• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.47-53
• /
• 2016

Purpose - The objective of this study is to investigate the dynamic relationships among Advertising Cost (AD), Newly Registered Users(NRU), and Buying Users(BU) of Social Network Game(SNG). SNG is getting pervasive mainly due to the rapid growth of mobile game and Social Network Service(SNS). It would be helpful for marketing researchers interested in SNG and related practitioners to understand the changes in AD, NRU, and BU with time as well as the effects on one another in mutual and dynamic way. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - Necessary data were collected from Social Network Game(SNG) company. AD, NRU, and BU are endogenous variables, but new event such as launching (event) and holidays(holiday) are exogenous dummy variables. Vector Auto regression (VAR) model is generally used to examine and capture the dynamic relationships among endogenous variables. VAR model can easily capture dynamic and endogenous relationships among time-series variables. Vector Auto regression with Exogenous variables(VARX) is a model in which exogenous variables are added to VAR. To investigate this study, VARX is applied. Result - By estimating the VARX model, the author finds that the past periods' NRU affect negatively and significantly the present AD, and past periods' BU have a positive and significant impact on the increase of AD. In addition, the author shows that the past periods' AD and BU have a positive and significant effect on the increase of NRU, and the past periods' AD affect positively and significantly BU. While the impact of AD on NRU happens after 3 or 4 days (carryover effect), that of AD on BU comes about within just 1 or 2 days (immediate effect). The effect of BU on NRU can be considered as word of mouth (WOM effect). Therefore, SNG companies can obtain not only the growth of revenue but also the increase of NRU by increasing BU. Through those results, the author can also find that there are significant interactions between endogenous variables. Conclusion - This study intends to investigate endogenous and dynamic relationships between AD, NRU, and BU. They also give managerial implications to practitioners for SNS and SNG firms. Through this study, it is found that there exist significant interactions and dynamic relationships between those three endogenous variables. The results of this study can have meaningful implications for practitioners and researchers of SNG. This research is unique in that it deals with "actual" field data and intend to find "actual" relationships among variables unlike other related existing studies which intend to investigate psychological factors affecting the intention of game usage and the intention of purchasing game items. This study is also meaningful by showing that the increase of BU can be a good strategy for "killing birds with one stone" (i.e., revenue growth and NRU increase). Although there are some limitations related with future research topics, this research contributes to the current research on SNG marketing in the above mentioned ways.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.143-149
• /
• 2012

With the increasing use of mobile phones, mobile game is emerging as an entertainment for move. Furthermore, smart phone is widely spread, so mobile game market is rapidly growing. According to "Republic of Korea 2010 Games White Paper" mobile game market is growing annual average 10% or more, and is expected to reach $ 9.8 billion in 2011. It is almost doubled compared to 2007. It became possible to realize complicated high-capacity game with mobile phone developed to smart phone. And at the same time, mobile game is associated with Social Network Services (SNS) and is worldwide growing as a part of 'mobile life'. Apple launched an application open market, App Store, in 2008, and mobile game industry welcomed an innovative turning point. Global smart phone application market (App Store) is opened, so Gameday is able to launch mobile games easily to the global market getting out of the domestic market. In addition, Apple App Store has the structure of sharing their revenue with the developer with 7 to 3 which is more favorable terms for the developer compared to supply mobile contents to the mobile carrier who monopolized the market in the past. The largest proportion of the current App Store application is game, and Gameday has the opportunity to make a significant leap forward by keeping pace with the new environment changes.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.2104-2111
• /
• 2014

This paper explores the framework in which MSNG(Mobile social network game) service providers' strategies to enhance users' intention of continuous usage. Users' perceived values have been considered as the key factors to solicit MSNG user's intention. Moreover, we suggest flow(user's psychological immersion to MSNG) as a mediator variable to inflame users' intention. Results based on 431 respondents shows that MSNG service providers' strategies(i.e., functional, emotional, and social values) directly influence users' intention to use, while those independent variables also show positive relationships towards dependent variables. So we can identify that the efforts to elaborate the users' perceived values are meaningful strategies of MSNG service providers. Also, user's psychological change(i.e. "flow" in this study) is the essential to mediate between MSNG service provider's strategies and building users' intention to use for that MSNG.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.622-635
• /
• 2018

