Naver Band proves popular among teens, early 20s

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Naver Band proves popular among teens, early 20s

Naver Band allows users to set up goals and share their progress with others. [NAVER]

Naver Band allows users to set up goals and share their progress with others. [NAVER]

 Naver Band, a group-type social networking services (SNS), is drawing attention from users in their teens and 20s with similar hobbies and goals. The group challenge function, which allows band members to set goals and motivate each other, is proving popular among Gen Z. 
 
The number of postings regarding group challenges has reached over 17 million since December 2019, when Naver Band added a group challenge function. Among them, postings written by users in their teens and 20s account for 35 percent of the total.
 
The band is receiving a lot of support from the rising generation who create new culture with the group challenge function. Even in situations where school classroom activities have become difficult due to Covid-19, they are constantly communicating with their classmates and teachers by performing tasks such as “complimenting classmates” and “practice for environmental protection” through the class band. Compared to 2020, the number of class bands that conducted group challenges in 2021 increased by 186 percent while the number of group challenge postings written by students increased by 246 percent. “It was a good opportunity for all students in the class to participate together to promote community spirit,” said teachers who carried out various activities with students using Naver Band.
 
Students also form a study band with members for the same goal. For example, in the ‘study band born in 2007,’ 140 members born in 2007 gather every day to log what time they woke up and how many hours they have studied. They share information through the band by holding a vote for hagwon, or cram schools, they are currently attending or majors they want to study. In the ‘#Study planner #Study challenge’ band, more than 700 members share their study planners and set each other challenges.
 
Along with the study, there are many teenage users who enjoy hobbies including games and drawing through group challenges in Naver Band. Members of the ‘Cookie Run Kingdom’ band reach 2,000 and they share game-related information. It also functions as a community that shares various kinds of concerns such as school grades.
 
Among users in their 20s, the use of group challenge bands to prepare for employment is remarkable. As high expectations are being placed on coding, about 900 members in the ‘one coding per day’ band share their studies with pictures of coding results with the aim of making coding a daily habit. Moreover, bands that reflect various hobbies and trends of Naver Band users such as housecleaning, handwritten rap lyrics and meditation are being created for group challenges.
 
“Based on about 19 million Naver Band users, various group challenge bands are being created,” said a Naver official, adding, “It is expected that the Band will create a new challenge culture centering on teenage users.”
 

BY HAJIN KIM (kim.hajin@joongang.co.kr)
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