Limit of 50 Friends: Invite Only 'Jjinchin'
Real Friends in Virtual Spaces
Also Frustration with Luxury Display on Traditional SNS
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] The popularity of the application (app) 'Bondi,' which allows users to create their own characters and spaces in a virtual environment to communicate with friends, is waning. Bondi, which recorded a cumulative 5 million downloads on Google Play alone within four months of its launch, began to see users leave as concerns over personal information leaks spread. However, given that Bondi quickly gained significant popularity among numerous virtual space social networking services (SNS), there is growing interest in what attracted users to it.
30s and 40s Returning to the 'Cy' Sentiment... MZ Generation Finds 'Subscriber Limit' Refreshing
According to opinions gathered from users who actually used the Bondi service, many view Bondi as similar to 'Cyworld,' which was popular in South Korea during the 2000s.
Kim, a late-20s office worker who recently used Bondi, said, "When Bondi was launched, I enjoyed it with my friends," adding, "There is a room you can decorate yourself, which seems like the concept of Cyworld's mini-room." Another user, Park, in their mid-20s, said, "It feels similar to when I first accessed Cyworld," and added, "I told my friends to join (Bondi) together."
The biggest feature of Bondi is that it limits the number of friends to a maximum of 50. Users can send friend requests through SNS like KakaoTalk, but if the other party does not accept, they cannot become friends.
Bondi users carefully select their 'jjinchin' (a newly coined term meaning truly close friends) when setting friends, so even when logged into Bondi, the relationships between avatars can continue like real friendships.
There is also a view that people who are tired of existing SNS platforms, where the number of followers can increase infinitely, have flocked to Bondi. Choi, a late-20s university student who has multiple SNS accounts such as Instagram and Facebook, said, "Bondi has a fixed number of followers, so it is easier to manage, and above all, I can have subscribers who are people I actually know in real life." He added, "Because of that, even though it is a virtual space, it often does not feel virtual."
Additionally, existing public SNS platforms allow easy comparison between others' and one's own lives, which can cause a kind of depression. In contrast, Bondi, which is essentially a closed service, is less likely to cause this, which may also be a factor in its popularity. Bondi user Lee said, "Unlike other (virtual space) services, Bondi limits the number of friends and does not have an atmosphere of showing off luxury goods or anything like that."
According to a 2021 research paper titled 'A Study on Negative Emotional Influencing Factors and Outcomes of SNS' (Professor Jang Young-hye, Keimyung Culture University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation), SNS can be discontinued due to reasons such as comparing one's life with others. Professor Jang explained in the paper, "A survey of 572 SNS users showed that privacy concerns were the biggest factor increasing negative emotions toward SNS," and "Negative emotions such as sunk costs for SNS use and feelings of alienation also influenced the intention to discontinue." Some even considered stopping SNS use due to privacy invasion concerns.
The reporter's original account created for coverage purposes. The original homepage resembles the so-called 'Cyworld sentiment,' and the 50-friend limit felt refreshing rather than competing for follower counts. Photo by Han Seunggon
Riding Boats and Making Friends... Game-like Elements
As a virtual space service, Bondi allows users to customize their avatars. Users can choose the avatar’s facial features, hairstyle, clothes, and even background music. They can also decorate the 'one-room' provided by Bondi using items. Users can invite friends to their customized rooms and visit friends’ rooms to leave notes.
There are also game-like elements. In Bondi, users can wave to greet others while floating on a boat in the sea called 'Floating,' and read and reply to messages from strangers through 'Message in a Bottle.' Users can also expose their own messages to an unspecified number of people by 'throwing a Message in a Bottle,' which can lead to making friends with someone they meet for the first time. There is also a 'Lucky Item' feature where users can randomly obtain items.
However, Bondi has faced controversies over personal information infringement, leading some users to withdraw. MetaDream, the company providing Bondi, is based in Singapore and developed Bondi after acquiring the IP (intellectual property) of the social metaverse company 'True.ly' in May 2022. Allegations of personal information leaks related to Bondi have been reported by multiple foreign media outlets, which claimed that Bondi excessively collects financial information.
In response, MetaDream stated, "We do not collect financial information," and explained, "MetaDream is a separate company from True.ly and independently developed Bondi using the IP." Regarding the personal information leak allegations, they emphasized, "(Personal information) is used only within the scope and purpose agreed upon by users for smooth service provision. To date, there has been no case of personal information leakage or misuse. The information Bondi collects is typical information collected by other apps, and the claim of excessive personal information collection is not true."
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