The implications of the formation of local networks in the global online knowledge network: Case study of South Korea

This study, conceptualizing a search engine as an online knowledge network, examines how a local network is formed in the presence of a global online knowledge network. The network literature has explained how a larger network gets larger and becomes dominant, but fails to explain the prevalence of small, local networks over the global network, which is found in some countries. This is especially true in South Korea, where the market share of the global online knowledge network is the lowest in the world. Conducting a case study of Korea,the present research attempts to explore the chasm between the network literature and the reality from the perspective of network and content.