#SMTOWN_LIVE delivered a message of Hope... Generated 12 M Tweets!

On the first day of 2021, a special performance was live streaming on Twitter for people all around the world who have been experiencing a difficult time due to COVID-19. It was the online concert SMTOWN LIVE Culture Humanity (hereinafter referred to as SMTOWN LIVE), a concert that showcased performances by SM Entertainment artists.

During the concert, SM artists loved by fans all around the world showed off a variety of stages and received the attention of K-pop fans. SM artists who participated in the concert included Kangta (@kangta), TVXQ (@TVXQ), Super Junior (@SJofficial), Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon (@GirlsGeneration), SHINee’s Taemin, EXO’s Baekhyun (@B_hundred_Hyun) and Kai (@weareoneEXO), Red Velvet (RVsmtown), NCT (@NCTsmtown), NCT 127 (@NCTsmtown_127), NCT DREAM (@NCTsmtown_DREAM), WayV (@WayV_official), SuperM (@superm), aespa (@aespa_official), Ginjo, Imray (@leimlay), and Raiden (@raidenmusic).

Numerous conversations about the SMTOWN LIVE performances and artists appeared on Twitter, generating 12 million Tweets from around the world in two days (December 31, 2020 - January 1, 2021). 

The day's performance, which was live streaming for free worldwide via Twitter, reached five million views.

In the opening video that announced the start of the concert, SM Entertainment’s General Producer Lee Soo-man appeared to deliver the following message: “Music has no barriers. We can communicate without language through music. It is a great comfort and sense of healing for all of us. SM Entertainment and I are working hard to provide you with this type of music.” In addition, he emphasized that the core of CT (culture technology), which is the foundation of the SM production system, is “humanity.” He finished by saying, “Today’s free concert is to bless and celebrate the humanity of SM fans who have gathered together. Be kind, be humble, be the love for each other so we can create a better world.”

Twitter also wanted to provide support for the concert that was prepared with such a good purpose that would allow more K-pop fans around the world to feel comforted by the performances.

Twitter operated #SMTOWN_LIVE Special Event Page to give K-pop fans all around the world a place to check information related to SMTOWN LIVE in real time and support their favorite artists by liking or ReTweeting messages. Twitter also used the “Reminders” feature to send a notification to users who had ReTweeted or liked Tweets which included an special event page to ensure that K-pop fans around the world would be able to watch SMTOWN LIVE.

Twitter also launched a special emoji for SMTOWN LIVE. A special emoji in the shape of SMTOWN's official logo was automatically applied to Tweets that used the hashtags #SMTOWN, #SMTOWN_LIVE, and #SMTOWN_LIVE_Culture_Humanity. Featured artist hashtags (#KANGTA #TVXQ! #SUPERJUNIOR #TAEYEON #TAEMIN #BAEKHYUN #KAI #RedVelvet #NCTU #NCT127 #NCTDREAM #WayV #SuperM #aespa) also had special emojis applied to them, resulting in a total of 12 emojis.

Prior to the performance, SM artists also presented live tickets with autographs to global K-pop fans. Autographed tickets from the members of NCT (@NCTsmtown), NCT 127 (@NCTsmtown_127), and NCT DREAM (@NCTsmtown_DREAM) received the most love from K-pop fans. TVXQ (@TVXQ), Super Junior (@SJofficial), Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon (@GirlsGeneration), SHINee’s Taemin, EXO’s Baekhyun (@B_hundred_Hyun) and Kai (@weareoneEXO), WayV (@WayV_official), SuperM (@superm), and aespa (@aespa_official) thrilled K-pop fans by also releasing signed tickets.

During SMTOWN LIVE, fans around the world shared different types of Tweets such as performance videos and images through Twitter in real time. The response to SMTOWN LIVE showed how enthusiastic K-pop fans still are despite the number of concerts that have been canceled due to COVID-19.

The interest in SMTOWN LIVE continued even after the performances as fans continued to share group photos by artists, performance highlight video clips, and New Year's greeting messages.

The beginning of 2021 was a meaningful time to deliver hope to K-pop fans around the world through the SMTOWN LIVE concert. We look forward to seeing offline concerts instead of online concerts this year! Until the day comes when we can have live concerts again, Twitter promises to work hard to provide more diverse content for global K-pop fans! Happy New Year 2021!! 😊