MySpace launches in Korea, immediately starts playing catch-up
The new South Korean portal for MySpace claims it will succeed where others have failed because it will cater to local culture more than its competition in the social networking space.
Music and video will be the first content available through the new Korean MySpace site, which bodes well because an estimated 70% of home users there have access to broadband Internet. Yet the company may find it has to conquer the language barrier if it wants to be perceived as competitive.
Even though MySpace is popular in the United States and other nations, South Korea's social networking scene for users under 20 is said to be dominated by Cyworld. Current estimates point to as many as 18 million Korean users on Cyworld, which closely mimics MySpace by allowing users to create their own home pages and upload photos.
The "Minilog" is the key addition to MySpace Korea, enabling users to quickly write down thoughts and feelings in short blog posts. A gallery of templates will allow users to customize their page with skins created by Korean users.
US-based companies have had difficulty entering competitive Asian markets, with users often times preferring to use services and technologies developed locally. Google currently maintains a Korean-language site and Chinese-language site, though still has trouble catering to locals. MySpace hopes to learn from the mistakes of other English services that tried to enter South Korea, and will continue to roll out new features often times designed by Korean users.
MySpace is now available in 29 nations and in 15 languages.