Misplaced Pages

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48-447: GREE focuses primarily on mobile games and over ninety percent of its users access the site via their mobile phones. The company makes money by selling virtual goods to users such as clothes for their in-game avatars . Social networking features of GREE include the user profile, diary, communities, photo sharing and photo emailing. It serves as a platform for promoting communication and mutual understanding among its members. While GREE

96-510: A saturated market made for dismal future prospects, and by 2008 Cyworld had closed all operations. In 2016, Cyworld was acquired by Aire, inc., which is owned by Freechal founder Jeon Jae-wan. 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. Ilchon is originally a Korean word that denotes very close familial relations, such as between

144-504: 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 CEO of Cyworld Dong-Hyung Lee was appointed as

192-532: A deficit of 1.5 billion won. In the summer of 2002, Cyworld launched the "minihomepy" project, a last chance to turn things around before the business had to shut down. CEO Dong-Hyung Lee put contents provider Ram Lee in charge of the project. It was an instant success. 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

240-849: A different analyst. In 2010, a virtual space station in the game Entropia Universe sold for $ 330,000. The popular, free-to-play video game Fortnite: Battle Royale generated more than $ 1 billion in revenue across all platforms. This revenue comes entirely from in-game purchases, which — in Fortnite ' s case — offer no competitive advantage to the game. In online games, virtual goods could be lost due to some unexpected reasons. This brings problems for service providers as well as purchaser. Encryption techniques primarily used for other purposes may, here too, provide functionality. These may include access control , hashing , encryption , digital certificates , and fingerprinting . While many companies have embraced exchanging cash for virtual goods,

288-531: A means of contact, while features such as the diary and bulletin boards allowed for individual expression; it was amicably received by the public. Members had to become Ilchons in order to gain access to each other's minihomepies. The minihomepy service was officially launched on 9 September 2002. 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

336-406: A more accurate pronunciation of a Korean word for 'between.' The original nature of the term 'cy' demonstrates Dong-Hyung Lee's vision for the site. He wanted to create an Internet community that allowed people to form close relationships, rather than a community where people merely sought information for business prospects. Cyworld in its early stages was quite different from what it is today. It

384-497: 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. 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

432-472: 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

480-450: A research project. Though most club members abandoned the project after graduation, Dong-Hyung Lee continued to pursue the project, taking on the role of CEO from December 1999. 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

528-626: A sensation among the Korean public, more than tripling in monthly visitors (from 2 million to 7 million) from early 2003 to November 2003. Cyworld's success grew even further when it began to collaborate with Nate-on , the largest online messenger service in Korea and also owned by SK. The collaboration was established in 2005, allowing Cyworld and Nate-on members to use both services simultaneously by logging into just one site. In early 2007, Cyworld topped 20 million members for its services (roughly half

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576-409: A wall painting or 6 acorns for a song that plays in your miniroom to 40 acorns for a homepage background for your for that last for a year. (Most items purchased with dotori have a time limit.) Dotori can be given to ilchons, and is often given to friends as birthday presents. As the currency unit for Cyworld, dotori is the main source of revenue for the company. In 2006, 80% of Cyworld's Korean income

624-564: 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. Cyworld uses its own virtual currency called dotori ( Korean :  도토리 ), or acorns. Dong-Hyung Lee coined the term in 2002. One dotori costs 100 won , and they are used to purchase virtual goods . Prices vary from about 2 acorns for

672-525: Is mainly composed of advertisement sales and paid services sales. The service name GREE comes from a hypothesis, Six De gree s of Separation postulated by social psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1967. Six degrees of separation is a hypothesis that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth. If a chain of a friend of a friend statements are made, any two people in the world can be connected in six steps or fewer. The name symbolizes GREE’s hope to create and provide any new possibilities of

720-590: The PLATO system and text-only games on other computers. This practice continued with the advent of MMORPGs . Players would sell virtual goods, such as swords, coins, potions, and avatars , to each other in the informal sector . While this practice is forbidden in most blockbuster online games, such as World of Warcraft , many online games now derive revenue from the sale of virtual goods. When Iron Realms Entertainment began auctioning items to players of its MUD , Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands , in 1997, it became

