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Cyworld, Korea's MySpace, to relaunch in 2025

Published: 11 Dec. 2024, 17:15 Updated: 11 Dec. 2024, 17:17

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

Cy Communications CEO Ham Young-chul outlines Cyworld's reboot roadmap on Wednesday at a press event in central Seoul. [CY COMMUNICATIONS]

Cyworld, a nostalgic homegrown social media platform that enjoyed its heyday in the 2000s, is set to relaunch next year after a startup took it over last month.

Cy Communications, a company founded in September 2024 for the purpose of a Cyworld takeover, consist of executives from diverse technology and gaming backgrounds such as Kakao, Nexon, Netmarble and Pearl Abyss.

The startup is confident in the power of the once-beloved social media network to succeed, despite its previous failed revival attempt under Cyworld Z, a special purpose company formed by a consortium of five companies including an entertainment agency that is now known as TN Entertainment and IntroMedic, a medical equipment manufacturer.

“Our main target are users currently [people] in their 30s to 50s who actively perused the social media in their younger days,” said Cy Communications CEO Ham Young-chul at Wednesday’s press event held to explain Cyworld’s road map in central Seoul.

“We have sensed that online users have grown tired of widespread, shallow relationships that they form on dominant platforms since the Covid-19 pandemic, so we are planning service developments for those who crave for a more personal, deeper network,” he said, adding that this demand included younger users in their teens and 20s and would set the platform apart from global social media such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

The company is currently in the process of analyzing the platform’s data, which has accumulated in the two decades, to deliberate how many of the nostalgic pictures and words could be recovered.

“After joining in September, our first task was to secure all the data, which we have completed as of November,” said Chief Technology Officer Ryu Ji-cheol. “Our goal is to complete the analysis by the first quarter of 2025. Then we will be able to see how much of the data can be restored.”

Data analysis has proved to be difficult due to Cyworld’s long operational history, during which its management changed multiple times, which has led to variations in data storage methods.

Converting the 21 billion files, which is the figure presented by the company that is undergoing analysis, include flash files and feature phone-era videos. Modernizing the data into current formats is expected to take some time, with the process scheduled for completion by mid-2025.

Appropriately reviving the data, which once peaked with 30 million users, is pinpointed as a crucial factor to attract nostalgic users back to the platform, a feat that its former company, Cyworld Z, failed to achieve in 2022.

The CEO estimates that it will take a total of 5 billion won ($3.5 million) to fully restore the data and rerelease the service. The acquisition cost of the Cyworld Z's takeover was not disclosed due to confidentiality clauses.

A blueprint of the Cyworld app's user interface is shown at a press event in central Seoul. [LEE JAE-LIM]

Cy Communications will continue to bet on Cyworld’s intimate online interactions. The blueprint of the social media app includes tabs labeled My Home, Club, Recording, Notifications and Direct Messages. My Home will serve as the app’s main screen and a personal space for users to write posts and share photos, while the Club service will act as a community space where users can gather and chat.

The business model of the service remains sketchy, but Ham mentioned plans to incorporate light gaming features by 2026, similar to those of Netflix’s gaming services, with revenue generated through game royalties.

“Our goal is to reach monthly active users of 9.5 million by 2028. Then we’ll be eyeing global expansion,” Ham said.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]