Suwon City Wins Grand Prize in Kakao Talk Category at '5th Annual SNS Awards'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City has won the grand prize in the Kakao Talk category at the ‘5th Annual SNS Awards’ hosted by the Korea Social Content Promotion Association.

The awards ceremony was held on the 19th at LW Convention Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. The ‘Annual SNS Awards’ is the most prestigious award in Korea's SNS field, selecting outstanding organizations by evaluating SNS utilization performance of public institutions and companies by platform.

Suwon City received high marks across both quantitative evaluations that measured Kakao Talk usage, user participation, and influence, as well as evaluations in content quality, storytelling, activity, and communication.

Suwon City opened the ‘Suwon City Kakao Talk Plus Friend’ account in 2016. As of the 19th, Suwon City's Kakao Talk friends number 449,671, the most among all metropolitan governments, basic local governments, and government agencies nationwide.

The ‘Kakao Talk Friends Big Event,’ launched in 2016, had a major impact on increasing Kakao Talk friends. The Big Event allows those who become Kakao Talk friends with Suwon City to use the city's major tourist attractions and experience facilities free of charge or at discounted prices.

Suwon City actively utilizes Kakao Talk to provide information to citizens and guide them about major events. Kakao Talk is also used to disseminate emergency situations such as disasters and calamities to citizens.

Suwon City has received ▲2014 ‘Korea Internet Communication Award’ Grand Prize in the Public Sector ▲2016 ‘Korea Blog Awards’ Grand Prize in the Public Sector ▲2017 ‘Korea Internet Award’ Grand Prize in Social Promotion, 2019 Korea PR Award Excellence Prize ▲2019 Korea SNS Award, and is recognized as an ‘excellent local government in SNS utilization.’

Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young said, “Suwon City's Kakao Talk is an effective communication channel and the pride of Suwon City's SNS that receives the greatest love from citizens,” and added, “We will make greater efforts to ensure that Suwon City's Kakao Talk becomes a messenger that communicates and empathizes with citizens.”