SNS, Our Generation
Social Network Service,
Our Generation
SNS Generation
Today, people in age range of 20 to 30 were called the ‘N-Generation. This word was first used by a sociologist in 1997. These days, the word N-generation is used to refer to the generation who uses digital technology and especially the internet quiet freely without any difficulties. Also, they use the cyberspace made by the internet as the important part of their real lives. According to the research conducted by the KIDI(Korea Information Society Development Institute) in 2015, SNS was mostly used between the age of 10 to 30, and the proportion of use among people in their 20’s was 74.4%, which was overwhelming compared to any other age groups. People in their 30’s used SNS about 61%, people in teens were 53.9%, and people over 60 and under 10’s use rate was 5.1% and 8.5% respectively, which were the ranked the lowest. There are some reasons why the rate of using SNS by the people in their 20’sare extremely high. People in their 20’s were the in-born generation that have used developed digital technology their whole lives. Because they were familiar with the internet when they were growing up, compared to the generation who watched TV which gives information unilaterally, people in 20s have the feature that they were involved in interactive communication. With interactive communication using digital technology, they were active participants rather than being passive attendees, so they post their thoughts freely in cyberspace. Also, people of younger age and older age than people in twenties have less interest in the internet and might have worries about electronic equipment. According to the ‘Weekly Donga’ and ‘Yonhap News Agency’, there are cases that columns posted on SNS are also making people in their20’s use SNS more frequently.
What is New Media?
Before knowing what new media is, the word ‘media’ is used in various fields. For example, mass media is defined as all means of mass information and communication. Electronic media means the communication delivered through electronic devices or electronic energy. Multimedia means the communication that incorporates multiple forms of information contents and processing. New media most commonly refers to content available on-demand through the internet, accessible by any digital device, usually containing interactive user feedback and creative participation. Common examples of new media include websites such as online newspapers, blogs or wikis, video games, and social media. A distinctive characteristic of new media is dialogue. New media transmits content through connection and conversation. It enables people around the world to share, comment on, and discuss a wide variety of topics. Unlike any past technologies, New Media is grounded on an interactive community.
What is a Social Networking Service?
A social networking service (also called social networking site or SNS) is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who share similar interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life connections. A social network service consists of representations of each user, his or her social links, and a variety of additional services. Social network sites are web-based services that allow individuals to create a public profile, create a list of users with whom to share connections, and view and cross the connections within the system. Most social network services are web-based and provide a means for users to interact with other people over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Social network sites are varied and they incorporate new information and communication tools such as mobile connectivity, photo/video/sharing, and blogging. Online community services are sometimes considered a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service, whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, pictures, posts, activities, events, and interests with people in their network.
The Various Kinds of SNS
As he activities of internet users have prospered, somewhat closed networking services got expanded by the paradigm of participation, sharing, and the general opening of the Internet. With the sharing of contents, social media’s concept also got enlarged with sharing networks. In the wide notion of new media, Social Networking Services connect the unspecified common people. There are many ways to categorize the various Social Networking Services, but CP reporters have categorized it into 3 different kinds by the characteristics and the reasons why people use that specific service. First group is the blog, the next group is the micro-blog, and the last group is the café.
First, a blog is a website operated by a single person. People use blogs to get information. It usually provides commentary on a particular subject, or it functions as a personal online diary. A typical blog employs text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to write comments in an interactive format is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs. Google blog, Naver blog, Daum blog, Tistory, and many other web pages based on the person’s interest are examples of blogs. It has strength on the daily life writing which have pictures as well as text. Also blogs can be searched and saved easily for any kind of information such as scholarship or health information. For example, many university students use blogs to search university international activities.
The second group of SNS is the microblog. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically small in terms of file size. Microblogs allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links, which may be the major reason for microblogs’ popularity. The main example might be Twitter, which has to be written in only in 140 characters. Others include Instagram and Tumblr, which specialize in photos and images, respectively. It includes only one image or short videos to post it in the owner’s account. Because of its simple way of posting content they have the most influence. Microblogs help to get information out more quickly compared to any other services.
The last group of SNS is the café, which is a cyber community in which people gather who have same interests or are connected in real life. Usually within a university every department and each major has its own internet café to announce news. As the person who joins café has the same reasons to be the member of café, they have much more fellowship compared to other social networking services. So, there are many cases where the café members often meet in real life.
