Why use online comments?: Examining the relationship among online comments, civic attitudes, and participation intention.

This study explores the relationship between civic participation and daet-geul, the comments posted under online news articles. Based on dividing daet-geul into reading behavior and writing behavior, the study presents findings that show not only the types principally associated with entertainment news, but those associated with writing behavior that is associated with civic participation intention. Meanwhile, reading daet-geul has no effect on participation intention. The study also indicates that engaging in online communities enhances political participation intention. Further, civic attitude significantly influences civic and political participation intention, but each kind of trust has a differentiated effect on each kind of participation. The implications and limitations of the study are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]