Cyworld facts for kids
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Type of site
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Social network service |
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| Available in | Korean, Chinese, English, German, Japanese, Spanish, Vietnamese |
| Owner | CyworldZ |
| Website | cyworld.com (Korea) |
| Cyworld | |
| Hangul |
싸이월드
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| Revised Romanization | Ssaiwoldeu |
| McCune–Reischauer | Ssaiwŏltŭ |
| Stable release | |
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| Operating system | iOS, Android |
Cyworld (Hangul: 싸이월드) is a South Korean social network. It lets people connect with friends online. Cyworld started as part of SK Communication, a big company. In 2014, it became its own independent company.
On Cyworld, members make "friendships" called Ilchon (Hangul: 일촌). They do this through their own personal online spaces called minihompy. You can create an avatar, which is like a digital version of yourself. You can also decorate "mini-rooms," which are small, apartment-like spaces online. It's a bit like playing a game such as The Sims.
The "Cy" in Cyworld can mean "cyber." But it's also a play on words from the Korean word sai (Hangul: 사이), which means "between" or "relationship."
Cyworld was similar to MySpace in the United States. A big difference is how Cyworld made money. Users bought dotori (Hangul: 도토리), or "acorns." These acorns were used to buy virtual items. You could get things like background music, pixelated furniture, and other digital decorations. Cyworld also operates in China and Vietnam.
Contents
Cyworld's Story: How It Grew and Changed
Early Days and Big Success
Cyworld first launched in 1999. SK Communications bought it in 2003. It was one of the first companies to earn money by selling virtual items.
Cyworld became very popular in South Korea. By 2005, almost everyone in their twenties used it. About 25% of the whole South Korean population were users. In 2006, it had 19 million users in Korea. This number dropped to 18 million by 2008.
Cyworld didn't do as well in some other countries. By 2010, it stopped working in Germany, Japan, and the United States. But in 2009, it still had 7 million users in China and 450,000 in Vietnam.
How Cyworld Started
The idea for Cyworld began in August 1999. It came from a student group at KAIST university. The students wanted to create a social website. One student, Dong-Hyung Lee, continued the project after graduation. He became the CEO in December 1999.
The word 'cy' was chosen to mean "between people." This showed the goal of the website: to help people form close relationships. It was not just for finding information.
Early Cyworld was different from what it became. It showed lists of members from the same hometown or school. It was more like an address book. It helped people meet offline. This early version was not very successful. It even lost a lot of money.
The Minihompy Idea
In the summer of 2002, Cyworld tried something new. They launched the "minihompy" project. This was their last chance to save the business. CEO Dong-Hyung Lee put Ram Lee in charge. The minihompy was an instant hit.
Minihompies let people express themselves in many ways. They had a main picture, a profile, photo albums, and a diary. Users could also add background music and video clips. A special part was the miniroom. This was a virtual room with virtual furniture that you could decorate.
Before minihompy, people made "individual homepages." These were popular but hard to create. You needed to know computer programming. Minihompies were much easier to make and update. They also let people communicate easily. You could leave comments and see who visited. This made minihompies very popular. To see someone's private minihompy content, you had to become their Ilchon.
The minihompy service officially launched on September 9, 2002. Cyworld used its own digital money called dotori (acorns). You could buy items to decorate your minihompy and miniroom with dotori. People loved decorating their spaces. They saw it as a way to show who they were.
Cyworld gained more users in November 2002. A rival site, Freechal, started charging users money. Many people left Freechal and joined free sites like Cyworld.
Joining Forces with SK Telecom
In August 2003, Cyworld joined with SK Telecom. This is a big Korean communication company. SK Telecom owned Nate, another popular website. Cyworld had too many users to manage on its own. SK Telecom offered resources for more growth. Cyworld kept its name and services. Dong-Hyung Lee became the general manager of the Cyworld department.
This merger was a big success. By late 2003, terms like "cyholic" (a Cyworld addict) became common. Cyworld became a huge trend in Korea. Its monthly visitors jumped from 2 million to 7 million in less than a year.
Cyworld's success grew even more in 2005. It started working with NateOn, a popular online messenger service. NateOn was also owned by SK. This allowed users to use both services easily.
By early 2007, Cyworld had over 20 million members. This was about half of South Korea's population. In 2009, Cyworld combined its website with Nate. This made it easier for users, as many used both sites. By 2011, Cyworld had over 25 million members.
Challenges and Decline
When Facebook started in Korea in 2009, Cyworld began to lose its top spot. Some people found Facebook's design simpler and easier to use. Cyworld also didn't offer global services. This made it less useful for contacting friends around the world.
The rise of smartphones also played a role. Facebook and Twitter worked better on mobile phones. Kakao Story, a service for smartphone users, also became popular. It connected with KakaoTalk, a widely used mobile messaging app. Cyworld struggled to keep up with these new trends.
Cyworld's popularity dropped even more after a big event in 2011. In July 2011, hackers stole personal information from over 35 million users. This included almost all Cyworld/Nate members. The hackers got names, phone numbers, and email addresses. SK Telecom tried to fix the problem. But many users were upset. They filed lawsuits against the company.
This event hurt Cyworld's reputation. Many Koreans moved to other social media services. The number of visitors to Cyworld dropped sharply. Between March 2011 and April 2012, monthly visitors fell from 21.5 million to 16.5 million. Page views also dropped a lot.
