Give Me Two Minutes To Tell You Why Cyworld US Failed
I got this email last night around 9:25pm EST on Thursday.
“Thank you to all members with Cyworld.
Due to Cyworld shuts down US service, US Cyworld will no longer be able to service.
We sincerely apologize for shutting down the service with unavoidable reason.
Before US cyworld close the service, you will continue to access to US cyworld contents but not
purchase items. Also, you will not use your acorns.
If you have unused acorns, you will be given a full refund for paid acorns only.
@ Schedule for closing US Cyworld service
Due to Data Back-up and closing service issues, the service will be unavailable.* Shop service will be unavailable since Nov 03, 2009
o Club service, Profile photo/data upload serivce will be unavailable since Nov 23, 2009″
I knew immediately that it had come from Korea. Why? The English, while not horrendous, isn’t good. It’s a pretty ingrained habit in Korean business that people don’t ask for the most basic of help when it comes to proofreading English. That’s why Korea is constantly laughed at for its Engrish.
The problem this time? Not asking someone to proofread this letter (or, as my experience has gone, getting someone to proofread the letter and then ignoring their feedback.)
How do I know this? Click over to my bio. I lived in South Korea from August 2000 until March 2009. During my time there there it was pretty much a sure thing that you’d fall into a cultural chasm when dealing with the natives and vice versa. The chasm is crossed successfully all the time. I know this first-hand. However, that was usually in the context personal relationships and also in the context of the mass production of consumer and industrial goods. That’s why South Korea is now in the top 15 economies in the world and is a powerhouse export economy.
Koreans still have a big problem trying to measure and understand Western tastes and attitudes. It goes the other way too. There was a lot of glee when Wal-Mart and Carrefour shuttered their South Korean divisions simply because E-Mart, 이마트, does it much better. Chalk it up to a cultural chasm. All of those sensibilities and preferences which are really difficult to understand. Wal-Mart and Carrefour didn’t get it.
In this case, SK didn’t get it, cut their losses on their $10 million investment and moved the operation back to Seoul late last year.
I joined Cyworld on May 19, 2008. I know this because I got 30 acorns for joining. I still only have the vaguest idea why I should have ever cared about acorns. According to TechCrunch, acorns would have allowed me to give my Cyworld Minime some creature comforts.
However, that’s the problem. Buying acorns to furnish my little Minime’s room wasn’t something I was remotely interested in. In fact, I wasn’t interested in having a Minime at all. However, Cyworld assumed I was and gave me one. I made her look as much like me as possible, but she’s been standing there in her empty room for over a year happy and smiling and, I guess, waiting for me to spend my acorns on some furniture. However, I don’t care, and I dont’ think anyone on this side of the Pacific Ocean ever cared about acorns and micropayments for a virtual world. That’s something Cyworld US would have figured out had they asked. They didn’t, so now they’ve fled back to Seoul.
I joined hoping that Cyworld would be international. I already had very active MySpace and Facebook accounts and was already connecting with my American friends and family. MySpace and Facebook also let me connect with my Korean and other international friends too. Realizing that Cyworld is pretty much Korean only, I’ve noticed that my Korean friends have slowly been joining Facebook.
Unlike MySpace and Facebook, I couldn’t connect with my Korean friends on Cyworld Korea using Cyworld US. I’m telling you with around 90% of Koreans under 20 on Cyworld Korea, it was very likely I was going to find my former students and my full-grown friends there.
So why did Cyworld US fail? A lack of connectivity. These social networking sites are all about inclusion not acorns and micropayments.
- TechCrunch: US Cyworld Will No Longer Be Able To Service
- paidContent.org: Cyworld Shutting Down U.S. Service; So Much For $110 Million Earmark
- Circ.us: Cyworld– More Than A Minihome
Regina lived in South Korea for eight years, moved back to the USA this year and now lives in New York, NY. Founder of Organic Social Media, providing blogging and social media services. Used to write columns for the Korea Herald newspaper. Earned her master’s in international studies from Ewha Womans University, earned her J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and earned her B.A. in English and philosophy at UCLA. Follow Regina on Twitter or go to her LinkedIn.com profile, MediaBistro.com page or blog for more information.
[...] 이러한 일들이(콩글리시 사용) 한국뿐만 아니라 많은 동양에서 자주 일어난다고 말하며 이해하는 하면서도 웃기는 것은 어쩔 수 없다 말한다. 한마디로 이런 작은 [...]
I totally agree. I was excited when I heard that Cyworld US was going to open. I joined as soon as I could and started searching for Korea friends….what? Different systems? What the hell?
That was the last time I logged in. They had me for around 2 hours
Yep, unfortunately, Cyworld US didn’t get two hours out of me.
I’d pass on my acorns to you but, I guess, they’re worthless now. Wait, no, they were pretty much worthless when this whole thing started
“I dont’ think anyone on this side of the Pacific Ocean ever cared about acorns and micropayments for a virtual world.”
Well, that part’s not necessarily true, as the successes of Facebook developers like Zynga and Playfish will happily tell you (I won’t post links, but Google Playfish’s expected earnings for this year and you’ll see what I mean). However, the lack of inter-connectivity between the two sites was a pretty silly mistake. You’re correct: social networking sites should be about the inclusion of as many people as possible. However, to say that they’re not about micropayments is inaccurate at this point, regardless of what continent you’re on.
Actually, you’re right. When I was writing that, I realized that I have paid for those cute little Facebook gifts before and I’ve done other micropayments before too. However, I left it out of the article predicting (correctly) that it would generate a comment, and I’d be able to talk about why I did it in one context versus the other in the discussion
For me, those times were to buy a gift for a friend that I really wanted to do something nice for. Therefore, my motivation and the motivation behind the gifts I’ve given were in the spirit of showing some regard to someone I was connected to. It’s the same thing regarding the gifts that I’ve received on FB. Again, the issue is a lack of connectivity.
The things I bought weren’t bought to furnish a virtual room for a virtual me. That’s the distinction for me. Had Cyworld US let me connect with my Korean friends many of whom I KNOW are on Cyworld Korea and I saw that their Minimes were living the lap of luxury, I would have used my acorns. I mean I’m an Ewha Womans University graduate! If my classmates’ Mimimes were living large, mine would have to also
Instead, I couldn’t connect with my friends and former students. The complimentary acorns I got when I joined Cyworld US are still sitting there.
These are questions SK could have asked. They could have asked Westerners in South Korea too. I say that because I remember doing a product test for LG way back when for products they were going to send to Western countries. They specifically wanted Americans and people from other Western countries to test the products. SK could have done the same thing as there are over 1.2 million foreigners in South Korea now. Instead it was a $10 million dollar lesson for them instead of a 1,000,000 won lesson (around $850 USD at the current exchange rate.)