South Korean microblogging service Me2day is to shut down in June 2014, a local news outlet reported Tuesday.
The move is a reminder of how local social networking services have been giving way to global operators such as Twitter and Facebook in recent years.
Naver, Me2day’s operator and Korea’s top Internet portal provider, recently said it would discontinue service in the face of market domination by worldwide SNS such as Twitter and Facebook, according to Money Today newspaper.
It explained it planned to pursue a strategy of “selection and concentration” in order to boost its services and competitiveness against large foreign corporations.
Many hailed Me2day, a Korean version of Twitter, as one of the most successful local SNS. In 2009, it briefly surpassed Twitter in terms of weekly visitors.
Its moment of glory was short-lived, however, as Me2day saw a steady decline in users. According to research firm Korean Click, its monthly page views by Korean users plummeted to a meager 12 million, compared to 292 million by Facebook.
The Naver-affiliated SNS is only the latest casualty in the onslaught of global SNS giants that drove domestic services out of the market.
Last month, SK Communication’s C-Log announced that it was terminating all services due to “operational problems caused by a diminishing number of users.”
This year also saw other major domestic services falling one-by-one: KTH decided to drop pudding.to and I’m IN in May, while Daum ceased service of yozm in August.
After Me2day steps out of the picture next year, SK Communication’s Cyworld is expected to be the only major domestic SNS remaining in the country. Despite also seeing a decline in usage rate, its homepage was the 10th-most visited website in October, according to Korean Click.
