Overview South Korea boasts of the highest internet penetration in Asia at 83%.

The following figure provides the picture as of June 2012.

Internet Penetration in South Korea

17%

Offline population Online population

83%

The number of broadband subscribers has been on a steady rise in South Korea which have contributed to the highest internet penetration in Asia, as is illustrated by the figure below.

Number of Broadband Subscribers (in mn)

15.5 16.4 17.2 17.9

11.9

12.1

14.0

14.7

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

The figure below illustrates the various places from where the internet is accessed. As can be clearly seen that the internet is easily accessible outside home, which explains the difference between internet users and the broadband subscribers in South Korea.

Access Location of Internet Users in South Korea

Anywhere, including wireless School Commercial internet access Others' home Educational facilities Non-commercial internet access 3.0% 2.7% 6.2% 11.0% 21.6% 20.8%

Compared to the other Asian countries, South Korea may rank 5th in terms of internet users but as far as internet penetration is concerned, South Korea is right on top of the list. This is illustrated in the figure given below.

Top 5 Countries by internet Penetration in Asia

South Korea Japan Brunei Darussalam Taiwan Singapore 75.40% 75.00% 78.00% 79.50% 82.50%

There has been a rise in the use of smartphone in South Korea. Number of smartphone subscribers has more than doubled from 2011 to 2012. The rise is steady and considering the affinity of South Koreans with instant messaging and texting, the growth is expected to stay steady.

Number of Smartphone Subscribers (in mn)

2.3 2 2.5 2.7 2.8

Mar-11

Oct-11

Dec-11

Feb-12

Apr-12

Jun-12

Aug-12

When measuring time spent on the internet, we observe that almost 86% of the south korean internet population spends more than 7 hours on the internet, and almost 50% of the internet population spends more than 14 hours on the internet in a week.

Time Spent on the Internet

16.6%

6.1% 1.6%

2.8% 18.6%

Less than 1 Hour 1-3 hours 3-7 hours 7-14 Hours

26.2% 28.1%

14-21 hours 21-35 hours

Social Media While South Korea has always been among the leaders in terms of internet, social media scenario is not quite the same, at least not conventionally. South Korea has traditionally been a blogging country with 84% of the South Korean users using blog. As far as profile based social media sites such as Facebook are concerned, their use is only greater than that of microblogs. (18.4% Profile Based vs. 12.8% Microblog).

Use of Social Media in South Korea

Microblog Profile Based SNS Minihompy Online Community Blog 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% 12.8% 18.4% 68.3% 74.6% 84.0% 90.0% % of Respondents

The social media sites were accessed primarily by desktops but there has been rapid growth in users of social media via Smartphones (1.6% in 2011 compared to 31.5% in 2012). This is a good indicator for not just profile based social networking sites but also microblogging which is primarily a smartphone based social networking site such as Twitter.
98.7% 98.6%

Devices used to access social media

Medium for accessing social media, 2010 31.5% 6.7% 7.1% 4.4% 4.3% Other Medium for accessing social media, 2011

1.6% Desktop Computer Smartphone

Notebook Computer

The social media landscape has been changing in South Korea. The once blogger friendly population is embracing the profile based social networks. The total number of social network users is also expected to rise as per eMarketer.

Social Network Users in South Korea, 2011-2014 (in mn)

30 24.6 25 20 15 10 5 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 22.7 20.7 25.9

The age demographics in terms of social media users are not same as most countries as per comScore. While the younger generation takes the biggest share, the decline in the number of users is not steady as in most places.

Demographic Profile of Social Networks in South Korea

200% 180% 160% 140% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ 92% 85% 93% 90% 81% 80% 86% 86% 94% 94%

Female Male

It is observed that the eldest females are marginally more active than the youngest generation when social media use is concerned. And in every age category there are more female social network users than there are male, with the average number of male users across age group being 86% compared to 90% female users of social media. An average of 3 hours is spent on the social networks by an average user in South Korea. The figure below gives the demographical split of time spent by age.

Time spent on Social Networks in South Korea

55+ 45-54 35-44 25-34 15-24 2.4 3.1 4.3 1.8 3.5

Not surprisingly, the younger generations spend more time on social networks, with 15-24 spending almost 4.3 hours, while the users of 55+ age category spend the least amount of time on social networks. With high number of users in social networks and low time spent on the internet, South Koreas elder population of social media users are a tough one to predict. The growing importance of Social media in South Korea has been taken into account by the companies operating there as well. Increasing participation is seen of the companies in social networking sites to connect with their consumers. The following figure shows some of the top sites that are aimed at by the companies to connect with their customer.

Use of Social Media Sites by companies in South Korea

Facebook Twitter Blog Youtube me2day Flickr Other

90.8% 77.5% 65.8% 35.8% 19.2% 11.7% 5.8% Social Media Sites Used by Companies in South Korea

In spite of the presence of popular local networks, companies are looking to aim at facebook and twitter more than me2day and similar. This is possibly prompted by the growth facebook has seen in the recent years and also the decreasing popularity of Cyworld, the original hub of South Korean users. Cyworld has seen continuous drop in social network users in the past couple of years after its site was hacked and personal information of users was gained by the hackers. This privacy disaster has been one nightmare which still gives Cyworld the chills.

