싸이월드에 대한 소비자 인식, 해석 및 사용 (How Consumers Perceive, Interpret, and Use the Cyworld)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국소비자학회
· 수록지 정보 : 소비자학연구 / 22권 / 1호 / 1 ~ 33페이지
· 저자명 : 김미란, 성민정, 황장선

초록

디지털 컨버전스 현상의 증대로 나타난 온라인 상의 개인 미디어는 SNS (Social Network Service)의 출현에이르러 소비자 행동에 있어서 매우 중요한 환경으로 자리매김하고 있다. 싸이월드는 이러한 개인 미디어의 초기 형태로서 페이스북 등의 유사 서비스들이 나타나기 이전부터 한국적인 블로그의 전형을 보여준 미디어이며, 현재까지도 많은 사용자들이 이 공간에서 다양한 활동을 하고 있다.
기존의 연구들이 이러한 온라인 개인 미디어의 사용 동기나, 그 결과로서의 효과 측정 등에 집중한 반면, 본 연구는 이 미디어에 대한 소비자들의 인식과 사용 패턴에 대해 보다 심층적인 관점에서 접근하고자 하였다. 이를 위해본 연구에서는 해석주의적 관점에서 심층인터뷰를 사용하여 싸이월드 사용자들이 실제로 이 미디어를 어떻게 사용하고 어떻게 의미를 부여하고 있는지에 대해 파악하였다. ‘자아 중심형’과 ‘관계 중심형’ 의미 및 사용 패턴들이 도출되었으며, 이를 통해 ‘습관,’ ‘분신,’ ‘자기 표현,’ ‘비밀공간’ 등의 주요 테마들이 나타났다. 싸이월드의 의미와 사용패턴에 대한 구체적인 분석은 향후 다양한 유형의 개인 미디어에 대한 후속 연구를 진행하는 데에 있어서 중요한지침이 될 수 있을 것이다.

영어초록

Since the digital convergence prevailed in our society, online individual media have provided critical environment of consumer behavior. As people interact with each other in real world,anonymous users talk to and share information with others online. The user-to-user interactivity has been popular with the penetration of the Internet in this society. Recently, some SNS (Social Network Service) such as Facebook has been introduced to online users. In Korean society, Cywolrd has showed a prototype of individual blog and it has a great number of users.
Person-to-person interactivity is well established in this service and information sharing is widely popular in this individual blog service.
This study is interested in this Korean leading blog service, Cyworld. Although academic researchers as well as practitioners pay a great deal of attentions to SNS and its effectiveness,consumers’ points of view toward it have not rarely been explored. Previous studies has limited their scopes within exploration and investigation of the usage motives, the effectiveness measurement as the consequences. However, the whole phenomenon within the individual blog is not deeply explored. The consequences and antecedents of activities in the blog are rarely found, so the research value of preceding studies is less confirmed.
In this vein, the current study emphasizes how consumers perceive, interpret, and use this attractive medium with deeper insight. Specifically, users’ meaning of Cyworld and their activities within it is holistically investigated. In order to satisfy the research purpose, the study adopts interpretive perspective and employs depth-interviews. Major research questions include exploring the meaning and usage patterns of Cyworld from the points of consumers’ views. The analysis found two dominant theme categories: ‘Self-oriented,’ and ‘Relationship-oriented’meanings. The former includes ‘extended self,’ ‘alter-ego,’ ‘habitual use,’ and so forth. The latter is the other core of findings. Since Cyworld provides the environment in which members can create and maintain the relationships with others, major themes were related with the connection to others. Furthermore, the Cyworld is not limited within the realm of online, but the relationship could far beyond the boundary of online as members interact with each other in real world. The interaction between online and offline lives is the key of Cyworld phenomenon. Moreover, the meaning of Cyworld is based on the usage patterns.
Consumers habitual uses of Cyworld is strongly associated with various meanings of Cyworld they have. Specific analysis of meanings and usage patterns should yield important cues for further studies regarding various types of social media and consumer behavior.
Practitioners as well as researchers can benefit from the findings of this study. SNS is less controllable medium for companies and the dynamic behavior among various users in it makes researchers do investigation difficult. The qualitative research findings of this study can provide some initial insights for them. For practitioners, the study suggest that any brand using blogs should be perceived as a friend and interact with consumers intimately and frequently. This requires long-term perspective and a great deal of efforts. Any investment with a short-term perspective should fail to maximize the advantage of this medium.
Following studies need to take closer lenses toward each theme this study yielded. These themes can work as consequences or antecedents of output variables a following study investigates. Cyworld is a long-standing service, but other strong competitors are in the market now. Following studies also need to explore these new channels consumers interact with each other. Experimental design is less feasible for this medium, but a survey with a large sample should be beneficial for this area. Individual blog is a critical subject for advertising research.

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