The SNS, which is a social network service based on the Internet, is defined as a media service that supports the interactions among individuals, which occurs in the linked-ring. And it is a community-based system created a in a cyber space by individuals, where they open and observe information networks shared by them (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). According to the reports regarding present status in Republic of Korea, the penetration rate of SNS reached 59.0% of the population in 2015, and it is expected that Korea will take the first place in Asia for the second consecutive year as the number of users is on the rise with annual growth rate of 8% (DMC Report, 2015). This is closely connected with the spread of smartphones that has been popularized to such an extent that 95.9% of the whole nation has been using them since the iPhone was introduced in Korea six years ago, in 2009. It has been confirmed that 98.3% of mobile internet users get on the Internet by using a smartphone, as well as 92.4% use the mobile internet services at home, and they prefer to use the mobile internet even in a place equipped with cable internet (Korea Internet & Security Agency, 2014). Accordingly, the mobile contents use pattern has been changing gradually, and especially the SNS use pattern based on smartphones have been rapidly evolving, which results in the appearance of various media, of which the type is different from the existing ones.

Due to the changes, many fashion brands, along with luxurious brands (Kim & Ko, 2011) based on the existing Social Media Marketing, are on the lookout for the SNS-based marketing strategy which is one level up from the old ones. Currently, in most of fashion brands, the consumers’ opinions are reflected in their designs after launching the newly designed product through the SNS. This marketing method, in which new strategies and patterns that are differentiated from the existing brands have been introduced, has proved the effects of SNS-based marketing with the great growth rates. In this way, the necessity of studies on the SNS smartphone is on the rise. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the changes in the past and present by investigating the present status of SNS in Korea. Furthermore, it is designed to verify the motivations that have impacts on the changes in usage pattern of the SNS through smartphones. The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) (Kahneman et al., 2004), which is focused on in-depth interviews and studies on life style, has been adopted as a study method to verify the use pattern. And the strategic implication regarding the direction of development of mobile SNS in Korea has been identified by analyzing the causes for changes.

According to the analytical results obtained through the DRM, it has been identified that the lifestyles of teens, twenties, thirties, forties and fifties are focused on the joyful and exciting activities, communication, personal and professional function, general basic function, and limited function, respectively. And according to the analytical results of types of mobile SNS, the teens and twenties prefer to use Facebook and Instagram. However, on the contrary people in their 30s and or older prefer to use the Cacao Story, which is a domestic SNS. The tendency seems to be based on the fact that the older people put more stress on the relationship with friends and acquaintances than the relationship with strangers. And on the basis of present-condition investigation it has been identified that the SNS has developed from the passive roles, which converts the offline-based relationships to online-based ones and merely facilitates storage of documents in digital form, into the active roles in which people may convey their own thoughts and emotions.

As shown in the results of this study, the roles of SNS is no longer limited to the opportunities in which users may form a relationship with others on the Internet, but it provides the users with opportunities in which they position themselves as the main body in production, distribution and consumption of information, so we may put much meaning to the cast that the smartphone have brought about the change. In short, the changes in mobile life style prove that the life style has evolved into a structure, in which the users produce information themselves, distribute the information through their own networks and consume the information by using smartphones. And it implies that the sharp expansion of smartphone markets leads to the necessity of marketing strategies focused on the differentiated lifestyle, which is being diversified and subdivided.

• Dayun Jeong(Yonsei University)
• Eunju Ko(Yonsei University) Corresponding author