August 14, 2006 at 18:31Asia's largest social network Cyworld opens for Americans
The most popular social network in Asia, Korean Cyworld, enters the overseas market. In late July, the public beta testing of the American version of the site officially began .
Cyworld - one of the first social networks on the Internet, which back in 1999 opened the South Korean company SK Communications, a division of telecommunications giant SK Telecom. The basis of the Cyworld service was the concept of the so-called “mini-hompi” - personal sections, which combined the functionality of a photo gallery, forum, guestbook and personal diary. In the American version, these sections will be called “mini-houses,” that is, “mini-houses."
An important feature of Cyworld is the three-dimensional interface of mini-rooms ( screenshot), which greatly expands the possibilities of personalization. Each user is happy to choose furniture, wallpaper, paintings and other furnishings for his virtual home, happy to buy these products from the developer. The company sells such goods at $ 300,000 per day , that is, $ 100 million per year. The company in Korea alone employs 4,400 artists who create new content daily. The staff of the company is very solid. For example, about a hundred people are engaged only in monitoring user behavior. Large screens are designed for this in the Cyworld virtual world control center ( photo of the control center ).
Before and after Cyworld, the concept of social networks was used by many foreign services, such as Classmates (the first social network on the Internet, appeared in 1995), Myspace and others. But none of them could achieve Cyworld popularity.
Like multiplayer online games, social networks in Korea became part of popular culture much earlier than in Western countries. The reason for this is understandable. The fact is that South Korea has long held first place in the world on broadband Internet. But broadband Internet is an important condition for the popularity of Web 2.0 generation sites and, in particular, social networks. Over the five years of its existence, the Cyworld network has firmly entered the everyday life of Koreans. According to some estimates, every third Korean (about 18 million people) has his own mini-house on Cyworld, and among Internetusers aged 20-29 this percentage exceeds 90%, and almost all of them visit the site daily. American social networks are still very far from such popularity among the population.
Cyworld service has long begun a regional expansion. The first to appear were social network affiliates in China, Japan, and Taiwan. The number of users on the Chinese site has already exceeded 2 million.
Developers have particularly high hopes for the American startup, which was opened to the general public on July 27, 2006. On this day, the public beta testing of the service started, which will not last long, only about a month. All the same functions that made the Korean original of Cyworld famous, including three-dimensional mini-rooms with the ability to purchase furnishings, as well as the ability to update the blog from a mobile phone, will appear on the American site.
Cyworld - one of the first social networks on the Internet, which back in 1999 opened the South Korean company SK Communications, a division of telecommunications giant SK Telecom. The basis of the Cyworld service was the concept of the so-called “mini-hompi” - personal sections, which combined the functionality of a photo gallery, forum, guestbook and personal diary. In the American version, these sections will be called “mini-houses,” that is, “mini-houses."
An important feature of Cyworld is the three-dimensional interface of mini-rooms ( screenshot), which greatly expands the possibilities of personalization. Each user is happy to choose furniture, wallpaper, paintings and other furnishings for his virtual home, happy to buy these products from the developer. The company sells such goods at $ 300,000 per day , that is, $ 100 million per year. The company in Korea alone employs 4,400 artists who create new content daily. The staff of the company is very solid. For example, about a hundred people are engaged only in monitoring user behavior. Large screens are designed for this in the Cyworld virtual world control center ( photo of the control center ).
Before and after Cyworld, the concept of social networks was used by many foreign services, such as Classmates (the first social network on the Internet, appeared in 1995), Myspace and others. But none of them could achieve Cyworld popularity.
Like multiplayer online games, social networks in Korea became part of popular culture much earlier than in Western countries. The reason for this is understandable. The fact is that South Korea has long held first place in the world on broadband Internet. But broadband Internet is an important condition for the popularity of Web 2.0 generation sites and, in particular, social networks. Over the five years of its existence, the Cyworld network has firmly entered the everyday life of Koreans. According to some estimates, every third Korean (about 18 million people) has his own mini-house on Cyworld, and among Internet
Cyworld service has long begun a regional expansion. The first to appear were social network affiliates in China, Japan, and Taiwan. The number of users on the Chinese site has already exceeded 2 million.
Developers have particularly high hopes for the American startup, which was opened to the general public on July 27, 2006. On this day, the public beta testing of the service started, which will not last long, only about a month. All the same functions that made the Korean original of Cyworld famous, including three-dimensional mini-rooms with the ability to purchase furnishings, as well as the ability to update the blog from a mobile phone, will appear on the American site.
