Dong Hyun Songof globalization on Korean cyber culture. Due to the Korean government’s cyber control,
Korean-based web portals transitioned to global entities, which took place in 2009 and hap-
pened again in 2014. In utilizing Michel de Certeau’s practice theory, we will substantiate how
Korean users’ online traversality resulted in the expansion of the Korean social media space.
a brief history of social media in Korea
Following Korea’s first instance of social media, when an online bulletin board was posted in
1991, social media started flourishing. The boom paralleled state-driven network infrastruc-
ture development plans including, for instance, the Advanced Information and Communication
Network Promotion Plan (NIA 2011). The most notable first generation social media platform
before the broadband era was HiTel, with 50,000 paid subscribers among 100,000 members in
1993 (Naver News Library 1993). It had a simple bulletin board platform, with several sections
where people could gather and share their offline tastes.
After the broadband era began in 1997, the web portal Daum.net became the leader in social
media through its customized online forum service, namely the Daum online café. Daum.net
was able to attract online users as it offered the first free web mailing service in Korean, making
it easy for users to conduct online activities in one place. Unlike a community-based online
forum, which is built as an open bulletin web communication, the personal blog launched an
individual-focused media era in Korea. The personal blog linked with other Korean web portals,
such as news and email, and became a social media trend from its inception in 2003.
Although personal blogging was influential, especially by offering an individualized social
media platform, it was the Korean version of Facebook, “Cyworld,” that had the most impact on
social media culture in the 2000s. Like Facebook, Cyworld offered users the space to upload pic-
tures with comments. Cyworld also provided the user with the ability to maintain relationships
by grouping offline friendships privately when sharing pictures online, and also giving its users
the opportunity to build new offline relationships (Hankyoreh 21, 2004). However, Cyworld
was primarily regarded and utilized as a personal platform, distinct from aspects commonly
associated with other forms of social media.
Around the mid-2000s, user-created content (UCC) became fashionable. Online users cre-
ated and shared their tastes, and in particular they shared videos, a component that one-way
communication outlets, such as television, were unable to offer. Korean UCC services—led by
Pandora TV, Afreeca TV, and Daum tvPot—all played a central role in disseminating informa-
tion, often during periods of political upheaval. However, YouTube emerged in Korea in the late
2000s. Envisaged as a harbinger of freedom of expression, it has achieved the highest usage share
since 2009, and subsequently many UCC sites closed.^1
The scarcity of Korean-language material, as compared to the voluminous amount of
English-language content from worldwide sources, made that content valuable. As a conse-
quence, Korean web service providers adopted a closed system under which data produced and
gathered on one website was not shared with other websites. The information on one website
was normally circulated within the site itself (Song 2012, 82). This is fundamental to under-
standing how the Korean web portals dominated Korean social media platforms. Korean online
users had to access Korean web portals in order to locate Korean-language content and meet
people online. In other words, most Korean cyber culture was formed around Korean domain-
based websites.^2 Consequently, global social media service providers were not influential eco-
nomically until Korean online users were pressured by the state and started to leave Korean
online territories, an online activity commonly called “cyber asylum seeking.”