Earlier this month, the team responsible for HYBE’s operations in Japan held a press conference in Tokyo to discuss strategies and future plans for the Weverse app in Japan. Weverse is a fan community platform that facilitates interactions between artists and fans globally, offering services such as community management, media content distribution, merchandise sales, and real-time streaming.
Weverse currently manages official communities for over 130 artists and audition programs from both South Korea and internationally. It stands as the largest platform of its kind, serving users from 245 countries and regions in 15 languages with real-time translation features. As of last June, Weverse surpassed 100 million downloads. While specific user data per country remains confidential, Japan ranks among the top five countries with a notably active user base.
Weverse Japan’s General Manager, Moon Jisu, revealed that his team surveyed users in March and found that the app’s satisfaction rate is 87 percent. Some complained that Weverse isn’t very user-friendly and has “too many features to use effectively.” To address their concerns, Moon Jisu and his team will streamline the app’s interface. They hope doing so will make it easier for fans to communicate with their biases.
B1A4 trying the new weverse's joint live feature with Gongchan cooking some ramyuns in the kitchen while the hyungs waiting at the studio.
They can't end the meal without having ramyun as dessert 😂 pic.twitter.com/DOGNEIYJdr
— 란 🐧🦓 (@PenguinZebra) April 23, 2024
A valuable addition to Weverse
A notable enhancement they made to the app was based on a suggestion made by ENHYPEN’s leader Jungwon. Thanks to him, Weverse will now allow artists to do joint livestreams, with real-time translations extending to 12 languages for Korean streams and four for Japanese ones. This feature is already live—B1A4 tried it a few days ago, much to the amusement of their fans.
Not everyone is amused, however. While many praised Jungwon for his innovative suggestion, others pointed out that BTS’s V had mentioned wanting to do joint livestreams before Jungwon did. V would even switch to Instagram because Weverse’s limitations didn’t allow him to go live with his members. However, Jungwon did something V didn’t—he actually made a formal request for the feature to be added.
Ultimately, regardless of who suggested it first, the addition of the joint livestream feature is a valuable addition to Weverse that artists and fans alike can benefit from. – K-Pop News Writer
Featured Image: Jungwon played a big part in getting Weverse to add this long-awaited feature to the app. Source: X/@Lychee_0209.