Kakao Story tops Facebook

Kakao Story has topped Facebook to dominate the mobile social network service (SNS) market in Korea only three months after its launch.

According to a survey of 13.95 million smartphone users using Google’s Android Operating System (OS) released Thursday by market research agency Nielsen KoreanClick, Kakao Talks’ SNS held 49.1 percent of user time over Facebooks’ 34.5 percent in May.

The survey showed that Kakao Story held a meager 18 percent compared to its American counterpart’s 53.2 percent in March.

Besides user time, the Korean mobile social network also had better numbers. A total of 9.44 million subscribers logged into Kakao Story at least once in May compared to 4.97 million for Facebook on their respective mobile applications, according to a KoreanClick official.

“We secured over 10 million users within 8 days after we launched the service and have around 23 million now,” said a Kakao Talk spokeswoman. “The advantage of Kakao Story is that it is connected to our mobile messenger service.”

Kakao Talk’s messenger service, which launched in 2010, has 53 million subscribers worldwide. Other data from Nielsen in May showed that 95 percent of domestic smartphone users are members of Kakao Talk.

The company’s Kakao Story launched on March 20 allows users to post multiple pictures in their profiles and offers an SNS that is simpler than its Internet rival. It became the most searched word in Web portals Naver, Daum and Nate within three days.

Most SNS that originate on PC platforms, such as Facebook, have trouble being converted to a mobile platform, said the spokeswoman. Unlike its competitors, Kakao Talk’s SNS service originated in mobile form so caught on faster, she added.

“We believe that we have the caliber to compete in the global market with global SNS applications like Facebook. We will continue developments of Kakao Talk and Kakao Story to make it a service that gets accepted beyond Korea.”

Kakao talk officials attribute the skyrocketing numbers to the diverse age group that uses the service, which according to one analyst, is more advantageous in sustaining user loyalty.

KoreanClick’s data confirms the diagnosis: for Kakao Story, those in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s each accounted for 16.4, 25.5, 28.3, 21.5 and 8.4 percent, respectively. For Facebook, the same age groups held 15.6, 44.4, 15.7, 18.9 and below 1 percent.

Kakao Talk also believes that those in their teens, who were drawn to the free chats (similar to short messages provided by mobile carriers) available in its services, automatically added the use to the new SNS.

“We have data based on the birthday users put in when they register for Kakao Talk and Kakao Story, and teens make up a large portion of our subscribers.”

Bae Eun-jun, an analyst at LG Economic Research Institute, stated in a report that due to the near free data available in smartphones, more people were using short messages or chat compared to expensive voice calls. Bae believes that eventually short messages will lead to communication through pictures, like those used in mobile SNS.

Internet firms Facebook, NHN and Daum Communications are eyeing the smartphone market as consumers spend more time on the visual-intensive devices compared to bulky desktops. <The Korea Times/Cho Mu-hyun>

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