Nowadays, we are starting to have a comfortable life because of a new culture. ST introduces some interesting cultures. .................................................. Ed
With the proliferation of smartphones, applications for various purposes have been developed. Apps enable easy communication between people, and provide many other conveniences. Furthermore, when new apps are developed, they sometimes create new cultures that have never existed. Apps “Kick-going” and “Everdays” are examples. Let’s look into each app.
21st century Magical Method of Shortening Distances, Kick-Going
Recently, you can often see electric kickboards where the term, Kick-Going, is written, on the street. Kick-Going is the country’s first electric kickboard-sharing service, and has steadily gained popularity, with the number of subscribers reaching over 20 million as of 2019. It is useful when traveling a distance, which often make people hesitate what kind of transportation they should use: public transportation, walking, or several transfers in close proximity. You can rent and return the electric kickboards only through the app, not through a person. Let’s find out more about how to use Kick-Going.
1. First, install the Kick-Going app.
2. Sign up for membership, and register a driver’s license and a card for payment of fares. (If these are not registered, the use of Kick-Going will be restricted.)
3. After all registrations are completed, a map is displayed to show the location of the electric kickboards, remaining battery capacity, and available time.
4. If you go to the desired location with the markings, you can have the electric kickboard set up on the side of the road.
5. Scanning the QR code in the middle of the handle with the app camera allows the kickboard to move, indicating the start of its use. (The basic fee is 1,000 won for five minutes, and it charges 100 won per minute.)
6. After use, if you place an electric kickboard where you want to leave it, and click the app return button, it will automatically be returned and charged.
Since individual electric kickboards are equipped with GPS, the position of the kickboard will be displayed on the map again from where it was returned. This is a system that allows people to locate it and use it again.
Kick-Going is not only convenient and fun to ride, but it also solves some of urban problems. In the past 10 months, KickGoing users’ driving range has been around 41 laps of the earth, reducing carbon emissions by more than 220 tons. Also, Choi Young-woo, CEO of Kick-Going, said, “If short-distance traveling is replaced by a kickboard, there will be fewer cars, less traffic jams, and less car emissions. As the shared service market develops, fewer cars and more road infrastructure can solve urban congestion.”
Everdays, Reporting of Deathe
In 2017, a special purpose SNS was launched. It is Everdays, an app that announces obituaries. When Mark Alhermizi, the CEO of Everdays, first proposed it, developers treated it like a madman. They thought, “Why do we need to report someone’s death on SNS?” However, Mark Alhermizi, who had held his father’s funeral just before he suggested Everdays, persuaded developers that it had been difficult to announce his father’s death while hosting a funeral. This is how the app “Everdays” was created.
Like other social media, Everdays allows users to post texts and photos, and leave comments. However, it is only for the purpose of informing and commemorating the deceased. Since the method of use for Everdays is as simple as the followwing, it is easy to notify an acquaintance about the obituary.
1. After posting the obituary, register the deceased and their families’ mobile phone numbers.
2. Contacts stored on the mobile phone are automatically synchronized.
3. From the synchronized contacts, select the person to whom you want to send the notification.
4. Links are sent in text.
5. Click on the link to go to the obituary page.
Furthermore, Everdays allows people to find lost contacts even without contact information. It analyzes the contact information and the profile information of the deceased or his family through AI, and supports the function of the “person who may know.” On the obituary page, people can share photos and videos containing memories of the deceased, and pay tribute through comments.
Everdays’ current corporate value stands at 100 million U.S. dollars and has two million subscribers. Also, as many as 85 percent of Everdays users click on the links found on the obituary. That is why it can effectively inform many people from a distance. Moreover, if it is difficult to present such information at a funeral home, people can comfort the bereaved family online. Since Everdays is a memorial place, it does not include banner ads. Instead, they provide marketing information to insurance companies and make profits from different services, such as accepting orders for condolence flowers for interested subscribers.
Mark Alhermizi says Everdays is not just for a few days before and after the funeral, but it provides a space where those who lost their loved ones can overcome tough times by comforting each other over a longer period of time.
It’s a completely different concept from posting an obituary on Facebook. Facebook might have a picture of a dancing cat right after the obituary. There is no fear of being pushed away by the new posting. Everdays is the place for obituaries and memorials. -Mark Alhermizi, Startup Nation, 2018.12.15.
Jung Yeon-wook (Planning Editor)
Yun Ji-hui (ST Reporter)
