New Business Applications for Social Networking

Social funding involves group sponsorship, in which people donate their talent, time and small amounts of money to make a project successful. Called “crowd funding” elsewhere, in Korea this phenomenon has come to be called “social funding” because people learn of a project through social networks and become motivated to assist. For example, when sponsoring the production of an unknown singer’s album, volunteer sponsors may write songs or publicize the project to raise funds to produce the album. Although sponsors ultimately get a copy of the album, the real reward is sharing and realizing their own creative ideas. Projects that are interesting and enjoyable, that realize small but valuable dreams, or that contribute to the environment or make social contributions attract the most sponsors.