The Early Era

(1999-2003)

Acquisition by SK
Telecom (2003)

Post Acquisition
(2003-2006)

Started in 1999 by a group of

MBA student from the Korean
Institute of Science and
Technology

Sales from virtual item wasnt

enough for cover operating
expense

Synergistic relationship with

instant messenger service Nate
On, linking buddy list with
Cyworld

Building virtual concept of real

world activities. Positioned itself
as a small clean community

Connecting mobile service and

social networking

Offered up to 100 free SMS per

month from computer to mobile
phone

Offer minihompy, a place for write

diaries and invite their friends to visit
and leave comment. Cyworld grew
rapidly after developed the concepts
of minihompy

User Motivation

User Satisfaction

User Segments

Affiliation needs
Self Expression
function
School activity
Upload and enjoy
multimedia
Chat history archive
Keep in touch with
friends

64% users
decreased because
not have enough
time, getting bored,
only have a few
friends, and privacy
problem

Late teen and early

twenty
Based on their level
of activity and
engagement
ABC segmentation
(Active users,
Buyers, and
Connectors)

Real world

Cyworld

Paid Items

Mobile Networking

Advertising

Revenue from
minihompy s
virtual items
Music
Decoration
Avatar
virtual items
accounted for 32%
of the paid items
revenue.

Mobile Cyworld
had the potential to
increase customer
loyalty from SK
Telecom and had
accounted 15% of
Cyworlds revenue.
Expanding it
operation of both
SK Telecom and
Cyworld to
penetrate another
country

Represented only 16%

Cyworlds revenue but
had the largest growth
potential.
The revenue from
advertising expected to
grow even more
Advertising could be
the future of the
company

 What will Cyworld become?

How could the company make an

additional revenues?
Decide wether to use advertising, paid items, connect to mobile
networking, or find any other revenue streams

Consider how each options would influence:

Customer Target
Service Offered
Capabilities Needed
Competition Faced

Mobile Usage

Paid Items

Mobile
Cyworld

Advertising

Customer Target

insignificant

widen

Limited

Service Offered

insignificant

widen

insignifciant

Capabilities
Needed

insignificant

widen

widen

Competition Faced insignificant

widen

widen

Segmenting

Targeting

Life stages

Age Median 17-25

Demographic

College Student
Young Student

Social Class

Middle low-middle up

Geographical

Focus in Pacific Asia

Positioning
Provide virtual
gifts
Flexible
customize user
profile
Real name social
network
User Friendly
International
social network

Customer Target

All people around the world could be connected each

other with different culture

Service Offered

Provide user friendly GUI (Graphic User Interface)

Support multi-languages services.

Provided uniform service in all countries to create
international networks between users in different
countries.

Capabilities Needed

Hire people with good English skill

Research on global difference on culture

Competition faced:

Easy to use
Linked to all over the world
Universal Language

Known worldwide
Many features