Just finished reading Alan Moore’s interview with Benjamin Joffe of Plus Eight Star, on a new report about Cyworld.
I wanted to highlight 3 interesting observations Benjamin made regarding topics that I’ve covered here many times in the past:
Personalization as a major revenue generator:
"You mentioned best practices, what is there to learn from Cyworld for
foreign community services / social networks?
To start with, the richness of the Cyworld service itself can support the product planning of foreign services. Among the most interesting aspects are Cyworld's business model relying on micro-customization, which concerns not only avatars but the whole page with music and many other functions. Also, the mobile aspects of Cyworld can certainly inspire companies who wish to step into this next 3-billion dollars industry'."
The use of ‘real name policy’ vs. anonymity online:
"The key point in Cyworld is its 'real-name policy'. Basically you need to use your real name associated with your official ID number to register. This has become more or less a standard among South Korean Internet services. It is a bit counter-intuitive, but real name policy does not damage free speech, it brings responsibility, courtesy and a lot of benefits for users themselves in terms of trust in the information they can find. We faced the same elements when doing a benchmark of best practices in online 'serious dating' services: trust and reliability brings a very high value to services.
Another very important aspect that sets Cyworld apart from 'western style blogs' is that minihompy are about social and emotional presentation of the self, while Western blogs tend to be rather intellectual. It is very different to have an 'online self' and a 'public journal'. This has an important impact on economics as users want to present the most attractive online self for their friends, and friends and emotions do not have a market price!
Users' value in Cyworld:
"In Cyworld we found the following drivers:
a). Not being left behind
b). Their creations
c). Their relationships
d). Their image"
I really encourage you to read the full interview, it's a worth reading so don't miss it!
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