Koreans spend an average of two to three hours on their smartphones every day.
According to Statistics Korea, most of this time is devoted to chatting with friends and
browsing digital content... on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
But, it's not just news articles and videos or posts gaining popularity among users...
a new form of content is quickly attracting more clicks.
It's what's known as "SNS poetry" --- our News Feature tonight...
with Oh Soo young.
Poetry is said to be an arrangement of "the best words in the best order".
Delivering compact but meaningful reflections, short poems on Social Network Services, or
SNS, have gained widespread popularity in Korea,...
where the average person spends two to three hours browsing through countless digital contents
every day...ranging from news articles to funny video clips.
Lee Hwancheon, a former office worker, began posting short poems on his Facebook page two
years ago- mostly witty reflections on his every day life.
"With some poems, you need to read them over and over again to fully grasp the meaning,
but SNS contents are more lighthearted.
So I try to make my poems shorter and easier to read."
Since then, his weekly verses total over three hundred in number..., attracting more than
60-thousand followers.
Lee is now among the most well-known contributors in the country to what's been dubbed as SNS
poetry.
"I tend to write about my day to day experiences...
There can be some depressing moments, but with a humorous spin.
People can read, sympathize and enjoy them."
Reflecting the growing appreciation for SNS Poetry, the National Library of Korea has
opened a special exhibition to showcase some of the country's most-loved pieces.
"As internet and smartphone technology develops, the way poets channel their works will also
change.
With this exhibition, we aim to introduce this new form of poetry to the wider public..."
Inspirational verses, funny anecdotes and witty one-liners…
"SNS poems" are short and simple, but the contents are relatable enough to arouse sympathy
from just about anyone who reads them.
"There were many pieces I could relate to... some I found very touching."
"I enjoyed the piece that suggested people give a "him" instead of "him-nae" which means
cheer up.
I'll show this poem to anyone who tells me to cheer up."
"At this exhibition, you'll find that SNS poetry isn't limited to black and white text.
Visitors can explore it in all of its various forms- webtoons, illustrations, calligraphy,
and digital photography."
Poem-toons, for instance, combine webtoons with lines of poetry.
And digital camera poems, or Dica-poems, contain a single photo that encompasses the essence
of the words.
"When you get inspiration from nature or objects, you take a picture of the scene with your
smartphone, capturing the moment or emotion before it's gone.
Then you put that feeling into words and upload it on social media."
With charming simplicity that relates to everyday life, experts say SNS poetry is establishing
itself as a literary genre in its own right,… here in Korea.
"In the same way offline books and cartoons evolved into online novels and webtoons, poems
are becoming popular on the net through SNS,... as everyday moments are posted on the spot
by the younger generation...
With this phenonemon, the lines between the reader and writer are blurring, as anyone
can enjoy and produce SNS poems at the same time.
And it looks like this trend is set to continue."
"With just a smartphone in hand and a little inspiration,…
Any train of thought can be translated into a poem.. to share with others- anytime, anywhere.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News."