1. Kim heejun
2. Is social networking trap catching Naver?
3. Naver (www.naver.com), the country’s most popular website, has been witnessing its dominance dwindle as the Internet moves increasingly toward mobile devices. However, the local search giant has no intentions to remain only as the aging king of the desktop Internet and is preparing to bet heavily on mobile communications and social networking as it aims for a mobile Internet breakthrough.
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Rhee Ram, head of NHN’s web portal business strategies division, expressed confidence that Naver will adjust to an environment where an increasing number of users are connecting to the Internet over mobile devices other than personal computers. The revamped Naver will allow the website a better way to exploit its wealth in user-generated content, accumulated from its immensely popular blogging and online community platforms and its question-and-answer search service.
The increasing popularity of Naver’s Me2Day, a Twitter-like service that enables users to broadcast their real-time status over computers and mobile phones, also inspires confidence, Rhee said.
``Our pool of users and content are what provides us our most distinctive edge, and we are committed to providing an easier and more efficient way to connect people with information and people with people. This will result in a differentiated social media service that could change the way people consume information, while also help our mainstream search service by increasing the relevancy of its results.’’
Naver is not the only Korean website that is planning new services geared toward social networking. SK Communications, the operator of the hugely popluar Cyworld (www.cyworld.com) social networking service, which has more than 25 million users, recently revealed ``C-log, that could be roughly described as a short-messaging version of Cyworld.
Daum (www.daum.net) is also expected to announce plans later this week to redesign its main page with a social networking touch, aiming to make it easier for users to stay in touch with friends and share content. Daum also pushes its own social media services, such as ``Place’’ and ``Yozm,’’ that are tailored for smartphone users.
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/11/133_73629.html
