Other changes include "growing" your own profile pet or "liking" someone's profile status messages and sending them gifts to cheer them up - all intended to get people to use KakaoTalk longer so as to boost advertising and e-commerce volume. “We know that there has been some negative responses in regards to empathy stickers." The spokesperson added that the company is also getting positive responses to the upgrade. When the news of the application of new functions such as empathy stickers hit, negative responses circulated in online communities, with users complaining that the app should “stick to its original service as a messenger.” “We are aware that users instantly respond to new changes, which is why we are carefully approaching the matter,” a Kakao spokesperson said. Some people actually like the simplicity of KakaoTalk. While social media users are aware that the content they upload could always spread online, messenger users are not. “Kakao may feel threatened because users may leave the app anytime they wish to communicate via direct messages on Instagram.” The problem is the psychological resistance users are bound to have on the messenger app transitioning into a social media service. “Although teens still use KakaoTalk, the sense is that the messenger app is somewhat old-fashioned,” according to an IT source. Another possible move for KakaoTalk is to add a short-form video section within the messenger as Line did last year. In order to overcome this limit, we need to fundamentally change how users can enjoy KakoTalk more lightly, similar to the user’s relaxed state of mind when they go to meet up their friends after work at the Gangnam Station.” Kakao aims to attract more younger users, since teens prefer image and video-based social media, such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, but KakaoTalk is based on text due to its primary function as a messenger. “They are similar to workers who get off at the Samsung Station during the morning rush hour and climb the stairs in a hurry so they won’t be late. Former Kakao co-CEO Namkoong Whon said the average KakaoTalk users are “white collar workers commuting to work.” “Users access KakaoTalk countless times to message their acquaintances, but once their purpose of dialogue is fulfilled, they exit the app quickly,” Namkoong said last May during the company's first-quarter earnings conference call. Kakao lets users place stickers on their profiles that other people can press "like" on as if they would on Facebook or Instagram posts starting from earlier this month. For Naver it was 32.8 minutes, TikTok 25.4 minutes and Instagram 18.2 minutes. YouTube topped for the number of minutes per access, at 50.3. Naver was used 5.5 times on average and YouTube 4.8 times. According to a report released last March by Opensurvey, users turned on the KakaoTalk app 8.6 times every day on average. It wants to take KakaoTalk from a utility communications service to something more akin to what Facebook and Instagram offer. ![]() The company wants to take the messenger from being a goal-oriented service and give users a reason to stay within the app even after they're done sending messages to each other. KakaoTalk forecasts more changes to come in the future so the product becomes more interactive. The number of "likes" is visible on the personal profile but only the profile owner can see who pressed the emoji. Others can press the emoji in a Facebook "like" sort of way to empathize or offer support. ![]() From that date, 48 stickers were made available allowing the user to express a wide range of states, from sad to ecstatic, by placing a sticker on their profile. The plan for the transformation to KakaoTalk 2.0 was announced earlier this year and was set in motion with the first upgrade on Dec. Kakao hopes to turn KakaoTalk, now basically a humble messenger, into a full social media offering in order to improve the stickiness of the app. ![]() Characters Ryan and Choonsik of Kakao Friends
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