768-683: The Internet. Virtual goods Virtual goods are non-physical objects and money purchased for use in online communities or online games . Digital goods , on the other hand, may be a broader category including digital books, music, and movies. Virtual goods are intangible by definition. Including digital gifts and digital clothing for avatars , virtual goods may be classified as services instead of goods and are usually sold by companies that operate social networking services , community sites, or online games . Sales of virtual goods are sometimes referred to as microtransactions , and

816-458: The Korean population, was compromised. The hackers accessed Cyworld's system by using an Internet protocol address based in China. Because Cyworld/Nate requires its members to submit personal information for membership, the 2011 data leakage was quite detrimental as the hackers had the members' resident registration numbers , phone numbers, and email addresses. Though SK communications insisted that

864-566: The US market in 2006, believing that many US teenagers would use multiple social networks 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. In 2006 Cyworld entered a joint venture with a German Deutsche Telekom subsidiary, T-Online , and launched its European version a year later. Strong competition from site like StudiVZ and Skyrock , as well as

912-582: The United States. As of 2009, it continues to provide service to the Chinese and Vietnamese markets where it has subscriber bases of seven million and 450,000, respectively. The idea for Cyworld started in August 1999 by KAIST student organization the 'EC club', a club that took on online business projects. The club members got the idea to create a social networking website while discussing topics for

960-535: 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. In 2006, Cyworld received the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award for being an organization that has made the best use of IT for transformation. Cyworld launched

1008-469: The context of the virtual world and users will collect each games' virtual currency to purchase land, supplies and various items used to enhance their status and add points. Some virtual currencies are time-based , relying upon measurement of in-game achievements in order to accrue exchangeable points. The first virtual goods to be sold were items for use in MUDs , early, graphical online multiplayer games on

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1056-649: The country. Cyworld 8.7.3 (May 2, 2019 ; 5 years ago  ( 2019-05-02 ) ) 8.7.2 (April 10, 2019 ; 5 years ago  ( 2019-04-10 ) ) [±] Cyworld ( Korean :  싸이월드 ) 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 ( Korean :  일촌 , Hanja : 一寸 ) or "friendships" with each other through their minihompy . Avatars and "mini-rooms" (small, decoratable, apartment-like spaces in an isometric projection ) are features of

1104-474: The data leak led straight to the plummet of stock prices. The company's reputation was tarnished and information-sensitive Koreans moved to other SNS service after the leakage. This phenomenon was directly reflected in the plunging page views for Cyworld/Nate. Between March 2011 and April 2012, the monthly UV (Unique Visitors) and PV (Page View) for Cyworld dropped from 21.5 million and 7.5 billion to 16.5 million and 1.7 billion, respectively. Statistics show that

1152-579: The fall in UV and PV became more dramatic after the July 2011 data leakage. In September 2012, SK Telecom announced its decision to allow membership for Cyworld without obligating members to register resident registration numbers and real names. A minimum amount of personal information, such as email address and nationality, would be asked of future members. Cyworld brought an end to its minihompy service on 31 September 2015 and had announced plans to change over to

1200-471: The first company to profit from the sale of virtual goods. But it wasn't until the mid-2000s, with companies like Korean Cyworld leading the way, that virtual good sales became instituted as a legitimate revenue-making scheme. Virtual goods may continue to be a primarily Asian phenomenon, as between 2007–2010 70% of worldwide sales were made in this region. In 2009, games played on social networks such as Facebook , games that primarily derive revenue from

1248-469: The games that use this model are usually referred to as freemium games. Virtual money (or in-game currency) is used to purchase virtual goods within a variety of online communities, which include social networking websites, virtual worlds and online gaming sites. A key revenue driver within social media , virtual currencies are specific within each game and are used to purchase in-game goods. Characters or avatars in virtual worlds own things within

1296-594: The general manager of the Cyworld department, and he moved on to be the CEO of Cyworld Japan in May 2005 until he left the company in December 2008 to pursue other business adventures. 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

1344-514: 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

1392-553: The market with its metaverse-powered service. 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. As of 2009, its operations in China and Vietnam were more optimistic; it had seven million and 450,000 members, respectively. Cyworld entered

1440-448: 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. While individual homepages were initially widely popular because they enabled people to express themselves online, the programming knowledge (e.g. HTML, FTP) required to create an individual homepage

