Globalization of cultural products: a webometric analysis of Kpop in Spanish-speaking countries

摘要

This study examines the Twitter network of Kpop diffusion in Spanish-speaking countries by addressing its communication patterns and main hubs, illustrating Kpop fans activities and relationships on Twitter. Based on NodeXL, Tweets with the hashtag "Kpop" were collected from March to August 2012 and the structural and informational patterns of social media communication were analyzed through a set of webometric methods. The results indicate that Kpop won a small but growing portion of the music preferences in Hispanic countries as a result of combined efforts of public broadcast firms and fans. The study is the first to focus on countries sharing a common language to provide a better understanding of the diffusion of cultural products through Twitter.