouTube viewers and users daily.

Where it once once the playground of unknown film and video enthusiasts consisting of casual viewers, video addicts, musicians and amateur and professional film creators, today, part of what makes up the phenomenon of YouTube being well ahead of all other sites of similar nature is hosting the entertainment industry's biggest networks, celebrity shows and film outfits which use it as a public repository of their video catalogues.

It's amusing how, in the continuous evolution of these sites, particularly of YouTube, the very entities that were sources of uploads and who appealed for the banning of YouTube's anonymous users for copyright infringement are themselves very active YouTube account holders today, and, as I have observed in some cases in the Philippines, ironically use YouTube clips in network news or feature segments, albeit not all of them giving the video or channel owners due credit.

Anyhow, Charice is just one of many talents who have come out and became success stories in themselves because of YouTube (Arnel Pineda is another Filipino singer who credits the site for his success; and, not to forget, Justin Bieber and Susan Boyle). Because of this, many more, from non-English speaking countries, even, will wish to follow in their footsteps by doing it on the internet, one viewer click, one translated and subbed video at a time.

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^a"...collectively known as CTV Crew." is an updated entry, 01 Aug 2010.

[Twitter] Trending "Pyramid", WMTK, et al.

THIS POST IS INSPIRED BY a recent group effort put in by ardent followers of a young singer to help promote her second international single set for release sometime after New Year 2010 in America, using Twitter as the platform of choice to create buzz.

While the group effort (it spans across all fan bases and geolocations) does not seek to undercut the marketing strategies of the young singer's record label — rather, it seeks to strengthen it independently — the flurry of suggestions from active followers on how best to use Twitter and its phenomenal trending capabilities has re-energized all of the singer's online community forums and nudged non-Twitter using fans into signing up for an account to join in the collective work.

Here, finally, is a good reason for me to share some insight based on some expanded and updated research in connection with the concerted Twitter effort which I hope will help.

As we know, there are many reasons for a topic to trend on Twitter. There are also 3 popular essential ingredients (expanded here to 7) on what makes for effective Tweets, and I hope I can help shed light:

[1] A topic has to be emotional. If any of you remember Ondoy/Ketsana — especially those who were most hit/have relatives affected by Ondoy in the Philippines — all Tweets about/related to the storm including the successful and "well-attended" performance of AJRafael on UStream.com were randomly generated. By this I mean that all types of Twitter users from various locations and time zones used Twitter as a means to shoutout a particular topic (or topics: Ondoy/Ketsana/flooding/Philippines) but which all point to "Ondoy". In fact, as I myself witnessed, "Ondoy" was trending a couple of hours even before the #hashtag for it was generated, and it was because the event was emotionally hitting almost all of Twitter that even celebrities from the West took notice.

However, emotional need not mean tragic, sad or catastrophic. It simply has to be personal and true, the aim being to tug at someone else's similar experience no matter how basic or dull.

If one is to Tweet something about an artist and/or an upcoming single, for example or, if we wish for her/"Song Name" to trend at all, the posts must have something in it to trigger interest in others, not just exclusive to her fan base.

[2] Sharing something that "feels good, it needs to be told".
Conversely, experiencing something bad seems to have the same effect on people because we tend to warn others to avoid something in the hope of sparing them a similar experience.

I believe technology-related stuff, food, freebies and events, destinations and weather, links and blogs, etc., trend — even without the #hashtag — because these make people generally feel good (or bad) that these need to be shared.

In fact, it won't hurt to request a post to be reTweeted if need be, as hardselling (or the appearance thereof) can turn many users off.

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Data grab courtesy of Sysomos

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[3] A "trigger" (a launch, a special appearance, an event, etc.) - taking from Emmanuel Rosen's The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited which is basically composed of being:

[3a] people-driven, and very much in need of
[3b] participation (or, is "participatory") - in other words, something that naturally creates interest and invites inquiry.

Also,
[4] Allot character spaces for ReTweets. Social media experts advise to leave at least 15 chars. for reTweeting by others.

To these, I add:

[5] Above all, a good story, a credible source.
That Twitter is limited to just 140 characters does not mean short thoughts cannot convey a good story. Twitter users are people, after all, not robots. Stories also contextualize a Tweet. More importantly, to separate a spam (or 'bot) Tweet from that of a human being's, the source must be credible. It does not mean one has to be a celebrity — though that undeniably helps — but real experiences, real thoughts and sincere emotions in real time make for very credible sources.

{ADD} Might I add that one of the measures of a "credible source" would be news organizations which, by now, have all implemented social sites, not just blogs, into their pages. By virtue of their being news organizations — because we all rely on the news for news, after all, and not simply our next-door neighbor — these organizations are first to acknowledge the newsworthiness of someone or something.

[6] Some words on scheduling posts.

I also read about the schedule of Tweeting a post and there have been several suggestions at the forums, mostly based on time zones and people's availability to Tweet. Many have suggested that Tweets have a greater chance of being noticed not so much as to when the poster has the time as to when readers are actually online or catch up to read on others' Tweets.

DigitalDigs' Best Time of Day to Tweet probably illustrates it best on when to Tweet most effectively. :p

[7] Interdependence.

Twitter, like anything on the internet, exists interdependent on other sources and live sites.

I read a couple of posts at the forum about AJ Rafael being somewhat of an influential Twitter user, especially when his #HealPhilippines made it among the top trends during the Ondoy/Ketsana storm.

It must be noted that AJ Rafael posted a request over at his Facebook account on 24 Sept 2009 to help spread the word on Twitter about his contribution to promote awareness about the typhoon. This request was picked up not just by his FB friends but by others searching for FB tags about the storm happening in the Philippines at the time.

In other words, Twitter does not exist in a vacuum and trends do not always emerge overnight. Notice how strong brands and highly popular sites such as BBC World and the New York Times have Twitter accounts and always place a link on their front pages which visitors can't miss. This simply means some link love and sharing has to be given effort to, especially if one needs to promote a good cause, a notable person or an affecting music.

As in life, the Net is always a 2-way street and to survive, everything must co-exist.

Some very useful links:

• Twitter's web traffic blog, Feb. 2008
• Fuel Interactive's The Life and Times of a Twitter Link, Mar 2009
• Emmanuel Rosen's The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited
• Dan Zarella of Mashable's The Science of ReTweets, Feb 2009 (slightly technical)
• Pew Internet's Survey results on Twitter's demographics, Feb 12, 2009 (viewable online or downloadable as PDF)
• Find out what's trending and why at WhatTheTrend.com
• The difference between meme and viral from Julian Cole's The Difference between a Meme and Viral, Apr 30, 2009
  
• Find out when it's best to Tweet someone at the fun and simple Tweet O'clock
• To find out the profile of a Twitter user and some demographics, go to Tweeps.info and get some very interesting data.
• If you're a data and visualization freak like myself, Sysomos' comprehensive 2009 survey of Twitter can be accessed here (data may actually overwhelm). [Recommended]
  
• Twitter twivias from whendidyoujointwitter.com (which says I had been Tweeting for 1,010 days as of this post) and Twittas.com (only for public timelines)
• HubSpot's TwitterGrader has comprehensive data on individual users, too.
  
• If you're interested in other Twitter-related applications, Twitdom has a few lists to share.
• Yahoo joined in the Twitter bandwagon and cooked up a fun online app to know your True Social Mojo (only for public timelines)
  
• And, finally, to show us how many other words are trending all over the world at a given time, a visualization of Twitter trending from TrendsMap from where the graphic on top was taken. Such a cool site that is.