The hugely popular South Korean-based social networking/photo site is trying to penetrate the United States market and recently launched a beta site (see below), according to an article in CNET News.
Some 18 million South Koreans, about 30 percent of the country, have Cyworld accounts. More than 90 percent of South Koreans 20 years old to 29 years old view their sites almost every day, the article reports.
Cyworld also has sites in China, Japan and Taiwan.
Competing in the U.S.
How will Cyworld compete in the U.S. where there already are hundreds of photo and video sharing sites combined with social networking sites such as MySpace?
CNET News says, "Cyworld attempts to facilitate communications between people who know one another: New parents who want a site where relatives can go to see the latest pictures of their baby; friends at different colleges who want to stay in touch. Overall, the demographic on the service skews slightly older."
The CEO of Cyworld USA, Henry Chon, says people could use multiple sites, not just Cyworld. Different sites are used for different purposes.
Camera phone tie-in
In South Korea, camera phones are a big part of Cyworld, the article says. "Using a camera phone, they take a picture of what they're eating for lunch, post it to their site and send a text message directing friends to the latest update.
"The ability to post from a mobile phone will come to the U.S. too."
Obviously, though, posting photos from a camera phone isn't a big deal in the U.S. Cyworld is going to have to offer something or somethings special in order to differentiate itself.
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