This study explores how a piece of information flows in social media–based public forums, whether opinion leaders emerge from this flow of information, and what characteristics opinion leaders have in such forums. Using network analysis and statistical measures to examine two Twitter-based discussion groups centered on political discussions in South Korea, we found that the discussion network was concentrated but relatively inclusive and that the two-step flow of communication model still had explanatory power in online public forums. Opinion leaders were found to be influentials but not content creators. These findings provide implications for the dynamic of a public sphere, two-step flow of communication model, and structural approach to online public forums.

This study examined the association between political ideology and linguistic indicators of integrative complexity and opinion leadership in U.S. political blog posts (N = 519). Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis, we found that the posts of conservative bloggers were more integratively simple than those of liberal bloggers. Furthermore, in support of a proposed opinion leadership model of integrative complexity, the relationship between ideology and integrative complexity was mediated by psychological distancing (an indicator of a hierarchical communication style). These findings demonstrate an ideological divide in the extent to which the blogosphere reflects deliberative democratic ideals.

This study provides an empirical account of how an online community has employed social media to mobilize people for a political goal. The case explored is a Twitter-based community in South Korea that calls for the elimination of a conservative national daily newspaper and whose activism is contextualized in the political history of Korea. Based on the mixed-method approach, the research results suggest that the role of the group organizer as an information provider and coordinator contributed to the sustainability of the group, and that group members formed a collective identity through the framing process of discourse. In addition, massive “retweeting” and “culture jamming” tactics were found to be strategically employed to enhance group solidarity, to broaden the base of support, and to crystallize involvement into political acts with other offline actions. Rather than decaying to an echo chamber or “slacktivism”, the online community seemed to demonstrate a new form of collective activism through the mediation of technology in everyday life.

Assuming the OECD member states as 'advanced' nations equipped with basic scientific capacities, the present research addresses the network configuration of these countries in international scientific collaboration and the transformation of this network along with globalization. The result suggests that geographical, linguistic, and economic affinities did not have a meaningful impact on the formation of co-authorship network between 'advanced' nations, different from previous research results which claimed their importance on international cooperation. Globalization facilitated by the development of information and transportation technologies was found to influence the co-authorship link between countries, but not to accelerate centralization of the network in the past 15 years. Though the core-periphery pattern still persists, new rising stars, which are Korea and Turkey, have emerged in the co-authorship network among 'advanced' nations. These two countries, having a rapid increase in the share of degree centrality from 1995 to 2010, had strategic financial support from the government which stimulated the collaboration between universities and industries and emphasized the development of science and engineering fields.

This study examines how repetitive news publishing on the Internet has changed evaluations of the credibility of the press and news aggregators. The temporal and spatial characteristics of the Internet have facilitated repetitive publishing of almost identical news content by the same news companies. The mechanism of repetitive news is based on the interplay between journalistic and algorithmic curations, which coexist on news aggregation sites. Based on a nationwide survey in South Korea, we found that the repetitive-news block was the strongest (and negative) predictor of the credibility of both the press and news aggregators. The more frequently people are exposed to repetitive news and the more they perceive it as being problematic, the less likely they are to regard the press and news aggregators as credible. These results have implications for online news flow and credibility research.