Cyworld

Cyworld () is a South Korean social network service. Cyworld was originally part of SK communication, and became an independent company in 2014. Members cultivate relationships by forming Ilchon (, Hanja: <span lang="KO">一寸</span>) or "friendships" with each other through their minihompy. Avatars and "mini-rooms"

The "Cy" in Cyworld can mean "cyber", but is also a pun on the Korean word for "relationship" ( 'between'). with the main difference being that revenue is generated through the sale of dotori (), or acorns, which can be used to purchase virtual goods, such as background music, pixelated furniture, and virtual appliances.

Cyworld also has operations in China and Vietnam.

History

thumb|Cyworld control room in Seoul, Korea. Operation of the site is monitored here by the staff of SK Communications.

Overview

Cyworld launched in 1999 and was purchased by SK Communications in 2003.

and 25 percent of the South Korean population were users. By 2006 its domestic user base numbered 19 million, but this dropped to 18 million by 2008.

Cyworld's reception in some overseas markets did not prove as enthusiastic, and by 2010 Cyworld had ended its operations in Germany, Japan, and the United States.

The word 'cy' is a Korean word meaning 'between people', underlining the networking aspect of the website and connoting a close relation between the website users. However, most misinterpret 'cy' as an abbreviation for 'cyber' due to its fortis; 'sai' corresponds to a more accurate pronunciation of a Korean word for 'between.' It was not a place where people could express themselves, but rather a website that allowed people to gain means of contact, so that members could meet offline. Cyworld at its early stages was far from successful, once running a deficit of 1.5 billion won.

Offering many methods of expressing oneself, the minihomepy had features such as a main picture, history, user profile, photo story, story room, background music, photo album, diary, bulletin board, video clips, and decorating links. Another component of the minihomepy was the miniroom, a decorative online room furnished with virtual furniture.

One of the main reasons for minihomepy's success was people's dissatisfaction with the "individual homepages" that were prevalent in Korea at the time. Cyworld uses its own form of cybermoney, called dotori (acorns). The items for decorating the minihomepies and minirooms could be bought with dotoris, and people voluntarily spent money on dotori as their minihomepy decoration was perceived as another expression of themselves.

Cyworld gained further success when in November 2002, its competitor Freechal (another networking site for online communities) decided to charge its users 3,000 won per month. Freechal also announced plans to shut down communities operated by those who failed to pay the fee. This "pay-or-shut-down" policy prompted a horde of members to cancel their subscriptions and move to other free online community hosts, including Cyworld.

Merger with SK Telecom

thumb|Graph showing Cyworld's dramatically increasing subscriber base

In August 2003, Cyworld merged with SK Telecom, a Korean communication company and owner of the domain Nate. The rapidly increasing number of subscribers was getting too difficult for Cyworld to manage on its own, and SK promised resources for further growth in the market. Although it was incorporated into the SK community department, Cyworld retained its brand name, service, and independence.

The merger immediately led to significant market success. By the end of 2003, Cyworld gave rise to the terms "cyholic" (a Cyworld addict) and "cyjil" (jil is a Korean pun for action, so cyjil means doing Cyworld-related activities). Cyworld became a sensation among the Korean public, more than tripling in monthly visitors (from 2 million to 7 million) from early 2003 to November 2003.

In early 2007, Cyworld topped 20 million members for its services (roughly half the population of South Korea) giving rise to the term 'sa-chon era', meaning any two Cyworld members are likely to be Cyworld ilchons through fewer than four connections. In 2009, Cyworld unified its domain with SK's Nate. This move was meant for "user convenience", as the two domains had over 17 million overlapping members. No significant change was made to the site after the union. As of 2011, Cyworld had over 25 million members.

2011 data leakage and decline

As Facebook began its services in Korea in 2009, Cyworld slowly began to lose its status as the only popular SNS service in Korea. According to some research, Facebook's simpler design and function were more appealing and easier to use than Cyworld. As Cyworld did not offer global services, it was an undesirable service for people who wanted to contact friends around the world. Kakao Story, an SMS service exclusive for smartphone users, had an advantage over its rivals due to its connection with mobile service KakaoTalk(), which has over 55 million members. Cyworld's inability to keep up with the trend made it fall behind in the market.

Cyworld's declining market share was further aggravated by a 2011 data leakage. In July 2011, Cyworld/Nate was hacked into by criminals who stole the personal information of more than 35 million users. was compromised.

