Korean UCC
Another great piece by Michael on UCC (otherwise known as UGC by the rest of the world).
The Mis-execution of Korean “UCC”
A couple choice cuts:
Basically, Korea’s got the best tech, but the least creativity on the Internet.
In Korea’s case, the technological infrastructure was there, but not the institutional and cultural support for innovating and taking risks on a large scale.
The same is true for UCC, which is really a top-down attempt on the part of the big Internet conglomerates to squeeze more money out of the Korean consumer online, with one eye on YouTube, one firmly on the wallet.
A book that I recommend - Diamond Dilemma, which is related in the greater picture presented in the UCC entry.
April 15th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
What? Koreans least creative?
Jun Lee pointed me to Michael Hurt’s blog article, The Mis-execution of Korean UCC. Michael points out that although Korea has had arguably the best broadband infrastructure since circa 1999, the country failed to produce Youtube. This led him to an obs..
April 15th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Looks like I can’t send a trackback. I wrote a piece about this here: http://www.web20asia.com/76
April 15th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
I can’t leave a comment on the other blog, so I’ll leave it here. You use Typepad, I see.
“Hi!
Thanks for the link in from my blog - just one small thing: I certainly agree with you that it’s structural – I would never say that Koreans are genetically risk-averse…hope that’s clear. I’m a structuralist, not an essentialist.
And I think the main problem is lack of support for good ideas, lack of respect for the genius and chutzpah of brash, young ideas, as well as a general feeling that stable is better – a bird in the hand (and money in the bank) is better than two in the bush (and the slim possibility of big riches).
So kids might get good ideas (although the education system tends to work overtime to beat the individuality out of its students), but they’d literally have to be crazy to drop out of school or take a part-time job to get the time to execute their ideas.
And even if they were brash, one can only be told for so long that your behavior is selfish, imprudent, impudent, or just plain “crazy” over and over. So the smart people try to get a “good” job and buy that apartment, get ready to start saving money for the cost of having kids, etc.
And if you’re 30 and a bright kid witha bright idea, but no money in the bank, you’re a pretty dim prospect for marriage (as a guy). And yeah, we won’t even get into the waste of time and breaker of the spirit that compulsory military service is in Korea.
Whew.”