Many media outlets are reporting about the fact that 10Asia compiled a report that showed Korean idol fancafes were losing members. However, while some idol groups may not be as popular in Korea as they once were, K-Pop has continuously grown throughout the world.

At first look, the numbers that 10Asia produced are not good numbers. TVXQ, Big Bang, B2ST, Girls' Generation, Super Junior, 2PM, and SHINee had all lost anywhere from 1,000 to over 10,000 fans in the past year alone. These idol groups are considered to be the leaders of the K-Pop industry since 2009, and the decline makes it appear that fans are slowly losing interest in these idols.

However, while the initial reaction may be that this must mean the idol-trend is over in South Korea, so-called third-generation idols had gained fans. INFINITE, B1A4, EXO, Block B, B.A.P, A-Pink, VIXX, and Girl's Day had all gained thousands of fans in the last year. The 10Asia report merely has shown the shift in popularity-as some idol groups get older, it is only natural that new groups gain in popularity.

It's not that K-Pop is less popular in South Korea, it's that different groups are popular. The numbers per group may also seem considerably lower than other years per membership in each individual fancafe, but fans must remember that there are now so many idol groups that it's not merely a matter of picking one out of ten idol fancafes to join. Instead, loyal K-Pop fans (generally a small subset of Korean society) are spread through many groups.

Even though numbers are down in the older groups, the newer idol groups' fancafe's are growing. But even that doesn't really seem to matter, thanks to the fact that international fans rarely join Korean fancafes. Whether it's based on the difficulty in opening up accounts without Korean identification numbers (similar to Social Security numbers in the United States) or because the fancafes operate in Korean, international fans are generally disinterested in K-pop fancafes.

Instead, international fans favor social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to communicate with one another and idols.

But in 2013, there were over seven million global K-Pop fans-that's more than all of the fancafes' members combined. And a poll conducted by CJ E&M, also in 2013, showed that older idols like f(x), SHINHWA, and SS501's leader Kim Hyun Joong were the most popular idols globally- all leaders of the first and second generation of idols.

Of course, things have changed since 2014- there are new groups, and certain groups are certainly more popular than others. But while fancafes may once have been able to track trends of K-Pop's popularity, it isn't really practical to just take a look at Korean fancafes when the global market for K-Pop is so large.  

Korean fancafes are good at estimating popularity of idols in Korea, but they must be taken with a grain of salt.