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Korea in the digital vanguard

by Kevin (Kilmo) Kang, Korea

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Twitter boosts popularity of similar local services in Korea

Jul 19, 2009 17:48

Twitter has become a must-have service for everyone lately to communicate with others. It's not like the usual Internet Messenger which communicates with dedicated people you would like to talk in your friends' list. Twitter wasn't getting any Korean's attention until 2008, but now it's popularity has rubbed off on similar local services such as me2Day (me2day.net) and Playtalk (playtalk.net). Those are services which had trouble expanding their members for years.

There are several global social-networking services (SNS) which haven't succeeded in Korea, such as MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. Those services didn't take over local giants like Cyworld which is run by SK Communication. Cyworld was the first-generation SNS in Korea even before blog services were introduced. Most Korean Internet users would open an account with Cyworld and share photos with their friends. The LinkedIn service was benchmarked by the number of Korean business SNS such as linknow.kr.

So why didn't these global SNS not land in Korea smoothly, especially since these services have proved their strategy works in many different countries? Well, I think there are two major reasons for their failure. Firstly, there's the language barrier. SNS have to be fun, easy and an instant way to communicate with other people. However, English isn't our first language and if someone were to ask you to blog or twit in Korean and not English, are you going to post or use the SNS everyday? I don't think so. You will get stressed out and not visit those sites.

Well, MySpace try to service its site in Korean, but most of its users are English speakers. Adding another language just wasn't good enough to make that service attractive to Koreans.

Secondly, it's due to the mobile service and smartphone, I guess. What is the device that most of you use to sign onto an SNS? I'm sure it will be mobile devices such as smartphones and not the desktop PC or laptop. I assume the Apple iPhone also helps to access those SNSs regularly.

Unfortunately, the smartphone market isn't very big in Korea and the iPhone still hasn't been released yet. Even thought there are a few smartphones available in the market, half of the devices don't include Wi-Fi features. Also, the data service fee is very expensive to use to access and get on the SNS. Which means our world's best Internet infrastructure isn't focused on mobile devices and those mobile carriers strictly control their market share all the time.

So how is it that Twitter has gotten so popular in Korea despite the fact that it's an English-based service and there are alternative local services available?

Well, Twitter is easy and straightforward to use, and only 140 words can be typed in each twit. Even thought it's an English-based service, any Korean can type in Korean to other Koreans. And the GUI is simple to use even if you're not good in the English language. However, the most important thing is that Twitter has gotten some serious endorsement in Korea by the likes of Kim Yuna, a renowned top figure skater, and Lee Chanjin who keeps posting news and rumors about the iPhone release in Korea.

However, there are very limited ways to twit in Korea due to a lack of mobile devices and services to keep you online all day. I assume most Koreans are twittering via their iPod touch from somewhere using free Wi-Fi signals or Egg (WiBro2WiFi).

This weakness is acknowledged by local services which try to differentiate their services by adding photos and comments together with short twits. They have started to communicate with mobile carriers that SMS can be another way to release and receive their twits. Me2Day has already started this service and now promotes it as a free giveaway of 300 SMSs to every member.

There are several other services to differentiate againswt Twitter, but I don't think those services are dedicated to mobile users. Adding more features just creates a higher data rate which has a cost impact on Korean mobile users since we don't have unlimited data plans for those services at this moment and twitting from a desktop PC or laptop isn't a reason to to use Twitter or other local SNS.

It is good to see that Twitter has helped local services that need a dedicated advertisement of what they are trying to do and who they are. And, it just shows that star markting is important these days even if it isn't led by Twitter, but it is true that Yuna as a figure skating celebrity has created an impact on all Koreans. I think Twitter should give a prize to Yuna when its service successfully lands in Korea later on.

I also joined Twitter with the nickname "digihunter", but got confused by which language I should type in. Should I type in Korean? If so, most of you would get annoyed by unknown characters and my twits would became spam to most of you. But in English, most of my Korean friends would complain to me. Well, I just started my Twitter and it has only a small following, so never mind... Haha.

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About Kevin (Kilmo) Kang

Kevin (Kilmo) Kang is a self-professed IT-savvy guy who's been having the time of his life making tech deals with new business partners in the Asia-Pacific areas. Like every Korean, he's gadget-crazy and is glad he lives in a country with one of the fastest-growing tech markets in the world. His taste for international work, however, arose from a nine-year stay in New Zealand where he fortunately made more friends than there are sheep.