In this blog post, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of social media and consider how we should use it.
On May 18, 2012, an event that marked a turning point in the history of IT took place. Facebook went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the US, setting a record for the largest initial public offering (IPO) at the time. Founder Mark Zuckerberg pressed the button to begin trading at the company’s headquarters, and on its first day of trading, Facebook reached a market value of $112.9 billion (approximately 130 trillion won). This event symbolized not only the success of a single company but also the immense influence that social networking services (SNS) had come to wield over the global economic and social structure. Facebook’s success sparked global interest in SNS. Although the concept of SNS was already familiar through platforms like Twitter, few imagined that a global company could achieve such a massive market capitalization through SNS.
This signifies that digital communication has gone beyond being a simple technology to become a core infrastructure of modern society. So, what exactly is SNS, which made Mark Zuckerberg a world-famous figure and turned him into a billionaire overnight?
Social network services are platforms that form and maintain human relationships on the internet and expand personal networks. Beyond simple connections, users share information and content, record their daily lives, and participate in various social activities.
Evolving from communities centered around common interests, such as cafes and clubs, SNS has now ushered in the era of “one-person media,” where individuals themselves are the center of content. At the heart of this change is the popularization of smartphones. Through smartphones, people can access SNS anytime, anywhere, and information is now generated and consumed in real time. As the creators of content shifted from the media to individuals, the center of the digital world also moved from large organizations to the general public. Twitter (X), a representative social media platform, was first launched in the United States in March 2006 and has since grown rapidly, expanding its influence in various fields such as politics, society, and culture. In particular, Twitter’s structure, which focuses on real-time information sharing and short posts, is optimized for spreading breaking news. Although there was once a 140-character limit, users can now post up to 280 characters and freely attach various types of content, including images, videos, links, and GIFs. One of Twitter’s core features is “follow.” By following someone, users can receive their posts in real time without mutual consent. This allows users to subscribe to celebrities or experts in fields of interest unilaterally.
Retweeting is a feature that allows users to share specific posts with their followers, greatly increasing the spread of information. Recently, features such as quote tweets, comments, and threads have been added, enabling richer and more multidimensional communication.
Meanwhile, Facebook has evolved beyond a simple social media platform to become a social platform and the center of digital life. Launched in 2004 in a Harvard University dormitory, the service started with the goal of facilitating communication among students and gradually expanded its scope to all email users, growing into a global service. Facebook quickly surpassed existing services such as MySpace and became the leading social media platform.
Facebook pursues two-way communication based on “friendship” relationships between users. A relationship is formed only after a friend request is sent and accepted, after which users can share posts on each other’s timelines. Users can post various types of content, including text, photos, videos, location information, emotional states, links, and polls, and interact with each other through reactions such as “likes,” comments, and shares.
In addition, Facebook has powerful network expansion features that utilize algorithms, such as friend tags, recommended friends, and customized content feeds. In particular, the more closely connected a user is to someone, the more frequently they appear in their feed, which greatly helps maintain relationships with others. This is a decisive factor that has established Facebook as a social tool that connects people, rather than just a means of communication.
As such, SNS is a powerful tool for easily managing and developing human networks. It allows anyone to publish content, communicate, and connect with the world beyond the constraints of time and space. This flow of information can have an explosive impact not only on individual connections but also on society as a whole. In fact, the Tunisian “Jasmine Revolution” is one of the symbolic events of the digital age, where social media served as a catalyst for regime change and democratization movements.
However, the negative effects of social media cannot be ignored. The most prominent of these are issues related to personal information leaks and privacy violations. Since social media fundamentally operates on the sharing of information, users may inadvertently expose excessive personal information due to carelessness or inadequate settings. For example, posts containing location information, tagged photos, friend lists, and profile information can easily be exposed to the public, potentially leading to stalking or criminal activities.
Additionally, cases where social media accounts are used as reference materials in job applications or hiring processes, or where advertising algorithms provide customized content based on user data, are on the rise. While many social media companies, including Facebook, are continuously strengthening their privacy protection policies, it is essential for users to manage their security settings and maintain a cautious approach to usage.
In conclusion, social media is an indispensable digital space in modern life. Facebook and Twitter, in particular, play a central role in connecting people, disseminating information, and driving society. However, there are clear drawbacks that accompany the development of social media, and social debate and institutional responses are constantly required.
In the future, social media will become more sophisticated and technologically advanced.
Through integration with technologies such as the metaverse, AI-based recommendation algorithms, and real-time streaming, we will encounter new forms of social experiences. What is important is how we perceive and utilize social media in the midst of these technological changes. Social media is neither inherently good nor evil. Ultimately, it is our attitude and sense of responsibility toward its use that constitute the challenges and opportunities presented to us in the digital age.
