Twitter vs. me2DAY
Most people outside of Korea have never heard of me2DAY. In fact, most people in Korea probably have never heard of me2DAY but the best way to explain the site is to call it the Twitter of Korea. Or, you might call Twitter the me2DAY of the rest of the world. No matter what you call it, there’s a battle brewing in Korea between the two for micro blogging supremacy of the… “Land of the Morning Calm.”
In one corner, you have Twitter backed by heavyweights such as Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and Shaq (@THE_REAL_SHAQ). Twitter also has the support of many technology heavyweights in Korea such as Chan Jin Lee (@chanjin), founder of Dreamwiz and Jin Ho Hur (@hur), CEO of Neowiz. What gave Twitter the largest boost in Korea amongst the mainstream public was the news that figure skating sensation Yuna Kim (@yunaaaa) joined the service. Unfortunately, it seems she has been inactive recently.
In the other corner, you have the native Korean service, me2DAY. me2DAY is backed by pop stars such as Sandara Park from 2NE1 (pronounced twenty-one) and G-Dragon from BIG BANG (pronounced exactly how you think it would be pronounced). This has resulted in me2DAY gaining a large following amongst the younger crowd that tend to idolize pop stars. Despite the backing of these big name pop stars, the biggest supporter of me2DAY would have to be Naver, the dominant Web portal in Korea. Naver bought me2DAY in January of 2009 for around 2.4 billion won and controls around 70% of the local search market.
Recently, Naver started to integrate me2DAY a bit more into their site. They started by integrating me2DAY pages with search results. For example, when you search Naver for “Sandara Park” or “G-Dragon,” you’ll get a link to their me2DAY page. They’ve taken this a step further with the Pusan International Film Festival. Search for information about the film festival on Naver and you’ll see the latest photos from the film festival that have been posted to me2DAY. You will find a screenshot below.
The battle between Twitter and me2DAY in Korea is still in its infancy and it’s still too early to say who will come out on top. It may even be to early to determine whether micro blogging will become a fixture amongst the mainstream public. One important note is there isn’t any international Web site that has attained a large amount of success in Korea. The best example might be Youtube but it still garners well under 20% market share for online videos. I tend to think Twitter has a good chance to turn the tide but Naver is the 800 pound gorilla in Korea and thus, me2DAY will be a force to be reckoned with.