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| Naver CEO Han Seong-sook delivers her keynote speech during Naver Connect 2020 at InterContinental Grand Seoul Parnas, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Naver |
By Jun Ji-hye
Naver will begin offering an "influencer search" function, enabling users to enter keywords in the search engine to return results including a variety of content created by influencers, the company said Tuesday.
The new function comes at a time when social media influencers, including beauty influencers, have been on the rise, leading ideas and trends in various sectors.
The nation's largest internet portal operator announced the plan during Naver Connect 2020, an annual event aimed at sharing the company's achievements over the past year and its future plans with creators, small business operators and advertisers.
Naver CEO Han Seong-sook said its influencer search service has been designed for media creators who have consistently created quality content.
"Influencers will be able to select keywords they want to input in the search engine," Han said. "Any influencers who have good content can participate in a challenge to secure a search space and expose their content."
The company will begin a beta service within the year with 200 keywords in two categories ― travel and beauty ― as influencers have been most active in those areas.
Available keywords include "London trip," "Jeju Island trip," "eyeliner" and "color makeup," with the company planning to continue expanding the service.
"Naver's keyword search services have been mostly centered on text search," Han said. "The new service will enable users to search for a person who knows much of Paris when they search for Paris trip, for example."
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| Naver will begin a beta service for its influencer search within the year. / Courtesy of Naver |
During her keynote speech, Han said Naver will evolve into a tech platform led by creators and business operators, noting that the company aims to offer more various "Tech Cubes" so users can choose tools and design their businesses on their own.
Tech Cubes refer to a set of tools integrated with a wide range of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing.
"We have focused our efforts to create tech-intensive tools that can be used easily by users," Han said, offering an example that an AI-powered AiRSpace cube recommends stores to users.
Han added that the firm will also bring its tech platform to the global market by utilizing its Tech Cubes.
