The reason Google failed is that S. Koreans use Internet to talk to, and curse each other. More precisely, they want to be part of an Internet mob. Adding one's comment to news article or any posted material is their favorite sport. These replies and postings feed one another, and whip up supercharged passion. Googling is mostly a solitary activity. Naver.com is where many users indulge in being Internet lynch mob. I see these mobs generate Internet tornado or tsunami. The speed and magnitude of such onslaught is sometimes scary.
However smart or learned they are, they are frequently reduced to worst common denominator driven by pure animal drive, the kind of thing you see when huge buffalo herd suddenly gallop. Googling cannot provide such an experience. What people in other countries wallow only in football stadium or rock concert, they do it in Internet everyday.
More precisely, they want to be part of an Internet mob. Adding one's comment to news article or any posted material is their favorite sport. These replies and postings feed one another, and whip up supercharged passion. They all need to come to FreeRepublic.
'cuz NONE of that stuff goes on here, Lord knows.