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The Fifth Anniversary Press Conference of Facebook Korea

  • Monday, December 14, 2015, 11:52 pm
  • ACROFAN=Jae-Yong Ryu
  • jaeyong.ryu@acrofan.com
Facebook Korea held a press conference celebrating the fifth anniversary of Korean branch at its office building on December 14, 2015. Facebook runned the event under the mission, ‘more opened and connect world’, with the theme, ‘connect, connect, and connect’

Yong-Beom Jo, Facebook Korea branch manager, explained “When Facebook is listed on the US stock market, the submission document starts with the sentence ‘Facebook is not created to be a company. It is started for social responsibility. The responsibility is for connecting the world, and realizing the world‘”, and delivered recent news.

Now, Facebook has been setting Oculus’s VR technology, being invested under the expectation that it will be the next generation platform to enrich human’s lives in aspects of ‘internet.org’ project, started from the statement that internet accesss should be a right, and movie/education/meical and etc, artificial intelligence(AI), using data to consider how to enhance human’s communication or life, and etc as the three principal investment items. Apart from this, it is developing several products which provide benefits as a service at home and abroad.

Next, Hyeon-Ho Son director introduced about branding and creative business strategy, Yeong-Jun Jo director introduced performance marketing platform business strategy, Hyeon-Seok Park director introduced agency partnership, and Gi-Yeong Kim director introduced business supports for small businesses.

 
▲ Facebook Korea Yong-Beom Jo branch manager

 
▲ Facebook Korea Hyeon-Ho Son director

 
▲ Facebook Korea Yong-Jun Jo director

 
▲ Facebook Korea Hyeon-Seok Part director

 
▲ Facebook Korea Gi-Yeong Kim director

Q1. What do you think about the comment that the advertisement is excessive?

User’s experience is the most important. Though a business goal is already set, Facebook Korea is also investigating if use experience gets better. By making use of this index, it is trying not to be like that.

Q2. How is Instant Article partnership policy going?

A media channel partnership is done through Facebook. It is in trial service with Subusu News. It is planned to extend to most of the press in the next year. The plans will be delivered to most of the press as soon as they are confirmed.

Q3. What is the reason that the blind’s cases realated to AI are introduced?

Generally, AI is mostly maximize the ability that humans have. The video played earlier provides data needed for recognizing things after it is collected. After studying puppy images a lot, make AI recognize them. This is because it becomes possible to be explained with audio. Computer, machine and etc maximize the ability, catch the meaning of factors of the image, and tell them with audio.

Q4. It was an issue that the founder made domination. Does Korean branch also have any plan of social contribution for Korea?

In this year, missing child warning campaign is representative. If a missing child occurs, noted warnings through Facebook. Facebook Korea is considering products that can be brought as a social enterprise in the next year.

Q5. Please arrange the development for the last 5 years. How is the further outlook?

Korean branch started with 4 people at the original office, but now increased a lot. The number of Korean users are steadily increasing. I think the number of Korean users will continuously increase. Though I talked about a story related to Korean market, the inside may not know the fact that living in Korea means living in the future. There is no any other country that smartphone users, mobile video consume, and etc are spread this many. Korea ranks top in video consume for digital. Looking at the trends, it is very future-oriented market.

Q6. To talk about news platform, Naver is unrivaled, but recently Facebook has become popular. What is a competition strategy for vs. Naver in the next year? Also, I wonder a differentiation from Naver, and Koreanizing policy in the future.

Our policy is not to answer the question of comparison to a competitior. Besides, we try localizing as best as we can, but emphasize a global standard as 1.5 billion people are using so that country-specific might disperse them. Localize only a few main things. We wonder between local and global, but its answer turns to a company’s mission. First do things as humanity work, and if the work is for a specific region, it will be pushed back on the priority list.

Q7. A video advertisement is that Facebook Korea didn’t do until now. What is a plan about this?

A video advertisement displayed visits at the platform itself since the end of the last year. Recently, Facebook Korea held a customer event focusing on the video called Facebook play. After that, a video advertisement is generally growing very fast. Apart from comparison to a specific platform, customers who prefer play to link are increasing. Products not released yet will come out one after another. The representative is 360 degree video, and some advertisers are launching it abroad.

Q8. Will you extend a personal user upload? Please explain about startup supporting plan.

In the past, a text message was main, and abroad was mainly a photo. As internet is fast, and people use smartphones, Korea goes to a video. Facebook Korea sees a 360 degree video the middle stage of a video and virtual reality. A virtual reality is experience with glass, but if provide this experience by cellphones, people will experience more sense of reality.

In Facebook Korea, there is an organization kept by tightly attaching one to one. For startup which will be marketed globally, it directly attaches to consider a target with a country it wants. About the country wanting to newly inroad, Facebook Korea tightly manages services wondered before inroading, and provides them through branch manager in the country. Startup shows a successful case through Facebook. Also many inquiries are about the startup. In 2015, it progressed a marketing semiar with more than 200 businesses. Also progresses a marketing seminar cooperating with VC such as D.CAMP. Facebook Korea has some thoughts of increasing size in the next year. Increase VC partnerships, and finding a position to lead.

Q9. In an aspect of e-commerce, which can be directly saled at Facebook, what is possibility of increasing business about?

There is no such thing about it. Korean companies are continuously releasing products making positive results through e-commerce, and Facebook is supporting it. It will support to make results from mobile commerce part.

For example, 2-3 years back, there were services of listening to music in Facebook. This was a service lauching by companies coming into a Facebook platform. Likewise, mainly works on making eco-system, and coming in to develop business.

Q10. When talking about a targeting type advertisement, the concern is about precedents of misusing personal information. If a target becomes more accurate, there will be more using of users’ information.

Facebook attaches great importance on personal privacy. Protecting information is the most significant part in business decisions. In users’ position, it is not bad that an appropriate advertisement comes when use something. If you don’t like the advertisement, it’s possible to express your intention at the right side. The concern about marketers making a proper message will bigger than the misuse. Not selling information to outside, for instance, Facebook provides grouped information such as people living in Seoul and people graduated from a specific college, not a person’s information such as Yong-Beom Jo. Facebook doesn’t let advertisers check executed information. They only can understand which group they executed.

Q11. (Acrofan) As Facebook is internet serive, its service quality is fluid depending on the conditions of communication network. Yesterday, there was a trouble on a particular communication network line. Please introduce what a monitoring and countermeasure of this part.

User experience is the most significant. Through continuously monitoring, Facebook is trying to improve environment with operators and cable operators. Though, the service improved a lot compared to 2-3 years back. What’s so interesting, in aspects of speed, Korea is very fast when compared to the US. However, in Korea, users feel it slow. Based on the US or global standard, it is excelled. But Facebok will still invest as user experience in Korea is important. For monitoring, installed a beta version on the employees’ smartphones, and they can report right away if shakes cellphones. This figure is also very high. If a problem occurs, it is active to employees shake and report. Problems such as a bug, wrong translation, and an image uploaded strangely are also reported thorugh shaking cellphones.

 
▲ As having instant article service open ahead, there were many participants than ever before.