KakaoTalk Adds New Tab for 'Open Chat' as Third Tab

Strengthened as an Interest-Based Platform
Exchange of Interests and Hobbies with Non-Users

Kakao announced on the 17th that it will establish Open Chat as a separate tab in the third tab of KakaoTalk, strengthening its role as an interest-based communication platform.

Open Chat is a chat service on KakaoTalk where people with the same interests can create chat rooms and communicate. Without the need for friend addition procedures such as phone numbers or IDs, strangers can interact based on common interests like hobbies or information.

Open Chat was previously accessible in the second tab of KakaoTalk, the ‘Chat Tab,’ but now it can be used separately in the third tab. The goal is to increase accessibility and convenience for Open Chat, creating a hub space for freely communicating and forming relationships among non-acquaintances who share the same interests or hobbies. To ensure stable service operation, the Open Chat tab will be gradually rolled out to users by the end of May.

When users tap the third tab in KakaoTalk, they can see the Open Chat rooms they belong to along with the ‘Trending Now’ tab and the ‘Keyword’ tab.

The ‘Trending Now’ tab is a space that updates and exposes popular chat rooms among Open Chat users daily. It recommends ‘popular Open Chat rooms’ based on users’ interests and engagement in areas such as games, entertainment, finance, hobbies, socializing, and IT.

The ‘Keyword’ tab operates around the latest trends. It covers various topics including the professional baseball season, holiday road conditions, weather, as well as popular content like webtoons, movies, and dramas.

A new service called ‘Open Chat Lite’ will also be launched, allowing communication without participant limits. It is a live chat format where users can casually interact in various chat rooms under diverse topics.

For example, under the theme of the KBO season, chat rooms for each of the 10 teams can be created for fans to communicate, and under the theme of overseas travel, chat rooms can be operated by region such as Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia.

Kakao plans to sequentially introduce Open Chat Lite rooms on various topics including spring outing spot recommendations, gratitude diaries where users can leave one-line thank-you notes, reading, camping, games, MBTI, and study verification.

Additionally, event-based Open Chat rooms called ‘Open Chat Auto’ will be operated continuously. A representative example is the ‘2022 Soccer Support Together Room’ held during the World Cup season last June. Currently, Kakao operates various Open Chat Auto rooms such as drama chat rooms, chat rooms for each professional baseball game, solitary reading rooms, and environmental protection challenge certification rooms.

Kakao stated, “Open Chat is evolving into a ‘non-acquaintance interest-based platform’ and will become a channel where anyone can communicate without time and space constraints,” adding, “We will transform it into a content hub centered on diverse interests.”

Meanwhile, as accessibility to Open Chat expands, Kakao will establish service operation policies by collecting various opinions, including strengthening harmful content filtering and operating a reporting center to ensure users’ digital safety.