Digital Fandom in Metrics: How Does Capitalized Emotion in Algorithmic Culture Raise Idol Trainees Up?

This paper looked at digital fandom under an algorithmic culture. We investigated the fan structure and their affective labor based on an idol selection contest that offers promising opportunities with our special focus on its underlying metric-competing mechanism. We also used computational simulation to verify if fans' effort on improving visible rankings on social media secures a position for their idols. By addressing these issues, we analyzed why fans are willing to trade their labor and how the capitalism logic empowers and exploits the fan community for their emotion and labor.