In September 2012, SK Telecom changed its rules. New members no longer had to give their full personal details. They only needed an email address and nationality.
A New Start in 2021
In April 2021, a company called CyworldZ took over Cyworld. CyworldZ is part of Cyclub Corporation. They got the user data from SK. CyworldZ plans to update Cyworld with new features, possibly using metaverse technology.
Cyworld in Other Countries
After its success in Korea, Cyworld tried to expand. In 2005, it started services in China. Later, it entered Japan and Vietnam. Cyworld didn't do well in Japan. It closed there in August 2008. In 2009, it had 7 million members in China and 450,000 in Vietnam.
Cyworld also entered the US market in 2006. They thought many US teenagers would use several social networks. But it lost users to Facebook. Cyworld left the US market in February 2010.
In 2006, Cyworld partnered with a German company, Deutsche Telekom. They launched a European version in 2007. But there was strong competition from sites like StudiVZ. The market was already full of social networks. Cyworld closed its European operations by 2008.
Who Owns Cyworld Now?
In 2016, Aire, Inc. bought Cyworld. This company was owned by Jeon Jae-wan, who founded Freechal. In December 2020, CyworldZ took over Cyworld from Jeon Jae-wan. Son Sung-min and Kim Tae-hun became the new CEOs.
Website Features
Ilchon: Making Friends Online
Ilchon is a Korean word for very close family ties. On Cyworld, it means becoming close friends with other users. You send an Ilchon request to someone. If they accept, you can see their private minihompy content. This includes their diary and photo sections. You can also mark some friends as "interest ilchon." You get a notification when their minihompy is updated. You can also see if your friends are online. Before Twitter and Facebook, the Ilchon system was very popular in Korea.
Dotori: Virtual Money
Cyworld uses its own virtual money called dotori (Hangul: 도토리), or acorns. Dong-Hyung Lee created this idea in 2002. One dotori costs 100 won (Korean money). You use them to buy virtual goods. Prices vary, like 2 acorns for a wall painting or 6 acorns for a song. A homepage background might cost 40 acorns for a year. Most items bought with dotori have a time limit. You can also give dotori to your Ilchons, often as birthday gifts.
Selling dotori was the main way Cyworld made money. In 2006, 80% of Cyworld's income in Korea came from selling these virtual items. In 2018, a new service called CLINK was launched. It aimed to develop a digital currency system. CLINK later replaced dotori with podo and also showed coconut as a currency.
Minihompy: Your Online Space
A minihompy is like your own personal space on Cyworld. You can use dotori to decorate it however you like. Minihompy features include a main background, your profile, photo stories, and a diary. There's also a bulletin board for messages. The miniroom is a virtual room with a "minime" (your avatar). You can decorate this room with virtual items bought with dotori. You can buy new backgrounds, furniture, music, and fonts. There are also special links like ilchon padotagi to visit friends' minihompies. Random padotagi lets you explore strangers' minihompies.
Club: Online Communities
Clubs are online groups for Cyworld users. Like minihompies, you can use dotori to decorate your club. They are similar to online communities on other websites.
Blog: Your Online Journal
The Cyworld blog is like blogs on other websites. You can use dotori to decorate your blog. Anyone can usually see your blog content. But you can also set it so only your Ilchons can view it. Blogs have features like photo logs and bulletin boards. Cyworld blogs also connect with NateOn.
NateOn: Instant Messaging
Cyworld works with NateOn (Hangul: 네이트온). This is a very popular instant messenger service in Korea. If you buy special fonts with dotori on Cyworld, you can use them in NateOn too.
Que: Daily News
Que is an application that provides daily news briefings.
Cyworld's Influence
Cyworld had a big impact on Korea's internet culture. The term "cyholic" shows how popular it was. Cyworld gave users a place to express their feelings to their Ilchons. People also enjoyed learning about others' lives by visiting their minihompies.
A unique feature was the visitor tracker on each minihompy. It showed two numbers: "today" (visitors that day) and "total" (total visitors ever). A high "today" number meant the minihompy owner was popular. "What's his today?" became a common phrase. Some services even helped people increase their "today" count.
Celebrity diaries were very popular. They got thousands of comments. Minihompies became a way to learn about celebrities' lives. Celebrities also used their minihompies to manage their public image or advertise their projects.
Awards
In 2006, Cyworld won the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award. This award is for companies that use technology well to change their business.
Music Projects
Cyworld launched a project called "Cyworld BGM 2021." In this project, artists remade popular songs that were often used as background music on minihompies.
- Soyou – "Y (Please Tell Me Why)"
- Gift – "Time Walking on Memory"
- Gaho – "Officially Missing You"
- Ailee – "Snow Flower"
- Jung Seung-hwan – "I Have a Lover"
- George – "I'll Change"
- Ha Sung-woon & Punch – "Johnny"
- Hwang Chi-yeul – "Nagging"
- Mad Clown & Lee Hae-ri – "Recipient Unknown"
- Fromis 9 (Song Ha-young, Park Ji-won, and Lee Seo-yeon) – "Star"
- Daybreak – "A Good Day"
- Wonstein – "10 Minutes"
- San E & Suran – "Photography"
- Kang Daniel & Chancellor – "Fly"
- Yuju – "By Your Side"
See also
- Cyworld Digital Music Awards
- Myspace
