Congratulatory and Condolence Messages Also via 'KakaoTalk'... Messages Increased by 45% Due to COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the usage of Kakao's major services, including KakaoTalk, has significantly increased across the board.

According to the 'Kakao COVID-19 White Paper' published by Kakao on the 21st, the volume of messages exchanged (received and sent) via KakaoTalk increased by 45% in the first week of September compared to the beginning of the year.

The volume of KakaoTalk messages began to rise sharply from the end of January when COVID-19 first started spreading, showing an increase rate in the 30% range from the end of February, and the scale grew even larger after the social distancing level was raised to Level 2 on August 16.

Messages exchanged in open chat rooms, which are public conversation spaces, increased by 70% in the last week of June compared to the start of the year.

Video call usage also increased. The call duration of KakaoTalk's 'FaceTalk' rose by 40% from February to April compared to the beginning of the year.

Kakao analyzed, "As people could no longer meet face-to-face offline, they communicated more through digital means," adding, "The methods used for communication also diversified."

With it becoming difficult to personally attend events such as weddings and funerals, the use of mobile simple remittance services for sending condolence money also increased significantly.

During the weekend of the third week of August, when social distancing Level 2 was implemented nationwide, the use of KakaoPay condolence money transfer envelopes increased by 166.5% compared to the previous week. The use of condolence money transfer envelopes increased by 35%, and the total use of all transfer envelopes rose by 10% respectively.

Amid the avoidance of public transportation, more people started riding bicycles. As of the last week of April, the number of users of KakaoMap's bicycle path search service increased by 81% compared to the beginning of the year, and the number of searches executed rose by 181%.