Native SNS
Facebook, the number one social network service (SNS) provider in the world, is having a hard time in Korea because of KakaoStory. The latter is increasing its popularity with users of all ages to put pressure on the giant.
According to KoreanClick’s recent statistical data, KakaoStory recorded an exposure rate of 65.5 percent last year, while Naver’s Band and Facebook posted 36.1 percent and 35.0 percent, respectively.
KakaoStory took first place in an SNS usage analysis report published by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI), too. Specifically, its usage rate increased by 23.9 percentage points to 55.4 percent in 2013 where Facebook’s decreased by 4.6 percentage points to 28 percent. Twitter reached 13.1 percent, 6.3 percentage points down from a year earlier.
The rates of KakaoStory and Facebook had been almost equal to each other in the preceding year, 32.5 percent for the former and 32.6 percent for the latter. This means that KakaoStory is taking a leap forward with Facebook and Twitter stay behind in a saturation period.
What is notable is that the rapid growth is led mainly by the elderly. According to the KISDI report, the usage rate of KakaoStory amounted to 70 percent for those in their 40s last year. “Unlike young users, who are willing to expose themselves in open SNS to expand their human networks, the older ones prefer narrow SNS based on their acquaintances,” said a media industry expert, adding, “This is why the number of older users is increasing these days in KakaoStory and Band.”