In this blog post, we will look at how social media began, the differences between each platform, and the impact it has had on society.
According to statistics, Internet users spend an average of 4.6 hours a week on social networking services (SNS). This is the highest proportion of time spent on the Internet, showing that many people are paying a lot of attention to social media. So what kind of social media is used by so many people? Social media is an abbreviation for “Social Network Service,” which is a service that helps people form networks on the web. Users can usually disclose their information and communicate with others through a specific social media site.
The beginning of social networking services can be traced back to sixdegrees.com, which appeared in 1997. This service formed a network based on “relationships across two bridges” and introduced a feature that allowed users to post their profiles and friend lists. This was similar to the current form of social networking services, but it failed to attract much public interest at the time and the service was terminated in 2000. Afterwards, Cyworld appeared in Korea, and MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter appeared in the United States, and social networking services began to become more and more popular. In particular, in Korea, Cyworld became extremely popular among students in the early 2000s, and most teenagers and college students used Cyworld.
Unlike offline relationships, networking through social media has the advantage of allowing you to build a much wider network without time or space constraints. In addition, it is very accessible because you can connect and communicate anytime, anywhere as long as you have a computer or smartphone. In addition, as it has become easier for individuals to express their thoughts, opinions, and emotions, the number of social media users has increased dramatically. Facebook, the social media with the largest number of users, has more than 4 billion users worldwide, of which about 100 million access it via mobile, making mobile social media use very active. The development of mobile devices has further promoted the use of social media.
SNS has similarities to existing internet communities, clubs, and cafés, but there are also differences. Communities are places where people who share a specific interest, such as fashion, cars, or hobbies, gather to exchange information, while SNS is a personal-centered space where people can freely share their daily lives and thoughts. In other words, if the core of a community is a specific interest, the core of social media is myself. Also, in a community, anonymity is mainly guaranteed and personal information is not disclosed, but in social media, personal information such as one’s name, photo, and date of birth is often disclosed. This enables highly reliable communication, but on the other hand, there is also a risk of personal information leakage.
Since social media is mainly used by people who are close to each other or who already know each other, it has the advantage of being highly reliable and allowing more conversations to take place. Recently, companies have also been using social media as a means of promotion and strengthening communication with customers through various promotional campaigns and events. However, social media is primarily a space where communication between individuals is the main focus.
Typical examples of SNS include Cyworld, Twitter, and Facebook. Cyworld is a service that popularized SNS in Korea and was operated by SK Communications, a subsidiary of SK Telecom. Cyworld provides a virtual space called “Mini Home Page,” where users can communicate with others through their profiles, diaries, photo albums, guestbooks, and more. Users can also form a friendship called “ilchon” and have deeper exchanges with people they have become ilchons with. However, since Cyworld is relatively closed, even if you become ilchons with someone, if you don’t visit their mini homepage often, the exchange is not smooth. For this reason, the number of Cyworld users has gradually decreased, and it is currently very unpopular.
Twitter is based on the concept of following and followers. Twitter users can write short posts of up to 140 characters about their thoughts or daily lives, and other users must follow them to see the content. Unlike Cyworld, Twitter allows one-sided following without mutual consent. Because of these characteristics, Twitter is more like a public bulletin board than a private space. Twitter is good for sharing information in real time and is also used as a way to quickly check global issues.
Facebook is a social media platform that combines elements of Twitter and Cyworld. Users post on their walls and friends can comment on them. Unlike Cyworld, Facebook offers a timeline feature that allows you to view posts from people on your friends list in one place. This is convenient because users can see the latest activities of their friends without having to visit their pages directly, but it also has the disadvantage of making all of a user’s activities easily visible. Facebook also makes it easy to post photos and videos, and it can show a user’s activity area through a “check-in” feature based on location information. However, the interface may be a bit complicated for first-time users.
As such, SNS has enabled communication between individuals, and the spread of mobile devices such as smartphones has made it more accessible to a wider range of people. Recently, SNSs that are specialized for mobile devices have emerged, such as KakaoStory. KakaoStory is a mini-homepage-type SNS that is based on the Korean mobile messenger KakaoTalk and allows users to easily connect with friends registered on KakaoTalk. Such mobile-specific SNS is becoming increasingly popular, showing the growth potential of mobile SNS.
SNS can be a useful tool that strengthens relationships between people and promotes information sharing when used positively. However, indiscriminate use and excessive immersion can cause problems. For example, Alex Ferguson, the former manager of English Premier League football team Manchester United, once said, “Twitter is a waste of life.” This is a warning that excessive use of social media can be a waste of time. In addition, there are an increasing number of cases where public figures are harmed by the unexpected repercussions of what they post on social media. In fact, there are cases where people have been fined tens of millions of won for posts on social media, and careless writing can lead to serious social problems. Therefore, social media should be used appropriately, and it should be used carefully to avoid excessive exposure or invasion of privacy.
