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How Korean Net Giants are Responding to Twitter

So, Naver responded with me2DAY.  Daum, Korea’s second largest search engine, responded with Yozm.  And just a few days ago it was announced on the news that Nate will respond with yet another microblogging service titled Nate Connect.  Nate (SK Communications) is another giant web portal most notable for merging with Cyworld (Korea’s most popular blogging platform) and having the most widely used online messenger program in Korea titled NateOn.

Similar to me2DAY, Connect will focus on communication between people you are already acquainted with.  One interesting point that sets Connect apart from me2DAY or Twitter is that it doesn’t allow for new subscriptions (‘following’ equivalent in Twitter).  Connect consolidates existing buddylist contacts from NateOn messenger and contacts database from Cyworld to enable communication in 150 characters or less.  Whenever a ‘mention’-equivalent message in Connect is made with a recipient, a notice will be sent to NateOn messengers or Cyworld homepage to alert recipients of the message.

Dashboard page of Nate Connect

Blog platforms other than Cyworld will be made compatible for use with Connect, according to SK Communications.  Popular features of sharing photographs and videos called “Scrapping” will also be available to Connect as well.

If a microblog entry is targeted at a recipient, the recipient will receive a popup notifier via NateOn messenger.

With most of Korean internet users already owning a Nate account either through Cyworld and NateOn, two of the most popular Internet services in Korea, Connect is the path of least resistance for microblogging when it comes to adopting it for those unfamiliar with the idea.  Your friends list is already imported through your NateOn and Cyworld accounts and you don’t need to sign up for another account.  Connect offers the missing link of real-time communications on the go previously unavailable via online messengers and blogs.

Now there are just two questions left… will Paran come up with a microblogging service as well?  Which one of the 3 Korean microblogging service will rank supreme?

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Posted on March 22, 2010 at 9:20 am

Categories: Business, Mobile

Written by

Like all true savvy road-warriors, Richard is armed with nothing more than pure passion and perpetual low-battery Blackberry. He’s a Johns Hopkins and Cornell Alum with background in engineering and business. Richard brings experience from hard tech (pharmaceutical R&D), social (founded a popular events promotions company), and the fusion of both (started SeoulGrid.com, Seoul restaurants, bars and clubs review blog). Richard is the CEO of a startup based in Seoul called Spoqa, giving customer loyalty program the social upgrade.

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