Drinking 2L of Water Daily and Reading Books... MZ Generation United by 'Mission Band'

Motivation Through Mission Verification... Participation Among Ages 10-30 Reaches 43%

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] Naver's community platform ‘Band’ is attracting MZ generation users (Millennials + Generation Z) by promoting its mission certification feature. Mission certification is a service that sets goals and shares achievement results to motivate each other. Missions vary, such as ‘Reading one chapter of a book a day’ and ‘Drinking 2 liters of water daily’.

According to Naver on the 1st, since Band launched the mission certification feature in December 2019, the number of missions created has exceeded 300,000, and the number of mission certification posts has surpassed 20 million. Among these, posts by users aged 10 to 20 accounted for 31%. Including users in their 30s, the participation rate of young users reached 43%.

The reason mission Band has gained popularity among the MZ generation is the trend of ‘Gotsaengsalgi’ that emerged after COVID-19. ‘Gotsaengsalgi’ is a newly coined term combining ‘God’ and ‘Saeng (life)’, meaning a diligent and earnest life. It is analyzed that Band has been recognized as a self-development tool by the MZ generation, who are accustomed to sharing or certifying goals on social networking services (SNS) for motivation.

When creating a mission Band, users can customize details such as certification period, frequency, number of recruits, and joining conditions, allowing personalization according to goals. Features to help achieve goals include reminders to avoid missing certifications, a ‘Mission Certification Card’ to share mission certification news on SNS, a ‘Mission Calendar Widget’ to easily view one’s certification records, and functions to compare certification status among members.

Recently, Naver revamped the Band service’s home screen by adding mission and small group tabs. The purpose is to make it easier for users to find and create mission Bands.

A Naver official emphasized, "Mission Band is a service targeting MZ generation usability by communicating and motivating each other around goals," adding, "The strategy of focusing on the essence is the secret to Band being consistently chosen by users for 10 years."

Meanwhile, Naver Band, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, recorded 150 million cumulative downloads, 53 million cumulative Bands, and 6.1 billion cumulative posts.

Initially popular as an offline-based ‘closed SNS’ among acquaintances, Band expanded its scope to interest-based communities by launching ‘open Bands’ in 2015. Recently, it has been subdividing communities by adding elements such as goals or regions to interest-based Bands like mission Bands and small group Bands.