KakaoTalk's 'Hwak' Changes... "Revamping into an Interest-Based Service"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Namgung Hoon, CEO of Kakao, has announced a major transformation of Kakao's core business, 'KakaoTalk.' The plan is to expand from acquaintance-based chatting to non-acquaintance areas and transform the service into an interest-based platform.

On the 4th, during the Q1 earnings conference call, CEO Namgung said, "KakaoTalk has been able to connect all 50 million people in Korea with a strong support base, but for greater expansion, it is necessary to expand in a different way, into the non-business area."

CEO Namgung pointed to the metaverse and open chat as the core of this vision. He explained, "KakaoTalk has important morpheme elements that can form a single persona through text, which is more important than the commonly mentioned 3D characters in the metaverse. Since KakaoTalk currently has the limitation of being a very private text service based on acquaintances, the most advantageous form to embody KakaoTalk's metaverse vision is open chat."

The plan includes adding features such as raising pets on KakaoTalk profiles and allowing users to post status messages that can receive empathy. It also aims to enable light interactions with strangers. Users with common interests in open chat can enjoy music, games, and form self-sustaining communities.

CEO Namgung said, "The reason Kakao is focusing on the metaverse is not because of new technological changes, but because we believe the way users connect online can fundamentally change in this era." He added, "Even without flashy avatars, I think KakaoTalk can fundamentally change the way users connect and communicate based on various digital forms inside the app."

He further stated, "When users connect based on interests, the proportion of images and videos will increase, overcoming the limitations of text-based communication. In the future, we want users to approach KakaoTalk not as if they are commuting to work, but more leisurely, like heading out to meet friends at Gangnam Station."

Integration with Kakao affiliates' services will also be implemented. For example, listeners who enjoy the same music on Melon or guild members of Kakao Games' 'Odin' will be provided with the same open chat link to develop communities. CEO Namgung explained, "If we provide an open chat space for users listening to IVE's 'Love Dive' on Melon, a self-sustaining fan community can form. When interest-based users connect better, text-based communication can leap to image and video-oriented services."

The ultimate goal of these KakaoTalk service improvements is 'globalization.' CEO Namgung said, "The Korean-language smartphone population is 50 million, which is only 1% of the global smartphone population. If we develop into an interest-based service, we can expand to the remaining 99%."

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