 A reporter from an Internet site Webcasts a candlelit protest live in central Seoul. / Korea Times File Photo |
By Kim RahnStaff Reporter
Countless Koreans have been up all night these days. No, they're not watching Portugal trouncing Czech Republic at Euro 2008. Rather, they're glued to their computers watching demonstrators and police confront each other at candlelit vigils on various Web sites.
Afreeca and other Internet sites have Webcasted the rallies live, using video cameras and laptops and taking advantage of the world's best wireless Internet technology. Among popular Webcasters are Color TV of the New Progressive Party, OhMyNews, Voice of People, Seebox and Radio 21.
Kim Young-il, a 32-year-old office worker, watches the broadcasting through Afreeca, one of the Internet sites, until 2 or 3 a.m. whenever he cannot go and participate in the demonstrations.
``When I cannot take part in the rally myself due to fatigue or late work, I watch the Webcasting instead. In that way, I support the demonstrators who chant slogans on the streets and sometimes clash with police,'' Kim said.
Some people join in the rallies at night after watching the internet footage. ``I was watching Color TV at night between May 31 and June 1 when the most violent clashes occurred and police fired water cannons. Seeing many protesters injured, I thought that I should do something for them and rushed to the demonstration site,'' an Internet user with the ID ``kiyeoun obba'' said on a Daum community site.
Web sites are also attracting Internet users to diverse cyber programs. On Color TV, culture critic and professor Jin Jung-gwon has reported the rallies and was arrested while reporting live on the protests. OhMyNews and some others offer a chat section where visitors can express their opinions while watching broadcasting.
Following the popularity, Web traffic to those sites has sharply risen.
According to Korean Click, an Internet media research firm, the number of visitors to Afreeca and OhMyNews has more than doubled over the last one month. They had an average of 600,000 visitors per week before, now almost 2 million.
Another company Rankey's research showed that 720,000 people watched the rally through Afreeca over the night from May 31 to June 1 ― more than double the figure two weeks before on May 18.
The ages of visitors also changed ― on May 18, 50.6 percent of the visitors were in their 20s, but on June 1, 36 percent were in their 20s and 30 percent in their 30s. The ratio of those in their 40s and 50s also hiked from 6.8 percent and 1.2 percent to 12.5 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
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