Gangnam-gu, led by District Mayor Kim Hyun-gi, won two awards at the 2026 Social Eye Awards — the grand prize for its tourism YouTube channel "Visit Gangnam" and the excellence award for its KakaoTalk channel.
The awards ceremony is being held Thursday at the Grand Hall of L Tower in Yangjae.
The Social Eye Awards is South Korea's largest social media awards program, organized by the Korea Association of Information and Telecommunication. It evaluates SNS and digital channels operated by companies and public institutions across branding, content, service quality and user experience. A panel of 4,000 internet experts selects winners through preliminary, semifinal and final rounds of judging.
Visit Gangnam won the grand prize in the public services category for the second consecutive year, following its win last year. The channel was recognized for its short-form video content and enhanced information tailored to international tourists.
The channel features district civil servants appearing on camera in sketch comedy segments using the latest internet memes, as well as restaurant tours and tourist attraction experiences. It also produces content in English and Chinese — formatted to match the viewing habits of those audiences — covering tourist itineraries, dining recommendations and transportation tips that foreign visitors can use right away. Beyond well-known destinations such as COEX and Garosugil, the channel highlights long-standing local eateries, alleyway commercial districts and neighborhood restaurants, contributing to the vitalization of the local economy.
The Gangnam-gu KakaoTalk channel won the excellence award in recognition of its efforts to improve the accessibility and convenience of digital civil services. In February, the district became the first autonomous district in Seoul to launch a KakaoTalk chatbot. Residents can receive guidance on civil services and navigate directly to the relevant pages from the chat window, without installing a separate app or conducting complicated searches.
The judging panel said the KakaoTalk channel went beyond simple information delivery to provide a service that leads to actual resolution of civil complaints. The panel also praised the channel's design, which connects a widely used messaging app to administrative services and allows users to find the information they need intuitively.
The district plans to expand Visit Gangnam's short-form and global tourism content while continuing to improve the civil service guidance functions of its KakaoTalk channel. The goal is to showcase Gangnam's appeal to tourists in an accessible and engaging way, while providing residents with faster and more convenient digital administrative services.
"This award is the result of our efforts to provide tourists with useful and entertaining information about Gangnam, and to offer residents easy and convenient administrative services," District Mayor Kim said. "We will continue to promote Gangnam's appeal through fresh tourism content and expand digital administrative services that residents can truly feel the benefit of."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
