Korea Leads World in Mobile YouTube Viewing

As I predicted in a December 2009 post, viewership of Youtube video on mobile devices has skyrocketed in South Korea.  An article in the Joongang Daily notes that more Koreans now watch YouTube on mobile devices than do people in any other country around the world.  On the third anniversary of YouTube's launch in Korea an executive of that company noted that mobile views grew nine-fold last year.  He also noted that YouTube is now being used to deliver Korean content, including popular soap operas, to a global audience.  YouTube Korea has signed partnerships with Korea's top three talent agencies, under which the agencies provide premium content for YouTube, while YouTube provides them with useful information such as the number of viewer hits.

North Korea using Twitter and YouTube

The New York Times carried an interesting article today on how North Korea is using Twitter and YouTube to bolster its propaganda efforts.  During the last month, a series of video clips have been posted to YouTube, brimming with vitriol and satire against leaders in South Korea or in the U.S.  During the past week, North Korea also began operating a Twitter account under the name uriminzok or "our nation."
A spokesman for the National Unification Ministry in Seoul said “It is clear that these accounts carry the same propaganda as the North’s official news media, but we have not been able to find out who operates them." The two Koreas agreed to stop their psychological war after their first summit meeting in 2000, but the situation has changed following the sinking of a South Korean warship in the West Sea earlier this year.

Korean Cultural Treasures Now Being Shown on YouTube

I was very happy to learn via a short article in the Chosun Ilbo, that Korea is beginning to share videos of its cultural treasures on a YouTube Channel.   This is one small example, but a very good one, of how South Korea can go about improving its national image.  I could imagine the Korean heritage channel on YouTube being supplemented by channels dealing with many other interesting topics about Korea.  Meanwhile, this cultural heritage YouTube channel is a very good start.

Google in China and the Korea Precedent

The news is widely circulating all over the world, except within China where the government is heavily censoring it, that Google may consider withdrawing from the Chinese market.   For example, The New York Times is covering this story. In a second story today it provides interesting detail on how the situation reached its present stage.  Although recent attempts, presumably supported by the Chinese government, to hack into accounts of dissidents in China are one reason the withdrawal is being considered, the broader reason is that Chinese government filtering of the internet runs counter to Google's corporate philosophy and effort to "do no evil."
As last Spring's episode with YouTube in Korea illustrated, the decisions of a particular national government do not necessarily dictate what citizens, these days called "netizens" will do.  Last April, when the Korean government declared that it would legally require real-name information to post comments and videos to YouTube, Korean web surfers did not stop posting such material.  In fact, there was an increase in the use of YouTube, but through sites in other countries. (see my earlier post here) China would no doubt face a similar reaction from its netizens should Google withdraw from the market.

"Korea has not yet begun to develop its mobile technology":Google's Expansion Plans

The Joongang Daily carried a brief report today about Google's expansion plans in Korea.   It noted the changes that Google is making to its home page.  I discussed this in an earlier post that referred to Google's plans to "Koreanize" its home page.
What really caught my eye about this latest article is the quote at the beginning, "Korea has not yet begun to develop its mobile technology."  As readers of this blog will note, I agree with the basic sentiment expressed by this quote.  As Cho Won-gyu, the head of Google Korea's research and development suggests, with the introduction of more smart phones next year, Korean consumers will begin to learn about many broadband internet applications from which they have been shielded to date.  Take for example video.  Although Youtube is now the most widely used video service in South Korea, it is not yet widely used on mobile phones.  Now that the iPhone is already here and numerous Android phone models are coming next year, that is about to change.  Given Google's strong array of web-based information services and their availability in Korean language versions, it is not too difficult to predict what will happen in Korea's mobile market next year.  Google will gain market share for all of its internet services, as Korea's customers become acquainted with them via the new Android phones that will probably come to dominate the mobile market here.

YouTube Rejects Real Name System for Korean Users

YouTube, the world's largest video-sharing Web site, said Thursday it has decided not to require South Korean users to use their real names when they register. According to the Korea Times, the move marks a rejection of a South Korean government policy that requires private information for online users. South Korea is the only country in the world where Internet users are required to input their name and resident registration number before subscribing to portals and other Internet services. However, observers pointed out the obvious fact that South Korean users will likely be able to post videos on the site without difficulty if they set their country preference to countries other than South Korea.

ITU Telecommunication Channel Available on YouTube

One important aspect of the telecommunications revolution that took place in South Korea during the 1980s was that it led directly into a more active international role for the country.  The highly successful 1988 Seoul Olympics gave a big boost to the country's so-called "Northern Policy" of opening up relations with China, the former Soviet Union and socialist bloc countries in Eastern Europe. (see my book with Heung Soo Park, Global Television and the Politics of the Seoul Olympics). At the same time, South Korea's economic growth put in in a position to more actively participate in ITU (International Telecommunications Union) projects, as well as those of the OECD, which it joined in 1996.  It became an active participant in the World Summit on the Information Society and in global efforts to help eliminate the digital divide.
In the above context, I was pleased to find that there is an ITU Telecommunication Channel on YouTube. You may enjoy, as I did, getting to know this channel by viewing the following video.

I can see from a number of Korean-language annotated entries that people here have taken an interest in this channel.  Through this blog and related sites, I hope to organize links to the major YouTube channels relating to telecommunications, and in particular the Korean experience. A word of warning. Don't expect a tremendous amount of quality and substance in these telecoms-related videos. That is one reason I want to review them, to sift the wheat from the chaff as it were.