SK Telecom took measures trying to minimize the harm, but it was soon flooded with lawsuits demanding compensation for the leakage. The leakage yielded costly lawsuits for the company, in a country with virtually no precedent in class-action lawsuits. Statistics show that the fall in UV and PV became more dramatic after the July 2011 data leakage.

Cyworld brought an end to its minihompy service on 31 September 2015 and had announced plans to change over to a new platform named Cyhome.

In July 2020 the site was not supporting TLS 1.2, causing browsers to issue a warning. It is expected that support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 is removed from all major browsers in the second half of 2020. Cyworld's server configuration shows it to be vulnerable to several well-known and fixed attacks.

Takeover by CyworldZ

In April 2021, CyworldZ which is a subsidiary company of Cyclub Corporation took over Cyworld. CyworldZ has acquired user data from SK and geared up to jump into the market with its metaverse-powered service.

Engagements in foreign markets

After its domestic success Cyworld began to venture into foreign markets. In 2005, it started services in China and subsequently entered the Japan and Vietnam markets. Cyworld lost out to Japan's Mixi and exited the Japanese market in August 2008. and seeking early access to a then-quickly growing market. However, it lost market share to Facebook and exited the US market in February 2010. Strong competition from site like StudiVZ and Skyrock, as well as a saturated market made for dismal future prospects, and by 2008 Cyworld had closed all operations. CyworldZ took over Cyworld from Jeon Jae-wan in Dec 2020, CEO Kim Ho-gwang was dismissed from the position and Son sung-min and Kim Tae-hun were assigned as CEOs.

Website

Ilchon

Ilchon is originally a Korean word that denotes very close familial relations, such as between a parent and a child. Becoming ilchon is how users in Cyworld begin their interaction. The user sends an ilchon request for another user to receive. If the request is accepted, the ilchons can see the content of each other's minihomepy that are not made available to those who are not ilchons, such as the diary and photo sections. One can also assign an interest ilchon to some of their friends. If interest ilchon is assigned, the user is notified when the interest ilchon's homepage is updated. Users can also see their friends' online statuses. Until Twitter and Facebook came out, the Il-Chon system was one of the most popular online social networking tools in Korea.

Dotori

Cyworld uses its own virtual currency called dotori (), or acorns. service has been launched in 2018 for further development of digital currency ecosystem.

CLINK has replaced dotori as podo during its service. CLINK has also shown coconut as currency.

Minihomepy

Minihomepy is essentially a cyberspace allotted to each Cyworld member. Using dotori, users can decorate their minihomepies as they see fit. Minihomepy features include the main background, history, profile, photo story, story room, background music, photo album, diary, and bulletin board, allowing for self-expression. The miniroom is a virtual room with a minime (avatar), a self-representational space that the users can decorate with virtual "items" purchased with their dotori. Dotori can be used to buy new background skins, miniroom interiors, background music, banners, and fonts. There are also other special features, such as ilchon padotagi, which are links for surfing the minihompies of fellow ilchons, and random padotagi, links for surfing the minihompies of strangers.

Club

Clubs are online communities for Cyworld minihomepy users. Like in the minihomepy, dotori can be used to decorate the clubs. It is not very different from other online clubs in other websites.

Blog

The Cyworld blog is not unlike blogs in other websites. Dotori is used for decorating users' blogs. Cyworld blogs permit anyone to access its contents, but the user can make it function as another version of minihomepy and allow it only viewable by ilchons. Wizets, photo logs, and bulletin boards are features of the blog. Cyworld blogs also link with NateOn.

NateOn

Cyworld collaborates with NateOn (), a widely used instant messenger service in Korea. If Cyworld users buy fonts with dotori in Cyworld, they can use those fonts with NateOn, too.

Que

Daily news briefing service application.

Impact

thumb|left|400x600px|Minihomepies of some public figures who use Cyworld

Cyworld has exerted significant influence on Korea's Internet culture. The popular use of the term "cyholic" is indicative of this. Self-expression is a desire that Cyworld can satisfy; Cyworld has provided a cyber space where users can readily express their feelings to ilchons. It also allows the viewer of another person's minihomepy to get satisfaction from learning about the other person's life; Minihomepies began to function as an official way to learn about the celebrity's life, but celebrities often controlled their public images through their minihomepies. Celebrities have also employed minihomepies as a marketing strategy, using them to enhance their image or to advertise programs that they are in. for being an organization that has made the best use of IT for transformation.

Discography

Cyworld launched the "Cyworld BGM 2021" project which has artists remaking homepage hits.

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"