SEVENTEEN to join Weverse community with BTS, GFRIEND and TXT as Pledis, Big Hit announce launch
Joining the ranks of BTS, TXT and GFRIEND, SEVENTEEN is the latest group to join Weverse.
Big Hit Entertainment announced the launch of their global fan community platform Weverse last year. Korean artists have previously used online forums and fan cafes as a way to communicate and share exclusive content with their fans. But given that these forums were set up for local Korean users, they were not accessible to international fans, creating a divide in the fan communities.
With the launching of the Weverse app through its subsidiary beNX, Big Hit changed the game and created a platform that allows the global fan community to access content shared by the artists as well as communicate with fellow fans much more easily.
While ARMYs were initially disappointed that Big Hit chose to give labelmate Tomorrow X Together, or TXT a global fan community first, they did not have to wait long as the company soon opened a community for BTS as well. But they didn't stop there.
Following that, one more Weverse community was opened for the girl group GFRIEND from Source Music, an agency that Big Hit recently acquired. GFRIEND recently opened up about the collaboration during their press conference for the release of their mini album 'Labyrinth'.
Member Umji said that Big Hit producers as well as CEO Bang Shi Hyuk all contributed to their album's production, helping the band refine the story they were trying to tell with this release. Speaking about Bang Shi Hyuk, she added that he participated in writing lyrics for the album as well.
In a corporate briefing held on February 5, Big Hit co-CEO Lenzo Yoon stated that the company was looking forward to collaborating with more artists, including ones not part of Big Hit labels. They also expressed interest in working with artists overseas. In keeping with this announcement, Big Hit announced they would be opening a Weverse community for SEVENTEEN, which was later confirmed by the group's agency Pledis Entertainment.
Big Hit was previously reported to be in the process of trying to acquire Pledis but stated nothing had been confirmed yet.
So what can fans expect to see in the new SEVENTEEN Weverse community?
As with its predecessors, this community will also allow fans to communicate with fellow fans from all over the world and share exclusive content with one another. Fans can also view 'Artist Moments', which are essentially stories posted by the artists themselves to the app that disappear after 24 hours.