The influence of the Social Network Service (SNS) is currently growing higher than ever. More and more people are informed of new information through the means of SNS rather than that of newscasts or newspapers. Countless SNS users from all around the world are uploading and sharing posts even at this very moment. The answer to how we are able to find the most relevant and the most helpful information in this infoglut lies in the hands of a social curation service planner. The Granite Tower (GT) had a special opportunity to meet Kim Hyun-gon, a social curation service planner at the social big data analyst, Daumsoft.
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| ▲ Kim Hyun-gon, a social curation service planner at Daumsoft.Photographed by Lee Jun GeonOctober | ||
Social curation is not a familiar concept for many people in Korea. Social curation, which began its service in 2012, allows SNS users to easily discover and share the most relevant, useful information that has been filtered by social curation service planners. Well-known social curation services include Pinterest, Flipboard, and Storify. Pinterest, whose service opened in 2010, helps its users to find the most meaningful contents for themselves and organize them in a way they find the most effective.
One of the fewest social curation service planners in Korea, Kim jumped into the world of social curation in February 2012. He used to be working in a PR agency. "I was completely blank when I began my career in social curation service. I did not have any professional knowledge about service and web planning, or a clue of processes such service goes through," said Kim.
Kim spends most of his days monitoring SNS sites, including Twitter, in order to find and interpret the rapidly changing needs of the public, and constantly studying international social curation services in order to supplement faults and weaknesses of the service in Korea. "Another major task of a social curation service planner is to continuously communicate and negotiate with web developers and designers," added Kim. Ceaseless efforts and studies are achieved to provide clients with the best service product.
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| ▲ A screenshot of TweetMob. Provided by tweetmob.co.kr | ||
TweetMob, on which social curation service Daumsoft currently works, offers the most relevant, the most seen contents to users. Its website displays a list of articles that contain the most comments or that have been shared most frequently. TweetMob also provides a personal space for users. The service allows users to collect news, images, or videos they find significant for themselves and create their own social magazine. "TweetMob is a place where users can have an easy access to a broad range of information, but at the same time, to choose and collect what they need, what they are looking for," remarked Kim.
Social curation has recently become one of the hottest services for people in diverse fields. It is seen as an effective tool to let various professionals be aware of the current flow of trends and plan for efficient marketing strategies to best fulfill clients’ expectations. Kim claimed, "For instance, we are currently working with Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) teams. They see social curation as a crucial means of receiving accurate data and instant reactions from the audience."
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| ▲ An illustration depicting social curation. Provided by headsolution.com | ||
All three national terrestrial broadcasting stations have been encountering a decreasing rate of viewing. "However, this does not mean that fewer people are watching television. The phenomenon comes from a change in ways people have an access to media," said Kim. Television viewers nowadays do not usually sit on a couch and watch television relaxingly. Instead, a great number of them use their computers or mobile phones to watch their favorite television channels. Kim stated, "This has led many broadcasting professionals to gain interest in how many SNS users talk about their programs and what comments are made." He continued, "And we, social curation service planners, are the ones who organize and provide such data."
"Being a social curation service planner in Korea means a lot of things," remarked Kim. As a service which has almost no history, social curation has recently begun to appear to the public and to step into its very first stage. "The beginning is the most challenging stage for everything. However, it can mean that I can be the pioneer of this social curation service field," answered Kim with confidence. When asked of another appealing aspect of being a social curation service planner, Kim talked about unpredictable aspects of the service; studying ever- changing thoughts of the public makes his job even more dynamic.
However, working in the new field also brings countless obstacles and challenges. "Social media should be a plaza where a variety of topics of information, even if they are trivial, can be thrown," stated Kim. Unfortunately, in Korea, the concept of plaza has been extremely weak. Most Korean portal sites deal with issues of celebrities, entertainment, and of politics. Kim emphasized an idea that an open, friendly online place should be available to everyone. Letting people know information even at the corner is what Kim, as a social curation service planner, is aiming for.
When asked about the processes and efforts one has to go through in order to become a social curation service planner, Kim answered, "There are no specific steps one must undergo. You do not necessarily have to major in computer science." However, he did highlight that a constant study in web technology and its language is required. Kim continuously spends time studying technical parts of the web. "It is crucial in interacting and working as a team with web developers and designers," claimed Kim.
He also emphasized the importance of a deep and thorough comprehension of the trend and approaching through the eyes of SNS users. Simply being aware of the general trend is not enough. Social curation service planners must study the trends, understand clients’ mentality, and compare the social curation service achieved in Korea with that of other countries."
With his constant effort in studying this relatively new field and his adventurous mind, Kim encourages college students to broaden their view and set a higher goal. Kim said, "Keep in mind that what you do can bring a change in the world. How you can help to bring a brighter world is what you must now think about."