Girls’ Generation recently celebrated their fifth anniversary, and they’ve gained so many fans over those five years that it seems impossible to count them all. While some SONEs have been lucky enough to meet each other in person (some on more than one occasion), many only know each other through social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. Businesses, organizations, and individuals alike have begun to regard these social networks with an increasing level of importance. Because of that, fans who are active on social networks can sometimes be construed as representative of the entire fandom. Recently, the act of closing social media accounts has transformed into a strange fear that people are “leaving the fandom”. It’s an odd phenomenon to analyze, but one that is unique because of the times we live in.
