Koreans in their 30s and 40s are the biggest fans of the micro-blogging service Twitter. A DMC Media survey of 1,300 people showed that those in their 20s (44.6 percent) preferred Cyworld, the social networking service run by SK Communications, while those in their 30s (24.9 percent) preferred Twitter and those in their 40s (38.3 percent) opted for blogs. But more 40-somethings (21.7 percent) than 20-somethings use Twitter.

Some 83.6 percent said they use some type of social networking service. Respondents cited "networking," "keeping up with friends" and "access to information" as the main reasons. The services' greatest merit was "real-time communication," cited by 33.8 percent, while some 40.4 percent said that "invasion of privacy" was the biggest drawback.

People use social networking services for different reasons. Twitter is used mainly to exchange information (81.6 percent),  NHN's social networking service MeToday for fun (60.8 percent), Cyworld to network and keep in touch with friends (90.9 percent) and Facebook for business (26.7 percent).

The launch of a greater variety of smartphones in the first half of this year did not translate into increased use of social networking services on those devices. In fact, 77.8 percent of users accessed the sites on desktop computers, while 36.4 percent used laptops, 27.2 percent smartphones, and 12.1 percent normal mobile phones.