Cyworld Rides on `Korean Wave' to Tap Asia Options

[kpjoon]

Cyworld Rides on `Korean Wave' to Tap Asia

(IMG:http://photo.hankooki.com/gisaphoto/20041125/sian10082004112517455901125top_4.jpg)


Cyworld, the nation's top online community, is riding high on ``Hallyu (Korean Wave),'' to expand into many Asian countries such as Japan and China.





Yoo Hyun-oh, president of SK Communications that runs Cyworld, told The Korea Times that the firm will make offshore efforts with the flagship service.

``We plan to make reaches into Japan, China, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan within the first half of next year with Cyworld, on the back of the Korean Wave,’’ the 44-year-old said.

The Korean Wave refers to the relentless rush of domestic cultural products that have hit neighboring Asian countries.

Korean popular culture is currently visible in various segments, as it has sparked a fad for Korean movies, dramas and pop music.

``Now is the perfect time to attack Asian nations with Cyworld. Underpinned by the Korean Wave, which is at its peak, we will be able to see `Cyholics’ sprout up overseas,’’ the chief executive said.

Cyworld is an upgraded blog, short for Web log, which means a personal diary-style Web site featuring commentary, pictures and links to other sites.

Cyworld advanced one step more from standard blogs by uniquely interconnecting personal homepages, prompting users to form a network with their friends or colleagues.

Currently, Cyworld is a must-have site for young Koreans who usually spend hours a day decorating their home pages or scrolling through others’ to forge new networks.

Its soaring popularity shows no sign of slowing down as its subscriber base, which stood at 3 million in August 2003, rocketed to 10 million in September and 11 million last month.

Yoo, who took the reins of SK Communications in March, seeks to replicate the huge success in other nations.

``En route to the globalization of Cyworld, our first job is to tailor its format and features to local tastes. The service should be a part of the cultural fabric of each new market, which will require our staff’s creative juices to be flowing,’’ he said.

Yoo expects offshore businesses to account for more than half of SK Communications’ long-term revenues.

Affiliated with Korea’s foremost mobile operator, SK Telecom, SK Communications snapped up Cyworld in August last year, when the site was in trouble.

Under the stewardship of Yoo, the site turned into a cash cow, which helped the firm double its turnover estimate to 110 billion won this year from 50 billion won in 2003.

2 words:
Goodbye Xanga

This post has been edited by kpjoon: Nov 25 2004, 11:55 AM