雙語達人:韓式愛情,情侶專屬世界
SOUTH KOREANS take romance seriously. Lovers are expected to swap sweetnothings many times a day and woe betide the clod who forgets a “100-day anniversary”. Some pairs dress in “couplestyle”, in the same garish red sweater and blue jeans combo, for l wonder that a Korean firm has created a social network for couples.
韓國人對待「浪漫」的態度可不含糊。韓國的情侶們一天要說好多次甜言蜜語，而且如果對方把兩人交往的「100天紀念日」忘記了的話，那麼這個倒黴蛋的「末日」就要來臨了。有些人會選擇一起穿上情侶裝，比如像花哨的紅色運動衫，再配上一條藍色的牛仔褲。所以當一家韓國公司專門推出了一款爲情侶們定製的社交網絡應用時，很少有人對此感到大驚小怪。VCNC’s app is called “Between”. It creates a private space for two people,in which they can share photographs and special memories, chat in real time andexchange any number of cute “emoticons”: smiley faces, winks, hearts and so gh revolting to singles, Between is a hit. Since its launch in November,more than 560,000 Koreans have fallen for it. This comes despite VCNC spendingvirtually nothing on marketing. Park Jae-uk, the firm’s boss, claims another200,000 users abroad, divided between China, Japan and North America.
這款名爲Between（情侶間）的移動應用，是由韓國公司VCNC（Value Creators & Company）推出的。它可以爲情侶們創建一個私密空間。在這個空間裏，他們不僅可以分享彼此的照片和特別的往事，還能隨時隨地地進行交流，互相發送一些像笑臉、眨眼、愛心等等的可愛表情。儘管這樣的應用讓一些單身漢們覺得不爽，但是它還是迅速竄紅。從去年11月份面世至今，Between已經擁有了超過56萬名韓國粉絲，而這樣的戰況也是VCNC並未在產品營銷上下任何功夫的情況下實現的。據該公司創始人樸在旭（Park Jae-uk）透露，Between的其他20萬用戶分佈在中國、日本和北美三大海外市場。Between is part of a trend towards intimacy in social networking. SomeFacebook users are fed up with the torrent of “friend” requests from peoplethey barely know. Others resent being tagged in embarrassing photographs theirboss can see. Hence the rise of services such as Path, an American network thatlimits members to 150 friends. Other networks, such as FamilyLeaf andStorytree, target families.
「Between」的出現僅僅是社交網絡領域「親密社交」發展方向的一員。一些Facebook的用戶對於發送給自己的那些無休止的“好友請求”已經感到厭煩了，而且這些“朋友”他們幾乎都不認識。另一些人則不滿於Facebook提供的這般服務：自己的上司可以看到一些有當事人鏡頭的私密照片。因此，像Path這樣好友上線僅爲150人，由美國網絡公司發佈的社交軟件，纔開始變得火爆起來。當然，還有類似FamilyLeaf和Storytree這樣的社交網絡應用，它們主要服務的對象則是各個家庭成員。
VCNC is betting that couples particularly value their privacy. A message onone’s Facebook “Wall” from an old flame can incinerate a new ing the ex (and everyone else) out removes the risk. Cynics may ask how asocial network for two differs from simply sending text messages back andforth. Between’s users presumably think the cynics lack romance in their souls.
正是考慮到情侶們特別重視屬於他們的隱私，VCNC纔將賭注壓在了這樣的應用上面。「老情人」在你的Facebook留言板上寫下一段話，這樣的信息就能把你的新戀情燒得精光。但是如果將其他不相干的人擋在門外的話，你們的愛情也就不會面臨這樣的危險了。可能一些憤世嫉俗的人會問，這樣的社交網絡和兩個人簡單地你來我往地發信息有什麼區別嗎？那麼Between的粉絲們可能會認爲這些人從骨子裏就缺乏浪漫的細胞。Revenue will come from advertising. The firm hopes that nice restaurantsand sellers of romantic holidays will pay to pitch to loved-up couples. It alsoplans to offer premium services, such as the printing of photobooks documentingthe progress of a relationship.
那麼Between到底是如何盈利的？其收益將來自於界面投放廣告的費用。VCNC希望一些優質的餐廳和推出了「浪漫假日」產品的旅行社能夠在Between上面發佈一些針對情侶們的商業廣告，同時它還將向用戶們提供一些譬如將見證愛情之路的相片打印成冊的高端服務。Swingers may be miffed to learn that Between allows only one partner peruser. But some cheaters have beaten the system by using multiple identities,laughs Mr Park. He is unlikely to join them. Running VCNC keeps him too busyeven for one girlfriend, he laments.
有一些濫情的「花花公子」們可能在瞭解到Between只允許綁定一位戀愛對象時感到惱怒，但也有一些「愛情騙子」通過使用多重身份的方式，繞過了電腦系統的漏洞，達到了自己的目的，樸先生笑着說。不過，他可不準備加入這些人的行列。他有些痛惜的談到，因爲運營VCNC已經讓他忙得不可開交，甚至連交女朋友的時間都沒有。
