Korean social network service (SNS) Kakao Story has lost five million users over the past year. Experts say that the decline in users occurred due to competition with overseas social networks, but some also point out that an increase in commercial content drove users away. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Korean social network service (SNS) Kakao Story has lost five million users over the past year. Experts say that the decline in users occurred due to competition with overseas social networks, but some also point out that an increase in commercial content drove users away.
JTBC, a Korean TV network, reported that the number of individuals using the all-Korean, picture-based SNS application Kakao Story decreased compared to a year ago.
According to research from Korean Click, Kakao Story had 19 million users in January 2015, but only 14 million in February 2016.
The main reason for the decline was suggested to be the growth of other social networks. Facebook ranked first in terms of social networks favored by Koreans, followed by Kakao Story, Instagram and Band.
However, commercial content in the application was pointed out as being the main reason for the decrease in the number of users.
In 2014, Kakao launched a service called ‘Story Channel’, which is a channel where individual users and brands can create content based on their interests. The channel was especially popular among stay-at-home moms, as much of the content was related to childcare or cooking.
However, some brands related to childcare and cooking started uploading a massive amount of group purchase content. For instance, clothing for adults was sold on a ‘childcare’ story channel, and health supplements were sold on cooking recipe channels.
Users who bid farewell to the application complained that at some point they were confused whether Kakao Story was an online mall or social network.
Kakao is planning to update its terms of use from May 5, so that users should not experience any inconvenience when using the application. However, Kakao says that the commercial content is only a part of the app, and the decline is just a small change in the number of users, which is natural.
By M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
