Digital Expressions of Care
Kakao COVID-19 Report, Part 9
The Kakao COVID-19 Report uses Kakao’s service data to give us a perspective on how we are trying to maintain our lives and create a new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from January to June 2020, from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, healthcare, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact, were analyzed to create the Kakao COVID-19 Report. Our findings on the new normal, as are detailed in the Kakao COVID-19 Report, will hopefully be used as reference when building new strategies and policies for the future.
Part 1 is about how our lives have changed since the outbreak of COVID-19, told with data from Kakao’s many services.
Part 2 provides a more in-depth analysis by focusing on media and content consumption.
Part 3 is an observation of changes in peoples’ lives at home, seen with e-commerce and healthcare service data.
Part 4 is about how people moved around during COVID-19, by looking at data from mobility services.
Part 5 uses data to show how mobility patterns have changed during our daily lives and while we travel during COVID-19.
Part 6 identifies peoples’ various social interests by analyzing search data
Part 7 takes a look at how interested people are in COVID-19 by analyzing data related to the coronavirus.
Part 8 is about how people use AI to communicate in their daily lives.
Our lives have changed completely because of COVID-19. We have taken extreme care to minimize the time we spend face-to-face in order to minimize transmissions. We have changed the way we communicate and how we use digital services to maintain life despite minimum human contact. Part 9 of the Kakao COVID-19 Report presents the findings from our analysis of user data on Kakao service consumption.
#Restricted offline gatherings replaced by online care and compassion
People refrained from going outside as the number of COVID-19 cases increased. They didn’t meet friends and held meetings virtually. These changes led to decreased demand in mobility services and the changes were represented in the usage data of related service platforms. The volume of Kakao T Taxi operations that connect the supply of taxi services to the demand, decreased sharply after the super-spreading case of Patient 31 was detected in February. The volume of operations further decreased by 38% in the first week of March, compared to early 2020.
[Reference] More details on mobility patterns and conditions are provided in Part 4 of the Kakao COVID-19 Report.
[Figure 1] Weekly taxi operations using Kakao T Taxi (Completed drives, Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)A decrease in offline gatherings also resulted in less people paying at restaurants. Since not a lot of people payed and split bills, the usage of Kakao Pay’s "Going Dutch‘ feature, which is used to divide payments, decreased. The decrease in the usage of the ‘Going Dutch’ feature represents the contactless life we live during COVID-19. Usage of the ‘Going Dutch’ feature which had steadily increased since the second half of 2019. began to decrease in February 2020 and continued to fall for three months until April. The usage of the ‘Going Dutch’ feature rebounded in May, after the social distancing restrictions were relaxed.
[Figure 2] Monthly use of Kakao Pay’s “Going Dutch” feature (Jul. 2019 to Jul. 2020)While gifting money on special occasions is customary in Korea, the usage of Kakao Pay’s “Money Gifts” feature fluctuated because of COVID-19. Usage of the Money Gifts feature depended on the occasion. Usage of the ‘Wedding Money Gift’ feature dropped immediately after the first wave of infections, as the number of weddings (an occasion that can be postponed) decreased in March and April. Since March, usage of the “Condolences Money Gift” increased by around 20 to 30%, compared to early January of 2020. Overall, usage frequency of the Kakao Pay “Wedding Money Gift” feature and the “Condolences Money Gift” features showed an increase compared to early 2020. This demonstrates that people used digital services to show that they cared even though they were not able to be there in person.
[Figure 3] Usage frequency of Kakao Pay’s Money Gift feature (Monthly data, Jan. 2020 to Jul. 2020)# 20% increase in KakaoTalk PC version users
- Taxi auto-pay increased from 27% to 35%
-“Study-from-home”, KakaoTalk notification about educational information doubled from January
The decrease in offline gatherings led to an exponential surge in online communication (Refer to Kakao COVID-19 Report, Part 1). The increased number of Kakao Talk PC version users is another example of this trend. The number of users who accessed Kakao Talk through their personal computers remained stable in January, before the pandemic started. The number of Kakao Talk PC version users increased 6% by the end of February, when the case of a super-spreading patient was detected, then rose steadily to 20% by the second week of May, when a cluster of COVID-19 cases was located in Itaewon.
[Figure 4] Number of Kakao Talk PC version users (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)Since it became difficult to meet people face-to face, more people started to rely on voice and video multimedia communication tools. This can be observed from the increase in the call time people spent talking with others on Kakao Talk’s Voice Call and Video Call features. The total call time of Voice Call and Video Call combined did not fluctuate during January, before the first COVID-19 confirmed case in South Korea. This all changed with the super-spreading case of Patient 31. The combined call time of the call features greatly increased during the fourth week of February, when strict social distancing was advised. The combined call time increased by 59%, compared to the combined call time of early January.
[Figure 5] Total call time of Voice Call + Video Call (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)As a preventive measure, people make efforts to avoid close contact, even when they are in close proximity with others. In restaurants and cafes, tables have been spaced apart and in supermarkets, plexiglass dividers have been installed in front of cashiers to separate them from customers. For taxi rides, the use of Kakao T Taxi features that allow drivers and passengers to avoid contact, increased. Passengers were able to register their credit card information into the Kakao T Taxi app to activate auto-pay, which they used to pay for their ride. Auto-pay usage stood at 27% on the first Thursday of 2020 (Jan. 2), but increased to 35% by the last Thursday of June (Jun. 25).
[Figure 6] Kakao T Taxi auto-pay ratio (Thursdays of each week, Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)We used data on Kakao Talk notifications to learn about the demands for educational content during COVID-19. Companies that provide online course lectures or educational content can send information on course subscriptions or premium courses through Kakao Talk notifications. Data show that, during COVID-19, the amount of education-related Kakao Talk notifications sent to users started to increase in February 2020. Compared to January, 109% more Kakao Talk notifications were sent to users in July, so the number of transmitted notifications increased by a twofold.
[Figure 7] Education-related KakaoTalk notifications that were sent to users (Feb. 2020 to Jul. 2020Data Analysis and Methodology
- The Kakao COVID-19 Report analyzes data retrieved from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact.
- Methodology: The data are presented in the form of a graph to show proportional data or percentages, (%) in order to illustrate the changes that occurred before and after COVID-19. The data were retrieved from (either the first week or the entire month of) January to June 2020 and for some analyses, to September 2020. Some data were excluded.
- Example: The graph below shows that the number of users increased by 50% on the fourth week of April, compared to the number of users in the first week of January 2020. On the y-axis, values above zero (0) represent an increase in frequency, whereas values below zero (0) represent a decrease in frequency.
Kakao COVID-19 Report
Part 1: COVID-19 and Kakao Data
Part 4: Traffic Jams during COVID-19
Part 5: Tory Stores over Theme Parks
Part 6: More Searches for Pharmacies
Part 7: Knowing the Facts on COVID-19
Kakao aims for the results of the Kakao COVID-19 Report to serve as a resouce in overcoming times of crisis. We hope that the implications of our data analyses will be used in building wise and resilient strategies or policies to navigate uncertainties and explore new business opportunities.
All copyrights of the Kakao COVID-19 Report are reserved by Kakao Corporation. Kakao Corporation strictly prohibits the use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report for promotional, sales, or marketing purposes. Kakao Corporation authorizes the reproduction and use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report within the scope of the Copyright Act, provided that all copyrights are fully disclosed.
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