A person surnamed Kim, Seok-jin (32), has been a "blogger" who has written on Naver Blog for more than 10 years since college. Kim curated a personal space by writing a diary once or twice a week and posting reviews of books and movies. Kim also enjoyed reading posts uploaded by bloggers who became neighbors or mutual neighbors. On Naver Blog, neighbors and mutual neighbors refer to other bloggers in a "friend" relationship.
However, Kim said Kim has recently been reluctant to use Naver Blog. Kim said it was because after Naver Blog's renewal a month ago, posts recommended by artificial intelligence (AI) were displayed, which felt off-putting. Kim said, "Unlike Instagram, the advantage of Naver Blog was sharing thoughts and hobbies with the people I wanted in my own space," adding, "Right after the revamp, I went into the blog and was quite taken aback to see a stranger's post pop up."
This is not only Kim's experience. Naver Blog changed its logo and other elements and renewed the system by using AI to recommend personalized content to users. But during the month after the revamp, not only did the number of Naver Blog application (app) users decrease, the average time spent also fell.
◇ Naver Blog sees user numbers fall after revamp
According to the app analysis platform Mobile Index on the 16th, from the 10th of 4th, when Naver Blog was renewed, to the 11th of this month, the number of Naver Blog app users over one month was 24,155,052. That is 5.9% lower than the 25,687,630 users from Aug. 10 over one month. Compared with the same period last year (25,865,133 users), it fell 6.6%.
The average monthly usage time per user fell into the 80-minute range for the first time in a year. The average of 102 minutes in September last year stayed in the 90-minute range through 8th. However, in 9th, when the revamp took place, it dropped into the 86-minute range, down 15.6% in a year. Total user time also fell 9.5%, from 498 hours 6,224 minutes in September last year to 450 hours 8,202 minutes this September.
◇ "Failed to grasp blogger tendencies… indiscriminate service revamps should be avoided"
On the 10th of 4th, Naver carried out a sweeping overhaul to mark the 22nd anniversary of Naver Blog's launch. Naver introduced a new slogan and logo, "Discovery of records, enjoyable consolidation," strengthened AI technology-based personalized recommendations, and said it would turn Naver Blog into a community. On the new "Blog Home," it recommended content reflecting not only neighbor posts but also users' interests and neighbor relationships.
However, Naver Blog drew backlash from existing users, the "bloggers," from the outset of the revamp. Among bloggers, complaints persisted that ad-like posts unrelated to their interests were being exposed. Previously, only posts by bloggers who had friend relationships such as "neighbors" or "mutual neighbors" appeared at the top, but after the revamp, AI-recommended posts surfaced, drawing criticism that users were being exposed to unwanted content. Naver adjusted some features back closer to their original form.
Lee Eun-hee, a professor in the Department of Consumer Science at Inha University, said, "It appears Naver proceeded with the renewal without considering bloggers' usage patterns or tendencies." Lee added, "Recently, in the name of increasing service value, more companies are indiscriminately grafting AI onto their platforms," and noted, "They should remember there are cases where a company's objectives and customers' orientations conflict."
A Naver official said, "Monthly figures can vary due to specific issues, so service traffic needs to be viewed over a longer period than a month to gauge growth," adding, "We will actively accept users' feedback and improve the service."