2008/09/19 03:04
Disclaimer: I've been involved with the global marketing project for Springnote (as I mentioned here), so this post has quite a bit of marketing message in it. :)

wikis in Asia

(click on the picture to see it full size)


As much as blogs and SNSs have been considered the core of Web 2.0, we haven't been diligently discussing the importance and the impact of wikis on the Web world. Think about it. Which  one do you think is bigger? Wordpress or Wikipedia? In fact, Wikipedia is now so big that Google decided to create its own in Knol. (Of course, blogging is big and Google wants to do better by buying TNC--or at least I hope so  ) As you can see from the chart above, the need for wikis have gone way beyond that for blogs. Quite astonishing, isn't it?

Anyhow, the wiki market has been growing huge in the Asia-Pacific region. The chart tells us that the top queries for wiki are coming from none other than Japan, Singapore, and Australia. Quite astonishing, isn't it?

Springnote has been the lone Asian service in the wiki market, to my knowledge. It has positioned itself as a hybrid of a note-taking application and a wiki. The English version was launched less than a year ago, and it's already been covered by some major media entities, such as LifeHacker, ReadWriteWeb, and Mashable. In fact, I'm the one behind the official Springnote blog; you can probably tell how similar the tones of TechnoKimchi and the Springnote blog are to each other :)

Anyhow, (not because I'm the marketer but), Springnote really is an excellent service.
  • It's a FREE Web application, making it accessible from anywhere,
  • comes with 2 GB of file storage and unlimited amount of texts
  • provides collaborative features by giving edit/view rights to the selected only
  • supports great tech stuff, like Open ID Authentication, Open APIs, and XHTML.
How "Excellent" is it? If you guys can remember for a moment that I'm the first known full-time blogger in Korea running a network of blogs, Springnote is basically my CMS (Content Management System). I host many of my attachments and images in Springnote and even write most of my blogs in Springnote and port them to each blog.

Springnote just went through a major upgrade few hours ago, making it even a better serivce. It now comes with a view mode, designed for better content consumption and a better collaborative environment. You can learn more about the upgrade here.

So I strongly urge you guys to check it out. For one, you guys will be supporting a Web 2.0 application from Asia, but for two, you'll probably just purely love the application. (and for three, help me be a better marketer as well. ;) )

As for Japan, Singapore, and Australia beating US, UK, Canada in their search for wikis, maybe some of you guys can give me feedback on how it's happening and if there's any internal market growing in your region.

Like an experienced marketer, I'm gonna wrap this post with this: "This is your Springnote day!". Ok, I admit that was weak, but you get the point. :)

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Posted by Danny Kim twdanny
2008/08/28 03:28
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Professional Reporter #1: "Darn it, I've run out of ideas. What should I write?"
Professional Reporter #2: "I don't know. What are people saying around the Internet? Just report that they're saying it!"
So, the Olympics are over. Beijing and Seoul have only one hour time zone difference, so I was able to watch LOTS OF GAMES during the Olympics. And obviously, being a Korean, I pretty much watched Korean games only. :)

For those who might not be too familiar with the history of the Far East Asia, people of 3 famous countries from this region, Korea, Japan, and China, have somewhat hidden rival spirit against one another. Basically, we all think "We are better than the other two."

When it comes down to scale, China is obviously the largest, followed by Japan and Korea. But during an event like the Olympics, where competitive spirit hits the peak, you can clearly see how people from these countries want to show off their patriotism.

The Web was the best place to FEEL it.

After games were over, each country's Internet services, be it portals, BBSs (Bulletin Board Services), SNSs, or blogs, were just filled with people talking about the game that just ended. Nothing speicial there.

But what I thought was really interesting was one particular kind of articles that were constantly written by Korean newspapers. Those were about reporting what the Internet users from other countries say about the game that just ended.

For example, after each game between Korea and Japan was over, (mostly non-major) Internet newspapers from Korea went over to Japanese blogs, news comments, or BBSs. And then they reported in Korean the translated version of what Japanese Internet users said about the game. The same with Chinese.

Here's an example of an actual Korean news article which translated Japanese reaction to Korea's victory over Japan in baseball (The first lines are in Japanese and the second in Korean):
·181 止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:16:56 ID:ZZ1pO5uL0 - 다음이 승엽님이야

·182 止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:16:56 ID:xJoecgtw0 - 흐흐흐흐 좋아좋아

·183 止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:16:57 ID:NqciCIW30 - 아웃 하나는 딴거네

·184 止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:16:58 ID:hDzCl3AY0 - 승엽 같은 것 바꿔

·186 :止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:16:59 ID:YTHpw0AI0 - 못 봐주겠군

·188 :止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:17:02 ID:qwIU3pyW0 - 그렇지, 하지만 유감인건 아웃카운트는 3개가 필요한거지.