1488-564: The minihomepy). If the number of visitors is high, the visitor assumes the owner of the minihomepage is popular. Indeed, "What's his today?" was a popular phrase among Cyworld users as it was taken by many to be a sign of popularity. Online tools that manipulated such indicators of popularity were also produced: for instance, one service offered to increase the customer's today total by 20 a day, Celebrity diaries were vastly popular, bringing about thousands of comments with each entry. Minihomepies began to function as an official way to learn about

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1536-458: The minihompies of fellow ilchons, and random padotagi , links for surfing the minihompies of strangers. 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. 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

1584-710: 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. The introduction of smartphones to the market was also a key factor in Cyworld's decline, as both Facebook and Twitter offered stronger interconnectivity with mobile platforms. Kakao Story, an SMS service exclusive for smartphone users, had an advantage over its rivals due to its connection with mobile service KakaoTalk ( 카카오톡 ), which has over 55 million members. Cyworld's inability to keep up with

1632-536: 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. As Facebook began its services in Korea in 2009, Cyworld slowly began to lose its status as

1680-451: The practice is forbidden in most blockbuster games, which derive income from subscription fees. This doesn't deter all players from saving playing time by illicitly buying in-game currency with real-world cash from an alternate source– violating their agreement with the game's operator in the process. China outlawed the practice of buying real-world goods with virtual currency in 2009, something that had become popular in some parts of

1728-464: The resident registration numbers and passwords were encrypted and are not likely to be abused even in the hands of the hackers, nobody gave the company the benefit of the doubt. 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. The public's discontent with

1776-426: The sake of gaining sympathy from other users. Minihompies succeeded in functioning as social platforms through which users could express their personal traits and private thoughts. Another unique feature of Cyworld is the tracker displayed on the upper left-hand side of the minihomepy. It shows two numbers, called today (the number of visitors to the minihomepy on that day) and total (the total number of visitors to

1824-450: The sale of virtual goods, brought in US$ 1 billion, and that is expected to increase to 1.6 billion in 2010. Worldwide, US$ 7.3 billion was made from virtual goods that same year. Estimates of the future market for these small items vary wildly depending upon who is making the prediction. 2013 sales will be US$ 4 billion according to one analyst and a year later reach 14 billion according to

1872-714: The service, which can make for a Sims -like experience. The "Cy" in Cyworld can mean "cyber", but is also a pun on the Korean word for "relationship" ( Korean :  사이 'between'). Cyworld is a rough equivalent to Myspace of the United States , with the main difference being that revenue is generated through the sale of dotori ( Korean :  도토리 ), 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 . Cyworld launched in 1999 and

1920-411: 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; however, uploaded materials and diaries tend to be somewhat dissembling, if not pretentious, for

1968-513: 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. (Nate had 33 million users and Cyworld had 25 million, and combined, they had about 35 million members.) The information for almost all of the Cyworld/Nate members, and by extension about 70 percent of

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2016-531: 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. Cyworld collaborates with NateOn ( 네이트온 ), 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. Daily news briefing service application Cyworld has exerted significant influence on Korea's Internet culture. The popular use of

2064-427: Was a website that showed a list of members from the same hometown or school. The address book for each member was updated automatically according to the personal information its members provided. 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

2112-420: Was generated from the sale of virtual goods. CLINK 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 is essentially a cyberspace allotted to each Cyworld member. Using dotori, users can decorate their minihomepies as they see fit. Minihomepy features include

2160-478: Was initially available only to PC users, the service was later extended to feature phone users. GREE for feature phones includes regular social networking functions, social games, flash-based games, blogs, fortune telling, news and so forth. In 2010, GREE, Inc. started GREE for iPhone and Android to meet demand. GREE, Inc. provides a variety of social game applications for feature phones and smartphones, with enhanced communication among users. The source of earnings

2208-595: 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. In August 2003, Cyworld merged with SK Telecom ,

2256-661: Was purchased by SK Communications in 2003. It became one of the first companies to profit from the sale of virtual goods . Cyworld was wildly popular in its home market, with 2005 claims that nearly every South Korean in their twenties 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

2304-541: Was too daunting for most people. Although knowledge barrier was partially resolved through homepage programming services such as High Home( 하이홈 ), there still remained a significant issue: the means of communication between individual homepage users was absent. Individual homepages were like "stranded islands" in the vast sea called the Internet. Minihomepy addressed the desire for interpersonal communication. Minihomepies were easy to create and maintain. Minihomepies had components like visitor logs and comments, which provided

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