Song Ju Na
Final Draft
SNS, a World Wide Web-based service
now more commonly referred to as an abbreviation than a social network service
or a social network site, has recently emerged as a social and academic
concern, growing exponentially. As the number of services that have appeared is
large, it is not easy to define them in a single word, and each person defines
them differently. And even with the same service, the actual appearance is
being implemented differently depending on sociocultural conditions, which also
makes it difficult to define. Wikipedia (Wikipedia, 2012) defines SNS as
“an online service or platform that builds and shows a network of and
communicates among people who share interests or activities.” Definitions
vary depending on which point of view they follow, but the factors commonly
pointed out in definitions are the online spaces of websites, the formation and
maintenance of interpersonal relationships, the structure of relationships, the
waves of relationships, the exchange of information, etc. Considering these
factors comprehensively, SNS can be defined as a web-based online service that
allows a certain number of people seeking common interest or activity in an
online space called a Web site to form a network of interpersonal relationships
by revealing their personal information publicly or privately for more than a
certain amount of time. In addition to SNS, social media, social software,
microblogs, etc. are mixed, but the term SNS seems to be more neutral and
comprehensive compared to social media with marketing origins and social
software with technological emphasis. In this essay, I will talk about a group
of celebrities who mainly use this SNS and are hooked on it.
Once SNS has different functions implemented
for each service, it is not easy to define the functional characteristics of
SNS in a nutshell. Nevertheless, several typical functions can be extracted,
with recent services showing a similar tendency for functions to converge. The
most representative function of SNS is the registration and disclosure of
personal information, specifically the users’ gender, age, occupation, cultural
taste, ideology, religion, etc. may be fully or selectively disclosed. This is
sensitive information, so there are many social problems with privacy
protection. Next, as seen in SNS’s original function, the interpersonal network
and its structure are revealed. Users reveal other users who have connections
with them, and they can also be identified by expanding the scope of the
network to include other users’ networks and, by extension, networks that users
on that network. Through SNS, users can post comments or information, and
another user, including those who have links to those users, can post another
opinion and information in response to it. This is what we call the stem of the
post. Like interpersonal networks, this writing stream shows a unique network
structure. If the posts are very public, you can also exchange personal
messages such as “papers.” If these functions are those shared by
SNS, they may offer specific functions for each service. For example, it may
provide the ability to share photos or videos, and it may also provide a
default blog function. Examples include instant messaging and mobile-enabled features,
which most social networking sites have recently included.
We are very interested in
celebrities who are exposed to the media. Even if you’re not really interested
in it, when you see an entertainer on TV unintentionally, you know about him or
her naturally. SNS is the best way to know the real world of celebrities. This
is because celebrities post their own writings and photos and post comments.
Through this, people can learn how celebrities speak and behave. In the past,
celebrities were all forgiving and special as if they were any positions. But
now it’s hard to get back on the stage if you do something morally wrong. Like
these celebrities, there are people who get attention for their luxurious lives
and luxury goods, or for posting dangerous videos that could almost cost their
lives. The people who became famous by doing this are called “SNS
Star.” We can easily think of Kim Kardashian as an example. When you ask
most people, you know who Kim Kardashian is and what he looks like. I even got
to know some of my fans at school. But people don’t know what she does and how
she makes money. Because there is no remarkable achievement she has made. She
is a very famous SNS star. It is no exaggeration to say that he rose to stardom
through SNS. She even makes money on SNS. Every word she writes becomes an
entertainment news item. There are more people who want to be like her than you
think. They try to gain popularity by posting beautiful pictures and writings
by posting comments in pretty words like celebrities People who have become so
famous boast connections, “following” similar kinds of people. The
connections, which may be real or fake, serve as a medium to further boost each
other’s popularity.
Because SNS has unique functions
and features for each service, it is not easy to comprehensively define the
characteristics of SNS. However, the academic, social, and industrial views of
SNS each focus on certain aspects of SNS, and in this respect, the
characteristics of SNS can be summarized. Twitter-focused views on SNS can be
summarized into five. The first is the view that SNS is viewed as a marketing
tool. Not only ordinary businesses but also traditional media and IT businesses
emphasize such functional use. So some companies use their already famous Instagram
as a tool. Because paying them money in advance and posting photos of certain
items they want to promote, as he or she normally uses, is a huge publicity
stunt. Second, the view of SNS as computer-mediated communication is often
observed in the tradition of communication research. This point of view notes
how different and similar SNS has to face-to-face communication. The third view
is that social networking services are viewed as social networking networks,
and the social network analysis (SNA) is a field of view. This view is of
primary interest to show the network architecture itself and its architectural
features. Fourth, the view of SNS is that it is a place where power or
influence is revealed or exercised, and it is a view of politics, political
communication and research. This point of view focuses on the attributes and
characteristics of power users and tries to clarify them. The last point of
view is that SNS is considered to be a research object for utilizing computers.
This view is largely based on the perspective that computer scientists have
gained from studying social phenomena called SNS, and they try to computerize
large amounts of data and discover some regularity in it.
Not everyone is, but those who
enjoy most social networking services want attention. And there are many
changes in other people’s opinions or comments. These people are sensitive to
fashion and want to be the best. Recently, famous South Korean K-pop idol
singer Sully committed suicide due to Instagram’s bad language. She has been
dogged by bad words all the time since her debut. As a fan of her, I was very
shocked. And I thought again about the role of SNS and the people who use SNS.