Korea's homegrown social media platform Cyworld to be relaunched next year

Cyworld / Captured from Cyworld's website

Korea's homegrown social media platform Cyworld will be relaunched next year, following a yearslong hiatus since its shutdown in 2019 sparked by the fast expansion of Facebook and other foreign platforms in the country, its operator said Wednesday.

Created in 1999, Cyworld was once Korea's most popular social media platform, having had around 32 million users at its peak.

But the computer-based platform closed its doors in 2019 as many of its users migrated to Facebook and other global social media platforms with the advent of the mobile era.

"With the global social media platforms focusing more and more on media content, I think Cyworld has enough potential to play a role as true social media with its unique traits," said Ham Young-chul, CEO of the platform's operator, Cy Communications.

Ham said he expects to attract around 2 million active users monthly after the relaunch of the service in the second half of 2025.

Ham also said he plans to develop game IPs based on Cyworld and make inroads into the global market by 2028. (Yonhap)