Mobile phones and web-based social networking – emerging practices in Korea with Cyworld

This article originated from a visit by Leslie Haddon to Hallym University, Korea, in September 2005. He had been invited by the other author, Shin Dong Kim, to teach, give some presentations and, if possible, conduct some research. It was possible to do something on a very small scale in order to follow up an interest in cultural comparisons1, 2, and this was enhanced by on-going discussions between the authors that helped to shape some of the themes of this article. This study looks at the particular case of some Korean university students. It is based mainly on interviews (unlike studies that look at interaction online). It focuses on four students drawn from a communications course that Leslie Haddon was at the time teaching (in English). These were some of best English speakers, some having travelled or taken English courses abroad†. Each student was interviewed twice and this was supplemented by time budget diaries that they filled in for a week (the second interview asked questions relating to these). Even this small number of participants provides enough material for the purposes of this article, illustrating experiences, indicating some of the considerations at work in their own lives, as well as showing both commonalities and variation. Additional insights were provided by a larger qualitative study involving 30 interviews3. The bulk of the analysis is organised into three parts:

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