Facebook Launches New Chat Feature With Animated BTS Characters

Facebook Messenger is launching a new partnership with TinyTAN for the BTS ARMY to enjoy as they await BE, the boy band’s upcoming album due out this Friday.

TinyTAN are animated characters inspired by the BTS members and formed by Big Hit IP Co., a subsidiary under BTS management firm, Big Hit Entertainment. The name TinyTAN comes from Bangtan Sonyeondan, the romanization of BTS’ Korean name. Each TinyTAN character has a similar personality to their real-life counterpart but follows a unique narrative in the TinyTAN universe.

Starting today, TinyTAN will be accessible for a unique chat experience on Messenger and Instagram’s private messaging experience (I.e. in your DMs). Users can apply a TinyTAN chat theme and use immersive 360 AR backgrounds to explore the TinyTAN universe, which includes a bedroom and a cafe, and find all seven characters. These rooms can be set up on both platforms when video-calling with other users. Fans who are familiar with TinyTAN’s “Magic Door” will recognize the AR bedroom and cafe backgrounds from the video.

TinyTAN made their “debut” a few months ago with an animation of BTS’ “Mic Drop,” although there have been previous iterations of these figures. Since then, their official Twitter account, where they share new merchandise launches and a variety of animated clips, has reached more than one million followers. Most recently, the stylized characters were featured in the BTS Music Pack for the VR game, Beat Saber.

On Messenger, TinyTAN will be integrated into the platform with its own set of stickers. There are two stickers per TinyTAN member and two group stickers in the new sticker pack. These stickers will be free to download and use. Big Hit has previously released BTS and BTS-related chatroom stickers for other messenger platforms that have a wide user base in Asia.

The social integration comes as the seven-member group prepares to release their new album, BE (find it on Amazon here). The eight-track album includes the group’s hit single, “Dynamite,” which topped the chart in more than half a dozen countries worldwide.

From Rolling Stone US