Networked Politics on Cyworld: The Text and Sentiment of Korean Political Profiles

Cyworld, a Korean social networking site (SNS), enables politicians to establish and maintain their online presence and allows them to communicate with constituents through their personal profile. This article identifies the most visible politicians on Cyworld in terms of comments posted on their profiles between April 1, 2008 and June 14, 2009 and examines the text and sentiments reflected in those profiles. A content analysis combining semantic network analysis and sentiment analysis illustrates the meaning and collective sentiment of the comments. The results suggest that progressivism dominated political discourse and that the members of the ruling party received more negative comments than those of the opposition party. Furthermore, group-oriented terms indicated the existence of collectivism, which is representative of Eastern culture. The results suggest a significant relationship among gender, comment types, and SNS activities.