How Online Discussions Develop in Stages: The Relationships among Comments, Responses, and Replies on Korean News Portal Sites

Authors

  • Jung Lee Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
  • Jinyoung Min Chung-Ang University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7903/ijecs.2195

Keywords:

online discussion, online comments, news portal, deliberation, discussion stages

Abstract

This study shows how online discussions develop in stages by analyzing the relationships among comments, responses, and replies in Korean News portal sites. Based on Habermas’ public sphere theory, we separate online discussions into three stages and use those stages to examine whether people engage in rational deliberation and discussion in online contexts. Specifically, we develop hypotheses about the probability that the online comments receive responses and replies from others. We collected data from one of the largest news portals in Korea, Daum, and tested the hypotheses using multiple analysis techniques including regressions. The result shows that most of the hypotheses are supported. Numerous prior studies on online communication assumed that the comments attached to articles are products of deliberative discussions. However, this assumption has often not been empirically validated. Hence, the present study proved that people actually “discuss” things online by showing how the discussion stages are correlated. 

Author Biographies

Jung Lee, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Global Business & Technology

Jinyoung Min, Chung-Ang University

College of Business & Economics

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Published

2023-06-27

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Section

Regular Articles