Naver said on the 26th it will launch a new open community service "Lounge" on Jan. 28 next year, allowing users, without a separate sign-up, to quickly consume the latest issues across various topics and continue communication among users.
Naver plans to recruit 500 official supporters called "Lounge Mate" before the launch to build community buzz and boost early content and participation.
Lounge is an open community planned based on the operational know-how Naver has accumulated over more than 20 years running UGC (user-generated content) services such as Knowledge iN, Blog, and Cafe. Users can casually exchange opinions through posts and comments on topic-specific boards like entertainment, sports, humor, and daily life, and continue real-time conversations through OpenTalk, which is automatically linked to each board. Naver aims to raise the speed of issue spread and the convenience of participation through a consolidation structure that connects "post-comment-talk."
To grow Lounge into a trend-exploration hub, Naver will strengthen links with integrated search, the home feed and topic feeds, and Knowledge iN. For example, it aims to create a flow where users exploring topics of interest via search naturally move to the relevant Lounge board, leave opinions, and debate with other users.
Lee Il-gu, head of Naver's content services, said, "Lounge is an open community that reflects the needs of users who want to communicate about issues, trends, and interests more easily and lightly," adding, "As a space where users' diverse stories and topic-specific trends gather, we will strengthen synergies with other services such as search, the home feed, and OpenTalk."
Lounge Mate will be active on Lounge for six months from Feb. 2026, and anyone can apply through the official Lounge blog until Jan. 4 next year. Selected supporters will receive various benefits, including Naver Pay points. Naver plans to broaden user touchpoints after the launch by expanding topics and advancing recommendation and discovery features.