In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how a small online debate can quickly spread and evolve into an offline event and a pop culture phenomenon, examining the types, structure, and social impact of social media.
What is SNS?
A recent case where a small event held at an elementary school instantly garnered public attention and grew into a major festival clearly demonstrates the power of SNS in modern communication. A minor online debate or a single short post led to offline events, broadcasts, and even sponsorships through sharing and viral spread. This phenomenon is not merely a matter of technology but a social phenomenon that illustrates how networks of relationships between individuals can be amplified.
Breaking down the components of “Social Network Service,” “Social” refers to communities and social relationships, “Network” refers to the connections between people, and “Service” refers to the infrastructure that enables these relationships. In a broad sense, it is similar to existing online communities; however, while online communities tend to form groups centered around common interests, SNS differs in that connections centered on individuals accumulate to create a much larger network.
Generally, SNS is understood as an online platform that creates and strengthens social relationships through free communication, information sharing, and the expansion of professional networks among users. Researchers particularly point out three common characteristics of SNS: first, users can create public or semi-public profiles; second, they have a list of connections (friends); and third, they can easily navigate to other people through that list of connections. The combination of these three elements enables the expansion of individual-centered social networks.
Types, Characteristics, and Social Impact of SNS
Although the term “social media” is often used interchangeably with “SNS,” the two terms are not exactly the same; rather, they are closely related in a hierarchical relationship. Social media is classified into various types based on function and purpose, with representative examples including blogs, microblogs, social networking, and event networking.
Blogs are personal publishing spaces centered on long-form content, with platforms like WordPress and Blogger falling into this category. Microblogs involve rapid communication via short messages; Twitter is a prime example and can be viewed as a hybrid between blogs and social networking services. Social networking services aim to form and expand social connections, with services like Facebook and Cyworld falling into this category. Event networking platforms focus on gatherings and events, with examples such as Meetup.
While these types differ in purpose and usage, they all share the common goal of facilitating connections between people and the dissemination of information. Surveys and user perceptions have repeatedly confirmed that services like Twitter and Facebook are the first examples that come to mind when people think of social networking services.
The spread of social networking services has brought clear benefits. Individuals can more easily express their opinions and expand their networks, while information is shared rapidly, broadening the scope of communication. On the other hand, problems frequently arise, such as minor facts or misunderstandings being amplified in an instant, leading to the spread of misinformation, or collective enthusiasm and criticism being expressed excessively. The process by which a trivial remark escalates into a large-scale event, as seen in the festival example mentioned earlier, clearly reveals both the positive and negative aspects created by social media.
Ultimately, social media is not inherently positive or negative; rather, depending on how it is used and in what context, it can be beneficial or harmful to society. Individuals and organizations need to understand these characteristics and combine responsible communication practices with efforts to verify information.
The Origins and Major Services of Social Media
Early forms of social media include Classmate.com (1995) and SixDegrees.com (1997), which emerged in the mid-to-late 1990s. These services were the first to offer a way to build online networks between people through friend lists.
In South Korea, Cyworld is considered the starting point of social networking after it introduced the “Mini-Homepage” format in 2001.
Since then, various forms of social networking have emerged, and today’s representative services include Facebook, Twitter, Cyworld, and Google+ (which has undergone changes due to the nature of the service).
Facebook was founded in 2004 and has become a social network with significant global influence. Users make friends based on offline relationships, share updates via their timeline, and communicate through comments. The platform recommends people they might know based on information entered in their profile—such as age, address, school, and email—and features a mechanism that allows users to easily expand their network by searching for friends of friends. Its once-massive active user base (as of 2012) was largely due to its effective utilization of this connectivity.
Twitter began as a service for exchanging short messages with a 140-character limit. This character limit originated from a design that initially anticipated posting via SMS. Its friend-making mechanism is based on an asymmetric “following” structure rather than mutual matching, where one party receives the other’s updates while the other does not. While mutual following enables two-way communication, following celebrities or organizations of interest allows users to form open networks that extend beyond offline friendships.
