The Privacy Issue in Korean Social Networking

Despite the fact that Cyworld became wildly popular in Korea a full half decade before Facebook was even invented in the United States, Korean cultural norms and laws with respect to privacy are dramatically different than those in the United States.  As reported in The Korea Times, these differences are receiving increased attention with the rapidly increasing popularity of Facebook and Twitter here in Korea, especially since the introduction of the iPhone in late 2009.  The accompanying graphic (click to see a full-size version) shows that younger people are the leading users of Facebook, even though it is attracting Korean users in all age demographics.