Cyworld, the South Korean social network that launched in the U.S. with a splashy party in 2006 has packed up its bags and left the U.S. market. The social network, backed by SK Telecom, will layoff its entire U.S. staff and will continue to operate the English-language site from South Korea. The service really didn’t get any traction. Its localization efforts were mediocre at best. I bet other smaller marginal social networks meet the same fate.
15 thoughts on “Cyworld Packs Up From U.S., Retreats to Korea”
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I’m curious about the comment “localization efforts were mediocre at best”? Seemed their avatars were similar in style to (the successful) Gaia, any thoughts what went wrong?
The Cyworld in Korea could have problem soon 😉
Cyworld is most famous social network in Korea. I have cyworld in US but i think cyworld is hardly in US
@ThanhT I am sure it could. They need to start innovating again and from what some of my korean friends have told me — it is beginning to stagnate in terms of keeping things fresh.
Cyworld is extremely popular in mainland China. The funny thing is, the focus of Cyworld in China is maps and location. In Guangzhou, I could even find my building on their sort of cute map, and I could see who was online and nearby. They cover many of the major cities in mainland China. Now That’s Cool!
I created an account in US Cyworld and all I saw was some empty “room” I could edit. I think they should have made a facebook location/map app! They would have been huge.
I tried using cyworld, but I am still hooked on http://www.citypixel.com/ because it provides the best blend between virtual worlds and social networks. Also they just launched a facebook app that’s very addicting: http://apps.facebook.com/citypixel/index.php
I would definitely recommend checking it out.
Many US cyworld members are flocking to Asian-U.com
there’s even a thread there call “Cyworld Refugee” (http://www.asian-u.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7966). lol