Cyworld gained immense popularity in the early 2000s with a structure where users decorated their personal mini-homepages, uploaded profiles, photos, and diaries, and made friends through the concept of “Ilchon” (cyber friends). Due to the domestic internet environment at the time of its launch, real-name usage was common, and users’ actual identities were often directly linked to their mini-homepages. At one point, it boasted tens of millions of subscribers and exerted widespread influence (e.g., references to membership numbers as of 2012).
Google+ is a relatively recent service characterized by its attempt to combine the strengths of existing social networks with mobile convenience. It used the concept of “Circles” to group friends and acquaintances in a way that closely mirrored real-life relationships, allowing users to control their interactions—such as posting only to specific Circles or viewing updates exclusively from those Circles. It also featured functions that enhanced mobile-centric usability, such as real-time synchronization of mobile photos with servers to streamline the photo upload process.
The Positive Impact of Social Media
The rapid spread of social media can be attributed to its role as a “one-person media” platform, where individuals directly share news and information, as well as the speed at which content spreads in a matter of seconds. When individuals transmit situations in real time, information can spread much faster than through traditional media.
Looking at international examples, social media is widely credited with playing a crucial role during the so-called “Jasmine Revolution” that began in Tunisia. As videos and posts filmed by citizens themselves spread rapidly online, the voices from the field—which traditional media struggled to convey—became widely known, serving as a key factor in accelerating the revolution’s spread.
In South Korea as well, on-site reports via social media are effectively utilized in disaster situations where reporting is difficult, such as during typhoons or localized torrential rains. The method where citizens post real-time information to broadcasters’ accounts, and the broadcasters then compile and redistribute it, enables faster situation updates than traditional media.
Businesses and political circles also utilize these characteristics by operating social media accounts to communicate directly with consumers or voters and increase their favorability. The impact of social media is immense in areas such as event promotion and message delivery during election periods.
Side Effects of Social Media and Countermeasures
On the other hand, social media can also lead to serious harm, such as collective condemnation—so-called “witch hunts”—or the spread of malicious rumors, which exploit personalized profiles and easy accessibility. A well-known example involves a photo of an incident on the subway being posted online, which led to the exposure of the woman’s personal information and intense criticism. Such attacks are serious because they cause extreme stress to the target and can sometimes lead to irreversible consequences.
This phenomenon has even given rise to neologisms like “net-McCarthyism,” which combines “netizen” and “McCarthyism.” Online collective action targeting individuals can cause not only personal harm but also social anxiety and economic losses.
Malicious rumors targeting society as a whole are also a major problem. For example, rumors about military mobilization orders or baseless claims regarding the harmfulness of specific products cause anxiety and a decline in consumption. In response to this phenomenon, forums such as the World Economic Forum in Davos have warned of the adverse effects caused by the mass spread of inaccurate information, using the term “infodemics.”
The government and investigative agencies are responding to malicious rumors and criminal posts through relevant laws and cyber response organizations. However, concerns about infringing on freedom of expression make it difficult to strike a balance between regulation and the protection of individual rights. In the past, measures such as the internet real-name system were controversial, and some have even been ruled unconstitutional in Korea (it is a historical fact that the Constitutional Court issued a related ruling in 2010).
Future Challenges and a Glimmer of Hope
In the information society, social media has already established itself as a central pillar. While it offers the advantages of being a voice for revolution and facilitating communication between individuals, it can also become a tool for slandering others and amplifying social anxiety. The government and society must seek ways to minimize the harm caused by false information and malicious rumors while respecting freedom of expression.
On an individual level, it is important to cultivate basic etiquette and the ability to critically evaluate information. At the institutional level, there is a need to create a healthy social media environment through transparent and responsible platform management, strengthened procedures for redressing harm, and a balance between education and technical responses.
Finally, even if a complete solution is unlikely to emerge immediately, change is possible when small actions come together. Just as the person who said, “It can be done,” at an event successfully pitched a 24-person tent, shouldn’t we hold onto the hope that a practical solution may emerge the moment someone says, “It can be done”?
