Top 10 Korean websites

Every three months, Alexa, the web information company, announces website rankings globally and country by country. It shows some interesting characteristics about a country’s internet industry such as the rate of globalization. Here’s the ranking in Korea.

#1. Naver.com : I already introduced this site in my blog. It has convenient search function as well as news and email.
#2. Daum.net : It provided the first free webmail service in Korea. Interestingly, its original domain was hanmail.net, which sounds similar to hotmail.com. Although it has expanded its service to search, online shopping, news, and entertainment, many people still use it for email service.
#3. Yahoo.co.kr : Although its market share is far behind Naver.com, Yahoo is more popular than Google. The reason is that Yahoo Korea adopted strong localization policies.
#4. YouTube.com : Many Koreans enjoy internet videos thanks to its high-speed internet connection. They share various videos and I also enjoy Korean TV programs in London through Youtube.
#5. Google.com : It has been not that successful in Korea, since it has done almost nothing to satisfy Korean users. Will Google Korea localize, or will Korean users globalize?
#6. Cyworld.com : As introduced in my previous blog, it is the largest social networking service in Korea. I had never seen any Facebook users in Korea before coming to London.
#7. Paran.com : It gained popularity through 5GB free webmail, serviced by KT, the largest telecommunication company.
#8. Windows live : We have learned the power of default in class. Especially in Korea, people rarely use Apple’s laptop.
#9. Tistory.com : Bloging site run by Daum.net, ranked at 2nd.
#10. Joins.com : The first internet news service launched in Asia. Joongang Daily, one of the largest newspapers in Korea operates it.

Cyworld.com, the earliest social networking service

Cyworld home page of an user

Are you using Facebook.com or Myspace.com? If you are from outside Korea, your answer should be Yes, if you are not a person enjoying isolation. However, in Korea, the question should change like this: are you using Cyworld? Cyworld.com is a social networking website launched in 1999, and more than 90 percent of the Korean 20s are using the site for their social life. Its weekly page view is more than 4 billions, which is the second highest number.

Why Cyworld was so successful? I mentioned Koreans’ early-adapting nature in my previous blog, and it was obvious in the introduction of digital cameras. Many young Koreans who purchased digital cameras wanted to share their pictures with their friends. Maybe, the same need should exist in other countries, but what was different was that the rate of penetration was much faster in Korea.

Another innovative feature of Cyworld was that it implemented Acorn System. Users buy acorns, cyber money in Cyworld, with real cash, and use them for installing trendy songs as background music and pretty wallpapers in their home page. People can buy acorns at convenience stores as well as on-line. It was the first successful case of monetizing page views, which enabled continuous re-investment.

Cyworld is still one of the most popular sites in Korea. In 2003, it was acquired by SK Communication, an affiliate of SK Group, the third largest conglomerate in Korea. It launched Cyworld service in Japan, USA, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam.

Their biggest challenge should be future growth. Korean internet penetration seems to have reached its saturation point while their overseas business doesn’t look successful so far. Nevertheless, they are still competent in Korea, evidenced by the fact that their international competitor Myspace.com announced withdrawal from Korea in 2009. It shows pros and cons of strongly localized internet service.

The most famous blogger in Korea

Minerva heading for the court

Korea is one of the Asian countries that have most developed democratic political system. People can express their opinion through various media including internet. In the sense, the arrest of Minerva, the most famous blogger in Korea, was sensational event.

Minerva is a pen name of a Korean blogger who posted tragic prediction about Korean economy since last July. At first, his arguments failed to draw much attention, because people thought they were unrealistic. However, he was placed in the center of the public attention, as like his prophecy, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Korean Won fell down, and Korean stock market plummeted. He posted more than 100 blogs and most of them were about the dark future of Korean economy. One of his expectations was that within 2008, the stock market index would fell down to 500, which was higher than 2,000 one year ago and now at 1,100.

Eventually, in 2009, the government decided to arrest Minerva for hurting the public interest by spreading false information. People thought Minerva should be a well-educated influential person in the finance industry, but he turned out to be a jobless with just 2-year college diploma.

There are still hot debates surrounding Minerva with most of internet users criticizing the government's reaction as the death sentence for internet democracy.