Cyworld.com is a South Korean social network site that incorporates photo galleries, message boards, guestbooks, and bulletin boards.  90% of South Koreans in their 20s have profiles in Cyworld, and 25% of the total South Koreans are registered users.

In March 2006, CyWorld launched the American version (us.cyworld.com), and they also have members in Japan and Taiwan. They are also planning on expanding to Europe, South America, and India very soon.

The profile pages within Cyworld are very similar to other social networking sites – and include all the typical elements like: a photo gallery, list of friends, video library, sketchbook, minified, journal area, and ways to customize your page.

What makes Cyworld unique from other social networking sites is that each member has an avatar (minime) and a room (miniroom).

The miniroom is a bedroom that can be decorated by purchasing wallpapers, clothes, furnishings, banners, fonts, etc.  These items may be purchased through using virtual currency (that is based on an actual payment from a credit card or PayPal account).

The process to update the “minime” is actually very simple. You can easily sort through hundreds of faces, hair styles, clothing, accessories, skins and poses, and moods:

The moods of the “minime” are expressed visually through images that appear above the avatar. For example, if the person is feeling “busy” – the user can add a clock (which will appear over the avatar’s head).

Updating the “miniroom” is also easy, but it requires a payment to begin decorating and personalizing the space.

Payment within Cyworld is done by using “acorns” – and every user is given 30 acorns to start with. Anything you want to add to your room will cost a certain number of acorns.

For example, to purchase a black & white bed would cost 5 acorns. A black couch will cost 5 acorns.  Once you spend all your acorns, you can pay by credit card or PayPal to get more “acorns” to spend.

As of April 2008, 50 acorns cost $5.00.

As you decorate your room, you may add a speech balloon to your minime – and also move your character around the room.

Cyworld also makes it easy to invite friends to join by simply importing email addresses from your Yahoo, MSN, or Gmail account.

Demographics
Compete.com reports that there are about 100,000 unique visitors per month, and Alexa.com estimates that 83% of visitors are from South Korea.