On top of presenting the possibility of expanding the game space to social space through mobile communication, MSNG reinforces the strengths of SNS and the fun of games through closer networks between users. This study empirically verified the effects of the characteristics of MSNG on interactions and user satisfaction by dividing the main characteristics of MSNG into graphics, challenge spirit, and reward, and then dividing the main characteristics of mobile social network service into social interaction and technical interaction. In the results of study, the main characteristics of MSNG such as graphics, challenge spirit, and reward all had significant effects on the social interaction and technical interaction while the social interaction and technical interaction of MSNG also had significant effects on the user satisfaction, so that the hypotheses of this study were all selected. The influence of the characteristics of MSNG on interactions might be because of shared feedbacks through graphics, game tasks, and reward in the performance process of MSNG, and such interactions make diverse people have the horizontal or circular communication, which is led to the increase of user satisfaction.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.293-303
• /
• 2014

The mobile game market is fast growing after the Kakao game launched. Especially, the market is placed at the second highest by occupying 33.1% of the market. However, the rate of the total sales amount is only 6%, showing quite an imbalance between the market occupancy and the sales amount. This means that the profit-making models are not stabilized yet in the mobile game market. The absence of profit-making models can be ascertained by the relationship of DAU and sales ranking. There are several games which are ranked at DAU Top10 among Google free games, but not ranked at top 10 among sales amounts. On the other hand, there are several games which are low in DAU ranking but high in sales amount ranking. This result shows that there is no direct interrelation between the product attractiveness which users feel and the profit-making models in the market. This study compared the Google play free games which are ranked at top 10 in terms of DAU ranking and sales amount ranking to find out the factor which causes the imbalance between the DAU ranking and sales amount ranking. Based on this outcome, this study presents the reference point for the design of profit-making models on behalf of the manufacturers who wish to launch into the mobile game market in the future.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.559-572
• /
• 2017

Cyberbullying has been an emerging issue in recent years where research has revealed that users generally spend an increasing amount of time in social networks and forums to keep connected with each other. However, issue arises when cyberbullies are able to reach their victims through these social media platforms. There are different types of cyberbullying and like traditional bullying; it causes victims to feel overly selfconscious, increases their tendency to self-harm and generally affects their mental state negatively. Such situations occur due to security issues such as user anonymity and the lack of content restrictions in some social networks or web forums. In this paper, we highlight the existing solutions, which are Intrusion Prevention System and Intrusion Detection System from a number of researchers. However, even with such solutions, cyberbullying acts still occurs at an alarming rate. As such, we proposed an alternative solution that aims to prevent cyberbullying activities at a younger age, e.g., young children. The application would provide an alternative method to preventing cyberbullying activities among the younger generations in the future.

• Management & Information Systems Review
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.99-118
• /
• 2016

With the development of Internet and popularization of smartphones over recent years, social network services are experiencing rapid growth. On top of this, smartphone gaming market is showing a rapid growth and the use of mobile social games is on the significant rise. The occurrence of game data manipulation targeting these services and personal information leakage is highlighting the importance of social gaming security. This study is intended to propose development plans effective and efficient in social game services by figuring out factors putting effects on security dependent behavior of social game users in Korea and carrying out a practical study on the casual relationship between factors influencing security dependent behavior through recognized behavioral control and attitudes for privacy infringement of these factors. To do this, proposed was a study model in which the HBM(Health Belief Model) allowing the social game user to influence security dependent behavior was expanded and applied as a major variable. To verify the study model of this study practically, a survey was conducted among university students in Seoul-based K University and S University who had experienced using social game services. According to the study findings, firstly, the perceived seriousness turned out to provide positive influence to trust. But, the perceived seriousness turned out not to put positive effects on self-efficacy. Secondly, the perceived probability turned out not to put positive effects on self-efficacy and trust. Thirdly, the perceived gain turned out to put positive effects on self-efficacy and trust. Fourthly, the perceived disorder turned out not to put positive effects on self-efficacy and trust. Fifthly, self-efficacy turned out to put positive effects on trust. But, self-efficacy turned out not to put positive effects on security dependent behavior. Sixthly, trust turned out not to put positive effects on security dependent behavior. This study is intended to make a strategic proposal so that social game users can raise awareness of their level of security perception and security willingness through this.

