Korean social network Cyworld is gearing up to have a second crack at the international market with the launch of Global Cyworld.

The new international version of the service, which is Korea’s most popular social network, now includes content in English, Chinese, German, Japanese and Spanish in addition to Korean, as the fallen giant looks to revitalise itself in overseas markets. Previous attempts to enter international markets in the U.S, Japan and Europe flopped as the different sites were independent, meaning international users were unable to interact with each other.

Although Global Cyworld has been integrated into one platform this time, there are still some kinks in the service and design. The language feature only applies to the user interface, meaning that if a user accesses the homepage of someone that uses a different language, the page will display it in its owner’s language instead of the visitor’s.

The quality of English is another problem which held the site back last time and continues to give Cyworld issues. Problems like this will need to be fixed promptly if Cyworld is serious about penetrating markets which already have well established social network services.

With little to differentiate it from other services that already dominate overseas markets, the second launch is looking like a very optimistic move from Cyworld.

The social network, which is owned by Korean operator SK Telecom, was once an Internet pioneer, as one of the first social networks to monetise virtual goods, which brought it 60 percent of its revenues in 2006. Despite a steady drop in users, Cyworld remains the leading social network in South Korea, although other services have begun to challenge it.

The site, which launched in 1999, is based around a user’s ‘mini hompy’ — short for mini homepage — which is a platform where users can upload photos, text and various other multimedia to pages which can be customised by purchasing skins and background music from the Cyworld store.

[Image courtesy of Martin Lehmann / Shutterstock.com]

Additional reporting by Jon Russell

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.

Refunds and data backup service is in progress, using the acorn will no longer be able to purchase for miniroom items, skins, etc.

@ 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

Dong Hyung, co-founder of Cyworld, has launched a microblogging service called ‘runpipe‘. With the iPhone coming to S Korea, the mobile market is expected to finally pickup in the nation, Runpipe might be entering the market just in time to become the dominant microblogging site.

Dong Hyung has great expectations in the market: “Within 5 years, Korea Mobile SNS will become following general trend and its effect will be 100 times more than the services in Computer.” Domestic websites have traditionally been successful in S Korea, but we wonder how this specific service would compete with the success of Twitter or me2day.com, me2day has been quite succesful in the market. However, there is still a lot of market to conquer, today, only 1% of Korean’s use mobile social networks. If anyone can pull it off, it would be Dong Hyung, as 25% of the Korean population has a Cyworld account.