MySpace founder eyes South Korea

15 April 2008 12:00am

The co-founder of MySpace said he believes the popular online hang-out is poised to succeed in South Korea after closely scrutinising US internet services that have faced challenges making inroads there.

Speaking after the launch of MySpace's Korean-language version in Seoul, Chris DeWolfe said he was confident about its prospects in a country that has proved difficult for foreign online services such as Google.

He noted the Korean-language site included the exclusive function "Minilog" - a way for Korean youths to jot down everyday thoughts and feelings in a few hundred characters.

Capitalising on Asian affinity for fancy stationery, the function has options to personalise stamps and backgrounds to resemble different types of notebook paper.

"We believe that there's different cultures in every country," DeWolfe told a forum at Seoul's elite Yonsei University in the South Korean capital Seoul. "We believe that people use websites differently in every country."

MySpace is expected to face stiff competition from local social-networking sites such as Cyworld in a local market that has typically shunned US online services popular elsewhere in the world.

Local search engines such as NHN Corp's Naver website and Daum Communications remain dominant in South Korea, regarded as one of the world's most wired and tech savvy nations. It is one of the few global markets, for example, where Google is not the dominant search engine.The MySpace site will be primarily in Korean, though users can easily switch the interface to another language.

Information written on the personal profile pages, however, will not be automatically translated.

Kang Ji-hye, a 29-year-old office worker, said South Koreans prefer to stick with the familiar. "I think chances for MySpace's success are 50%," she said.

© The Press Association