Introduction to the South-Korean web serie
During the next few weeks I will publish a series of posts about the South Korean internet market. I want to raise discussion about the trends, review web 2.0 websites and blogs and interview influential web 2.0 entrepreneurs from South-Korea.
The series will be brought down in three broad subjects:
1. The south Korean internet market (environment and trends)
2. Success stories from South Korea
3. What Western web trends are liable for… Continue reading... | 2 Comments
A profile of the connectivity in South Korea
South Korea is the most connected country in the world, their network leaps far beyond that of Europe, the Arabic countries, China or the USA. It’s all part of their vision to create an “ubiquitous networked world”.
Well, I had to lookup the word ubiquitous, and found out that it means ‘everywhere’. In other words, they strive for an network that is available everywhere. South Koreans are addicted to… Continue reading... | 2 Comments
Why so little Korean web companies get ‘Techcrunched’
Most Koreans are addicted to the web, I wonder, Seoul must be a breeding place for new web ventures? I approached Chang W. Kim, to get an idea of what is going on. Chang is CEO of the biggest blog site in Korea. He explains his views on European projects, the Seoul web-scene and funding in his region. Continue reading... | 3 Comments
Introduction to five popular Korean websites
Today we will start creating a profile of populair South Korean websites. In the following days we will discuss the following websites:
2. Naver.com (Search engine)
3. Daum.net (Web portal, competitor of Nate)
4. empas.com (Search engine and portal)
5. nate.com (Web portal, competitor of Daum)
Social community Cyworld a trendsetter in E-commerce?
Cyworld is a social networking site, not big, and attempts to go abroad have failed in both Europe and Japan. Currently, they don’t even have an English interface. However, Cyworld got my attention because of their business model, and the generated revenue they receive from it.
While the majority of the social communities get their income primarily from ads, Cyworld demonstrates that a online community can run it’s business better then… Continue reading... | 4 Comments
Search engine Naver is best in localized results, example for others?
We see increasing amounts of search engines popping up on the internet, they are using advanced algorithms to come up with better results. Not in Korea, at least not at Naver. Employees analyze, index and produces content for their search engine by hand. Even though this labor intensity, they count for 70% of the search queries in their country, leaving Google far behind. Naver, founded… Continue reading...
Search engine Empas.com is ready for a comeback in Korea
Empas.com is a South Korean web portal dating back as far as 1998. They became big with their cocky slogan: If Yahoo cant find it, Empas can. Empas ranks five out of five on our list of (most visited) Korean web companies, However, Empas has lost ground against competitors as Naver and Daum, it seems that their strategy was unsuccessful. Currently, Empas is bought by another company, together they… Continue reading...
Daum: boring, but innovative in user generated content
Daum communications is huge, they are the biggest operator of Korean websites and they also operate in China with 365ren.com, and in the U.S. with the acquired Lycos portal. The word Daum is Korean for next, but at first sight, they might come over as another boring web portal aiming for sensational celebrity news, or is it?
Okay, Browsing to Daum.net feels like browsing through time at first. Dont be surprised to see a banner in the middle of the screen, offering you a Daum car insurance, or other income streams in in-house finance or shopping products. However, Daum.net scores (40 million active users) with UCG (user generated content) and sensational news. Continue reading...
Why most Koreans stopped using auction sites
If we talk about auction websites we usually think of Ebay, but not in Korea. The Koreans experience the fierce competition between two auction portals, but recently, something changed.
Gmarket was founded in 2000 by Young Bae Ku, and had a revenue of 188 million dollar in 2007.The second auction site is simply called Auction.co.kr and was founded in 1998, however they got bought by US based Ebay… Continue reading... | 1 Comment
Conclusion of the South Korean web profile serie
Enter the hyper connected society, Korea has an astounding 90 percent connected to the Internet with 3G and a nation wide coverage of a South Korean version of Wimax. What websites are popular over there, and does Korea have a web 2.0 scene?
To find that out, follow my first publised article on thenextweb.org.
… Continue reading... | 2 Comments
