Beyond Untact to Ontact Era... Innocean Announces 'Virus Trend'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As the untact (contactless) culture has taken root due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), an 'ontact' culture that adds 'connection' to untact is also spreading.

Innocean Worldwide announced a big data analysis report titled 'Virus Trend' containing these findings on the 21st. This report is the result of analyzing about 2 million related data produced through major blogs, cafes, and SNS in Korea from April 2019 to March of this year, when the spread of the coronavirus peaked, by the Data Command Center (DCC), a dedicated big data analysis organization within Innocean.

According to the report, the volume of online mentions about viruses was only about 370,000 from April 2018 to March 2019, but sharply increased to about 1.99 million between April 2019 and March 2020. Also, mentions of masks, which were in high demand for personal prevention, increased by 370% (from about 90,000 to about 420,000) compared to the MERS period, and due to anxiety about the spread of the coronavirus, searches for masks also surged to about 35 million.

As the 'social distancing' campaign spread due to concerns about infection through contact, online mentions related to untact also increased about threefold to around 60,000. In particular, since February this year, when the number of confirmed cases in Korea increased, mentions of telecommuting (27,411), school opening (15,368), and school opening postponement (37,684) began to surge.

Furthermore, various ideas related to untact have been incorporated throughout society, forming new trends. Especially, inspired by the 'drive-thru screening test,' various 'drive-thru + α' services have emerged, and online exhibitions and performances have increased. Various challenges by celebrities for those tired of staying at home have been shared, spreading the ontact culture that adds 'connection' to untact in daily life.

With the increase in telecommuting, the representative mobile app for video conferencing showed a month-over-month growth rate of over 3000%, and due to online school openings, the number of users of non-face-to-face learning in the education sector increased, indicating that ontact applications have increased in various fields.

Innocean emphasized through this report that while maintaining physical distance between people, the 'need for connection' to enable individuals to lead their daily lives and society to operate normally by connecting with each other whenever desired has emerged, marking the entry into a new normal era where ontact is becoming universal.

Lee Sujin, head of the Data Command Team at Innocean, said, “In the upcoming ontact era, a true digital transformation will unfold where all age groups engage in daily life and industrial activities within the digital realm based on mobility and online platforms.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.