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 instance.Small wonder that a Korean firm has created a social network for couples.
韩国人对待「浪漫」的态度可不含糊。韩国的情侣们一天要说好多次甜言蜜语，而且如果对方把两人交往的「100天纪念日」忘记了的话，那么这个倒霉蛋的「末日」就要来临了。有些人会选择一起穿上情侣装，比如像花哨的红色运动衫，再配上一条蓝色的牛仔裤。所以当一家韩国公司专门推出了一款为情侣们定制的社交网络应用时，很少有人对此感到大惊小怪。
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 on.Though 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.
这款名为Between（情侣间）的移动应用，是由韩国公司VCNC（Value Creators & Company）推出的。它可以为情侣们创建一个私密空间。在这个空间里，他们不仅可以分享彼此的照片和特别的往事，还能随时随地地进行交流，互相发送一些像笑脸、眨眼、爱心等等的可爱表情。尽管这样的应用让一些单身汉们觉得不爽，但是它还是迅速窜红。从去年11月份面世至今，Between已经拥有了超过56万名韩国粉丝，而这样的战况也是VCNC并未在产品营销上下任何功夫的情况下实现的。据该公司创始人朴在旭（Park Jae-uk）透露，Between的其他20万用户分布在中国、日本和北美三大海外市场。
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」的出现仅仅是社交网络领域「亲密社交」发展方向的一员。一些Facebook的用户对于发送给自己的那些无休止的“好友请求”已经感到厌烦了，而且这些“朋友”他们几乎都不认识。另一些人则不满于Facebook提供的这般服务：自己的上司可以看到一些有当事人镜头的私密照片。因此，像Path这样好友上线仅为150人，由美国网络公司发布的社交软件，才开始变得火爆起来。当然，还有类似FamilyLeaf和Storytree这样的社交网络应用，它们主要服务的对象则是各个家庭成员。
VCNC is betting that couples particularly value their privacy. A message onone’s Facebook “Wall” from an old flame can incinerate a new relationship.Cutting 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.
正是考虑到情侣们特别重视属于他们的隐私，VCNC才将赌注压在了这样的应用上面。「老情人」在你的Facebook留言板上写下一段话，这样的信息就能把你的新恋情烧得精光。但是如果将其他不相干的人挡在门外的话，你们的爱情也就不会面临这样的危险了。可能一些愤世嫉俗的人会问，这样的社交网络和两个人简单地你来我往地发信息有什么区别吗？那么Between的粉丝们可能会认为这些人从骨子里就缺乏浪漫的细胞。
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.
那么Between到底是如何盈利的？其收益将来自于界面投放广告的费用。VCNC希望一些优质的餐厅和推出了「浪漫假日」产品的旅行社能够在Between上面发布一些针对情侣们的商业广告，同时它还将向用户们提供一些譬如将见证爱情之路的相片打印成册的高端服务。
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.
有一些滥情的「花花公子」们可能在了解到Between只允许绑定一位恋爱对象时感到恼怒，但也有一些「爱情骗子」通过使用多重身份的方式，绕过了电脑系统的漏洞，达到了自己的目的，朴先生笑着说。不过，他可不准备加入这些人的行列。他有些痛惜的谈到，因为运营VCNC已经让他忙得不可开交，甚至连交女朋友的时间都没有。