The Merits of SNS
1. Ease of Communication
Social Network Service can allow communication between people for whom it would be difficult to meet in the real world. People have lots of hardships finding others to spend time with; They can't keep in touch with each other too long so their numbers get forgotten, or they simply didn't exchange their contact information at that time, or they felt uncomfortable for being contacted by somebody in personal ways like exchanging text messages. A Social Network Service is a good program to overcome these limitations because it has both opened and closed aspects. A Social Network Service is a service that many people use, so it reduces the burden which we can feel with person-to-person relationships. However, they can still contact each other in the manner of one-on-one, so people can stay in contact with little pressure.
2. The Accessibility of Information
Social Network Services also allow people access not only to other people but also to information more easily. Many people can get lots of information from simple things (like reviews of restaurants, cosmetics, or daily supplies) to complex things (like up-to-date news or academic data which are unique and high-leveled). That fact that people in their 20's get most of information about extracurricular activities from SNS is one of the typical examples. On Facebook and school community sites which university students use frequently, students can easily obtain news about extracurricular activities, study group recruitment or even part-time job offers. The information about which people used to inquire to relevant departments or were delivered slowly in writing before is being poured over by the dozens in seconds. This development of accessibility has enabled students to manage their time more efficiently and to have lots of useful experiences more frequently.
3. The Growth of Me-media Using SNS
Finally, SNS has promoted new industry by the way of exchanging information called Me-media, which is a form of interchanging information by which individuals use search specific topics based on SNS with fast speed. By using the additional functions of SNS like comments, retweets, or recommendations, this can often shorten the time needed to exchange specific reports and expand influences by recognizing public opinion accumulated online. Therefore, SNS has enabled individuals to share their interests with the masses by making Youtube Me-media or SNS Handicraft atelier (what?). Of course university students also use SNS cleverly by means of online portfolios. This kind of Me-media can be used best in coordination with job searching activities.
The Drawbacks of SNS Use
1. Encroachment on Our Privacy
"In SNS, people willingly publicize where they live, their religion and political views, alphabetized lists of all their friends, personal email addresses, phone numbers, hundreds of photos of themselves, and even status updates of what they were doing moment to moment," said The Onion, satirical press of USA. This phrase shows us the problem about encroachment on our privacy by SNS very sharply.
Many people do not hesitate to give up aspects of their privacy in SNS. Because of their personal features, it is hard to realize the negative influence of online articles or posts written and shared on SNS. In reality, there are lots of cases where applicants who apply for jobs are judged by their SNS profiles and activities. Therefore, no one knows how the articles or posts which people wrote carelessly will be used in future. Thus, SNS users should be careful when posting articles about their private life on SNS.
2. Rumors
Do you remember the story about a sexual assault fabrication by a mother and two sons? This case occurred in June, 2015 and is a representative example of a false rumor spreading through SNS―called Nate Pan. The diffusion of information which was distorted intentionally is one of the social problems that are prevailing nowadays. These rumors are mostly based on their emotional appeal and are easy to spread without thinking. So people using SNS can easily believe in these rumors. Here in Korea, the Sewol tragedy revealed these kind of shortcomings clearly because of the increased volume of distorted information affected reality such as searching for survivors. As we've mentioned before, SNS's most distinguishing feature is its speed, so if a rumor spreads widely, it can have real, irrevocable effects on the real world. Therefore, better net-ethics of netizens who are using SNS and strict punishments for spreading false rumors are necessary.
3. The Commercialization of SNS
In Korea, there is a neologism called "Power-bloggerzi(Power-beggar)." This reflects the sarcasm of SNS users who underestimate the influences of their SNS. It is true that the use of Me-media has a positive side economically, but nowadays the negative sides of Me-media are emerging. The most typical example of this is viral marketing, which is a marketing technique which uses SNS to try to increase brand value or product sales through self-replicating viral processes. Lately, especially on Facebook or blogs, the explosion of viral marketing puts netizens in danger of exposure to misinformed product information. This kind of commercialization reduces the reliability of information shared through SNS.
How Can We Use SNS Properly?
The problems mentioned above are not limited to SNS. When the internet first appeared, most users experienced these problems. In other words, the limitations of SNS can be overcame by the lessons which we netizens learned by using the internet.
Basically, the user should accept information critically when it comes from existing media and new-media (SNS). Also, producers of information on SNS should reproduce information expansively when the information is based on neutral statements.
It is essential that a mature culture of SNS take its place. SNS and its culture are still in their beginning stages, so we twenty people who are the leading users and contributors of SNS culture should fixate on the culture correctly and prepare a better culture for the future.
CP reporter Serin O
CP cub reporter Sim Yun-ju