In this blog post, we take an in-depth look at how social media has gone beyond being a simple means of communication to change and connect our lives.
“Facebook was not created to be a company. It was created to fulfill a social mission: to make the world more open and connected.” These words were written by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, in the company’s initial public offering (IPO) filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 1, 2012. As of 2025, Facebook is a leading social networking service (SNS) used by over 3 billion people worldwide, excluding China where the service is not available. In addition to Facebook, many other SNS platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn are in operation, and people check SNS as soon as they wake up and go to sleep while looking at it. Companies are actively pursuing SNS marketing, and politicians are also striving to make effective use of SNS. What is it about SNS that has made it such an integral part of our lives and connected the world?
Social Network Service (SNS) refers to an online service, platform, or site that allows people with common interests, activities, or backgrounds, or who are connected in real life, to build and maintain social connections and relationships. SNS consists of each user’s personal information, their social links, and various additional services. While SNS is often used interchangeably with online community services, it is technically distinct as a user-centric service, unlike group-centric online community services. SNS enables users to share thoughts, activities, events, and interests through their personal networks.
Although SNS is considered a relatively recent form of media, its history dates back to the mid-1990s when it began to take shape. At that time, many SNS sites such as AOL (America On-Line), GeoCities, sixDegrees.com, Friendster, MySpace, LinkedIn, Second Life, and South Korea’s Cyworld and iLoveSchool dominated the web-based SNS landscape and competed with one another. However, with the emergence of Twitter and Facebook in 2006, all but LinkedIn either declined or continued to operate by offering other services such as games, media, and advertising. As a result, the current SNS market is dominated by three services: Twitter, which offers the simplicity of quickly and easily sharing short messages of 140 characters or less; Facebook, which implements real-name authentication and boasts the largest user base; and LinkedIn, which positions itself as a business-oriented SNS. These three services are engaged in a three-way competition. Given the proliferation of numerous SNS platforms, how did Twitter and Facebook, which entered the market later, manage to dominate the SNS market?
The reason Twitter and Facebook were able to surpass other social media platforms and attract a large number of users is that they adapted well to the paradigm shift. First, they adapted well to the changing communication methods and led the way. In traditional social media, users had to visit another user’s space to view their posts and leave comments. However, Twitter and Facebook adopted a “microblogging” model where users could post content in their own space, and all connected users could view and comment on it. Additionally, by using concise sentences, they facilitated rapid updates on the timeline, creating an experience similar to chatting. Second, unlike other SNS platforms that primarily used web platforms, it effectively utilized mobile platforms such as smartphones, which were beginning to gain widespread adoption at the time, and adapted well to changes in devices and media. As a result, general users could enjoy SNS anytime and anywhere without needing to access the web, leading to higher loyalty toward the platform. Third, there is no burden on users when using the service. In other words, it was designed so that users could create added value simply by using the SNS, thereby adapting well to the modern paradigm where networks themselves become resources.
One of the greatest advantages of SNS is the rapid transmission of information. In 1967, Stanley Milgram, a psychology professor at Harvard University, published a paper titled “The Small World Problem” in Psychology Today, which introduced the “six degrees of separation theory.”(though the term “six degrees of separation” was not used in Milgram’s paper) states that when defining the relationship between two people who know each other as a “link,” the average number of links connecting any two people is 5.2. Ultimately, it takes an average of six steps to communicate with any random person.
Stanley Milgram’s experiment was conducted through letters, but social media uses information and communication networks, enabling faster communication with random people. This has narrowed the distance between me and celebrities and provided opportunities to communicate with anyone if I choose to. Additionally, I can quickly spread the information I create and post. When sharing information on social media, a kind of empathy mechanism is used.
For example, Facebook has a “Like” feature, so if one of my friends likes a post I wrote, all of their friends can see it. Assuming that each person has about 200 friends and that 50 of them are mutual friends, a single “Like” can reach 350 people. Twitter also allows information to be shared quickly through the “Retweet” feature. The key difference is that Facebook operates on a horizontal relationship where links are formed only after mutual consent to connect as friends, while Twitter operates on a vertical relationship where you can only see posts from people you follow, and those who follow you cannot see your posts. This means that information spreads widely on Facebook but is more likely to spread from top to bottom on Twitter.
Therefore, Facebook is advantageous for sharing information among acquaintances, while Twitter is advantageous for sharing information from celebrities. However, both social media platforms are evolving by incorporating each other’s strengths to complement one another. Thanks to the aforementioned empathy mechanism, social media has amplified the influence of individuals and enabled people to share and empathize with others they do not know, fostering a sense of connection.
(For this reason, the Chinese government, which is currently a communist country, has banned Facebook and Twitter services within China.) Furthermore, according to an analysis of 2.2 billion friend relationships conducted by Facebook’s data team in 2025, the average number of links per Facebook user is 3.57, meaning that the distance between any two people on social media has become even closer.
Our human relationships usually form clusters. A cluster refers to a group of people with similar characteristics, and people connected by links are more likely to know each other. When people who know each other form clusters through social media, they can easily reconnect with people they have lost touch with and visually identify the clusters they belong to. Additionally, social media allows users to maintain relationships without much effort.
However, social media does not only have positive effects on society. The biggest issue is the potential lack of privacy protection. As mentioned earlier, the average number of links between any two people on social media is 3.57. This means that, on average, you only need to go through four people to access the information of any random individual. This makes it easier to engage in activities like “doxxing” or “personal information leaks” that are common on the internet.
Additionally, users often input personal information on social media, which can be easily disclosed and shared, inadvertently revealing information they wish to keep private. This is particularly true for information about one’s relationship status. Furthermore, social media amplifies an individual’s influence and accelerates the spread of information, making it easier for misinformation or rumors to spread.
In the summer of 2010, ahead of the vacation season, a tweet containing false information spread on Twitter stating, “If you have a heart attack, before losing consciousness, do not panic for 10 seconds, cough repeatedly at two-second intervals while taking deep breaths. This will compress the heart, keep blood circulating, and supply oxygen to the lungs, allowing you to save your own life.” In response, Dr. No Tae-ho, a cardiologist at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, warned of the dangers of this false information, stating, “As a cardiologist who teaches cardiopulmonary resuscitation, I can confirm that this information has no scientific basis and can waste precious time that could be used for proper treatment.” Such misinformation spread through social media can threaten our lives, highlighting the need for users to exercise caution and discernment when consuming information.
To address these issues, social media platforms allow users to set privacy settings for their personal information and the scope of content sharing, and they also accept reports of false information, impose sanctions, or seek assistance from cyber investigation units. However, these measures are not perfect, so users must also continue to make efforts to protect their personal information.
With the development of network theory and mobile devices, social media has become an indispensable paradigm in our lives. New social media platforms continue to emerge, and the age range of users, from children to the elderly, is expanding, with the number of users steadily increasing. However, from an industry perspective, the social media sector has not achieved satisfactory results relative to its scale. This is because SNS platforms offer free services to users and primarily generate revenue through advertising. Furthermore, as the number of users accessing SNS via mobile devices increases, the business model becomes vulnerable due to the inability to display ads on small screens. The fact that Facebook’s stock price, which once threatened Google, has plummeted, is increasingly revealing that the value of the SNS industry was overinflated. Moreover, the number of users leaving social media platforms because they no longer find them useful is increasing, making the social media industry face a crisis. The surviving social media companies must learn from the failures of their competitors and continuously explore new avenues for growth. In this process, social media companies will likely demand more personal information from users, so users themselves must also make ongoing efforts to protect their personal information.