·191 :止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:17:02 ID:wYzZC3bQ0 - 이와세에겐 뭔가 불안함을 느껴

·192 :止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:17:04 ID:gyZNfd2L0 - 벤치에 있는 일본선수들 위가 아픈 것 처럼 보여

·193 :止まない雨は名無しさん:2008/08/22(金) 14:17:04 ID:YV6FbEP/0 - 이와세는 최고야
In general, articles looked like this:
We just watced the game. We thought it was real cool. We feel great about it. And this is what Japanese/Chinese people are saying about the game on the Internet:
1) (some line in Japanese/Chinese) and (the translated Korean version)
2) (another line in Japanese/Chinese) and (the translated Korean version)
....
100) (another line in Japanese/Chinese) and (the translated Korean version)
Basically, new articles by media companies were nothing more than mere translations of what "everyday person" said on another country's Web.

This is a very intersting phenomenon in two ways. First of all, what is called "professional content" is nothing more than a reiteration of "amateur, cheap content". Second, articles are written based on content from another country and culture. The Web has blurred the boundaries between professional media and amateur media and between different countries.

And the end result? We are living in a world that's requiring us to know and think more and more while moving more swiftly. Like living a treadmill.

Fortunately, it means more opportunities for you. Unfortunately, the same for your competitors.


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Posted by Danny Kim twdanny
2007/11/15 03:37
Yes, you heard it right. I'm in Tokyo to attend Web 2.0 Expo Tokyo. This will be my fourth conference this year: Web 2.0 Expo in SF in April, Supernova in SF in June, State of Play V in Singapore in August, and this one; but this is my first trip to Japan.

I'm in Tokyo with the openmaru team. Here goes my discloser: I've been working with openmaru, a Korean Web 2.0 service provider, for its English blog marketing. Indeed, its English blog has been run by me! (but I'm not an employee, just working on a partnership-based project)

I'm not sure if you guys have come across the blog or any of its services, but not because I'm the marketer, but even from a pure user point of view, you should most definitely try out the openmaru applications, such as Springnote. It simply rocks!

I'll be reporting from the Expo as well as interviewing famous dudes and companies in the Web 2.0-sphere. One thing interesting is that reporting will be done through 4 major channels: openmaru Korean blog, openmaru English blog, Taewoo's log (my Korean blog), and TechnoKimchi. Chances are I'll be posting a lot more stuff in Korean than in English.

But if you ever had questions regarding openmaru or me, or the Web and digital landscape in Korea, feel free to come around the openmaru booth to find me. I'm not there, other openmaru members will be more than kind enough to find me for you :)

I'm very excited to attend the conference for many reasons. But for TechnoKimchi, I think this will definitely mark an important milestone as this is the first time I'm officially exploring the Web in Asia, outside Korea. As I've been writing in my Korean blog, there are so many things that are just completely different
about the Web and the digital culture in Japan from Korea that I'm almost lost. Too many thoughts in my head.

But for now, I'm resting for tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to run into some of you guys!

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Posted by Danny Kim twdanny
2007/07/27 04:27
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[a picture of kimchi by Nagyman on flickr, used under CCL]

Kimchi is the best known Korean food, which Korean people are most proud of. We simply cannot live without kimchi. It tastes really good though it stinks really bad. It's really good for your body, too. For more information, obviously go check out the Wikipedia article on kimchi.

Now, why the name TechnoKimchi? Some people liked the name very much. Some thought it was purely stupid. Some even told me it sounds too much like TechCrunch. Fine, all points well taken.

To tell you the truth, it took me way over a year to come up with the name. I've had an idea about a blog like this for a long time. After all, my Korean blog is one of the most widely read IT/Web blogs in Korea. Just to flex my muscle, my Korean blog was started like a year before TechCrunch was born. Subscriber-wise? Probably 1/100 of TechCrunch :)

Anyhow, I really wanted a name that can well represent what I want to write about--the Digital Generation in Asia. Somehow it needed to have the word "Tech" combined with something very Asian. Even better if it can maximize people's prejudice about Asia or even the "oriental world".

Now, I'm Korean. Korea does not, by any means, represent Asia. China, Japan, India, even Vietnam are far more famous Asian countries to those over in the other half of the world than Korea is. From my personal experience, every time I told somebody in U.S. that I was from Korea (especially given I lived in South Carolina for so many years), the first question I would always get was "North or South?"

But I really love kimchi. I also thought TechnoKimchi was such a great brand name for a blog like this. In all truth, some other candidates were "TechKaraoke", "DimsumTech" or "Chopstech(s)". I liked them all, but had to shed tears choosing TechnoKimchi over them. I love Karaoke, dimsum and I use chopsticks every day. But I just love kimchi too much. And obviously, "TechnoKimchi" sounds far better than "TechKimchi"!

And it turns out that kimchi is extremely spicy and hot. So I added the "spicy thoughts" part to the subtitle. Personally, I love both the title and the subtitle.

So that's how "TechnoKimchi: Spicy Thoughts on Digital Generaton in Asia" came around. Unfortunately, kimchi is only vegetable stuff. I guess it's now time to add some meat to it. :)

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Posted by Danny Kim twdanny