Communication Networking and the Existence of a Perawat Sangpotirat Fan Club

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to examine (1) the process of creating a fan club and the existence of a fan club for the Thai actor and singer Perawat Sangpotirat, better known as Krist; (2) the communication network for Krist’s fan club; and (3) Krist’s personal branding. Qualitative data was collected by in-depth interviews with a representative administrator of the official fan clubhouse, 16 fans, and Krist’s manager as well as postings on Twitter and social media in fan clubs and by Krist.

Results were that Krist’s fans went through three phases: first sight, favoriting, and fascination at two sites, the official and general fan clubs. Krist’s fan club communication networks include a communication wheel and an all-channel group. The communication wheel has the official fan clubhouse as the network center. Administrators are responsible for public relations campaigns to members through social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They also must administer the LINE square fan club group. An all-channel group divides fans into subgroups within the network based on intimacy or joint activities. These lead to creation of social media and real-life networks facilitating inter-group communication by fan clubs. These processes ensure a strong and sustainable network.

In addition, Krist’s agency allows artists to have their own identity without guidelines or limits in creating personal branding. This leads to Krist's uniquely sustainable personal branding. Four dimensions contribute to building Krist's personal branding: personal, public communication, environmental, and contextual. Personal relates to distinctively authentic personality traits as a good, sincere, humorous, empathetic, polite, and humble person whose distinctive identity is marked by determination, cuteness, brightness, and consistently caring for fans with high artistic quality. In public communications, his image is marked by being in an imaginary relationship with a costar, the Thai actor Prachaya Ruangroj, known professionally as Singto. Use of diverse social media platforms characterizes this dimension as the artist symbolically represents the fan club identity. A language or code is used to communicate between artists and fan club, including a personal hashtag. Continuity of online and offline communication with the fan club is another distinctive trait. The environmental dimension makes supporters interested, self-validating, and connected, creating a good relationship with each fan club group for promotion and new member recruitment. Finally, the contextual dimension has the artist express behavior that matches the social context in sincerity and self-confidence.