• Management & Information Systems Review
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.21-39
• /
• 2018

Today, Mobile Instant Message (MIM) has become a communication means which is commonly used by many people as the technology on smart phones has been enhanced. Among the services, KakaoGame creates much profits continuously by using its representative Kakao platform. However, even though the number of users of KakaoGame increases and the characteristics of the users are more diversified, there are few researches on the relationship between the characteristics of the SNG users and the continuous use of the game. Since the social capital that is formed by the SNG users with the acquaintances create the sense of belonging, its role is being emphasized under the environment of social network. In addition, game user's concerns about the information privacy may decrease the trust on a game APP, and it also caused to threaten about the game system. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the structural relationships among SNG users' social capital, concerns about the information privacy, flow, SNG reuse intention and recommendation intention. The results from this study are as follow. First of all, the participants' bridging social capital had a positive effect on the flow of an SNG, but the bonding social capital had a negative effect on the flow of an SNG. In addition, awareness of information privacy concern had a negative effects on the flow of an SNG, but control of information privacy concern had a positive effect on the flow of an SNG. Lastly, the flow of an SNG had a positive effect on the reuse intention and recommendation intention of an SNG. Also, reuse intention of an SNG had a positive effect on the recommendation intention. Based on the results from this study, academic and practical implications can be drawn. First, This study focused on KakaoTalk which has both of the closed and open characteristics of an SNS and it was found that the SNG user's social capital might be a factor influencing each user's behaviors through the user's flow experiences in SNG. Second, this study extends the scope of prior researches by empirically analysing the relationship between the concerns about the SNG user's information privacy and flow of an SNG. Finally, the results of this research can provide practical guidelines to develop effective marketing strategies considering them for SNG companies.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.12
• /
• pp.36-48
• /
• 2020

App market has continuously been growth since its launch. The market revenues will reach about 1,000 billion US dollars in 2019. App is a core service for smartphone. Currently, there are more than 1.5 million mobile apps in App platform calling out for attention. So, if you are looking at developing a successful app, you need to have a solid marketing and distribution strategy. Online word of mouth(eWOM) is one of the most effective, powerful App marketing method. eWOM affect potential consumers' decision making, and this effect can spread rapidly through online social network. Despite the increasing research on word of mouth, only few studies have focused on content analysis. Most of studies focused on the causes and acceptance of eWOM and eWOM performance measurement. This study aims to content analysis of mobile apps review In 2013, Google researchers announced Word2Vec. This method has overcome the weakness of previous studies. This is faster and more accurate than traditional methods. This study found out the relationship between mobile app reviews and checked for reactions by Word2vec.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.48-57
• /
• 2013

Smartphones provide users with environment for communication and sharing information and at the same time play an important role of mobile technology and mobile art development. Smartphone technology-related researches are being accelerated especially with the advent of mobile Augmented Reality(AR) age, but the studies on user participation that is essential for AR content industry were insufficient. In that regard, the assistance from mobile art area that has already developed these characteristics is essential. Thus, this article is to classify mobile art that has not been studied a lot domestically into feature phone usage and smartphone usage and to analyze each example case with the three most used methods. The usage of feature phones which use the sound and images of mobile devices can be divided into three: installation and performing methods, single channel video art method and five senses communication method. On the other hand, the usage of smartphones that use sensors, cameras, GPS and AR can be divided into location-based AR, marker-based AR and markerless AR. Also, as a result of examining mobile AR content utilization technology by industries, combined methods are utilized; tourism and game-related industries use location-based AR, education and medicine-related industries use marker-based AR, and shopping-related industries use markerless AR. The development of AR content industry is expected to be accelerated with mobile art that makes use of combined technology method and constant communication method through active participation of users. The future development direction of mobile AR industry is predicted to have minimized HMD, integration of hologram technology and artificial intelligence and make the most of big data and social network so that we could overcome the technological limitation of AR.