Cyworld The former leader of social networking websites in South Korea, Cyworld was a phenomenon in South Korea. While it was launched in 1999, it started gaining popularity in 2002, when minihompy was introduced. Minihompy was a personal cyber space provided to users, where they could put pictures, story boards, music and videos, bulletin boards and many other similar features. The features allowed every individual to create a virtual environment through which they could express themselves. Cyworld reached approximately 25 million members which is more than half the population of South Korea in 2011. However Cyworld had disadvantages such as with many features it became complicated. People who wanted to contact their foreign friends couldnt do so. And Cyworld was not made to be used on a smartphone. All these limitations were cashed upon by the foreign social networking websites Facebook and Twitter. Cyworlds decline accelerated when in 2011 it was hacked. Almost 35 million members (by merging Nate, an instant messaging website, the number of members had increased), had their personal information such as registration numbers, phone numbers and email addresses stolen. A series of lawsuits followed and the stock prices dropped. While Cyworld announced in September 2012, that minimal information is now required to register, no significant changes have been seen by end of 2012.

Age demographics of Cyworld Vistors

7.2% 4.1% 11.9%

10--20 20-30 30-40

41.7% 35.2%

40-50 50+

Almost 80% of the users of Cyworld fall in the 30-50 age category, with young South Koreans possibly looking at the foreign social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter for their social networking requirements.

Facebook With a simpler design and easy to use features, Facebook was able to win over the South Korean users as soon as it entered the South Korean market in 2009. But the real turnaround for Facebook came when in 2011 the local social networking giant Cyworld was hacked and people lost their personal information. Reports by Rankey.com say that in terms of unique visitors, Facebook may have overtaken the local social networking site Cyworld in 2011 as can be seen from the figure below.

Rankey.com noted that in August Facebooks tally of unique visitors which was 16.3 million (a jump of 16times as compared to January 2010) took over Cyworld Minihompy (15.9 million). Currently Facebook has more than 8 million members in South Korea. The age demographics for facebook can be seen through the figure below.

Age demographics of Facebook Members

7% 3% 11% 13%

13-17 18-24 25-34 35-44

39%

27%

45-54 55+

Not surprisingly, the younger generation age categories make up for almost 80% of the total facebook users, indicating the shift towards of younger generation to foreign social networking websites.

me2day This is a microblogging platform in South Korea. It is so similar to Twitter, it is often called as Twitter of South Korea. The rise in use of Smartphones has also helped me2day in its growth as this is an android based application. In September 2011, me2day had more local users than Facebook and twitter in South Korea.

As of 2012, me2day is available in many Asian languages such as Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and Simplified & Traditional Chinese. While OPENID was available until 2010, registration is now required which only needs an email id. me2day is owned by NHN corporation, which also owns Naver, the most popular search engine for South Korea. Naver accounts for almost 70% of online searches, which makes it, the Google of South Korea. In that sense, me2day can also be compared to Google+, and therefore a lot of promotion can be expected for me2day in South Korea. Other Social Networking Sites YouTube is used for videos, along with Naver Video for video sharing. Twitter has also experienced growth, but at the same time is facing serious competition from me2day. While South Korean social media users are shifting from previously popular blogs to profile based social networking, still there are some popular blogs available such as Naver blogs, Daum blogs and Egloos.

Social Media monitoring tools Considering only recently social media sites which require a profile have started gaining attention in South Korea, not many social media monitoring tools are available specifically for South Korea market. One tool that could be used is UCC metrics by Daumsoft. Other than that, a range of international tools will need to be utilized until new tools aiming specifically at South Korean market come into picture. A lot of social networking sites such as Twitter have many monitoring tools of their own, and similarly for the time being, these international social media monitoring tools will have to suffice in case of South Korea. Tips for Social Marketers South Korea with its blogging culture and low preference towards profile based social networking websites has been traditionally a tough market for social marketers. However, a shift can be observed from blogging to profile based social networking. Facebook has been gaining popularity and will take measures to capture more market share as it has done in other markets. With many companies choosing Facebook as their no. 1 choice for reaching to their customers, one would bet on Facebook going big in the coming years. Instant messaging and texting has always been popular among South Koreans. With the rise of Smartphones, one must expect the microblogging culture to explode in South Korea in the coming years. Like Line in Japan, me2day has the potential to be the next big thing in South Korea. Considering similar demographics of both countries, and also taking into account the growth me2day has experienced, one should be prepared to meet consumers in the microblogging platforms. While Cyworld has declined in South Korea, even if it had not, it would not be the first choice for social marketers in South Korea. Considering it makes most of its revenue by selling features such as background music, pictures etc. for dotori (cyber money), and possibility of it using ads for revenue generation is very low and therefore not a feasible site for social marketers. South Korean market is just opening up to profile based social networking, and therefore there is a lot of room for other players. Social marketers should expect more social networking emerging in the near future and therefore will be wise not to bet all in one or two social networking sites. For most social networking websites to be successful in South Korea, they have to have a smartphone platform. One should keep an eye on potential of mobile ads being higher than on PC in the coming future.

References NHN Sees Me2DAY Beating Twitter, Facebook in South Koreahttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-29/nhn-says-its-me2day-service-is-beating-twitterfacebook-in-south-korea.html

Cyworld, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyworld Facebook Overtakes Cyworld in Korea?, http://www.techinasia.com/cyworld-vs-facebook/ South Korean Social Media Fast Facts August 2012, http://www.slideshare.net/digitaljungle/southkorean-social-media-internet-facts Internet Statistics Report, http://isis.kisa.or.kr/eng/board/index.jsp?pageId=040100&bbsId=10&itemId=317&pageIndex=1 New Media Trend Watch, http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/11-longhaul/63-south-korea Twitter Lags Only Facebook, Blogs As Top Corporate Social Platform In South Korea [STUDY]

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/south-korea-social-business_b27273#more-27273
South Koreas Unique Social Media Landscape http://www.emarketer.com/Article/South-Koreas-

Unique-Social-Media-Landscape/1009081
Internet World Statistics, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm