Hongdae led the pack of most-searched locations in Seoul through search engines and Internet forums, according to data by Cheil Data and Analysis Center, a big data analysis group of Cheil Worldwide.

The center examined around 258,000 search terms by 3,200 participants for “hot places” ― locations associated with trendiness, leisure activities and restaurants ― in Seoul in the latter half of 2014.

Hongdae took the first place with 29.8 percent of total hot place search terms, followed by Gangnam station (12.9 percent), Shinchon (11.8 percent), Itaewon (10.3 percent) and Nonhyeon (7.0 percent).

Garosu-gil, Samcheong-dong, Insa-dong, Bukchon, and Shinsa-dong also made it into the top 10.

Hongdae took first place among people in all three demographic groups surveyed ― 20s and below, 30s, and 40s and above.

For people in their 20s and below, multicultural Itaewon took second place. Buam-dong and Yeonnam-dong were in the top 10 for people in their 30s due to the combination of traditional and modern aesthetics, while Insa-dong and Samcheong-dong were favored by people in their 40s and above for traditional Korean restaurants and tea houses.

Cheil Worldwide also distributed a questionnaire and divided the the panelists into eight categories ― confident, adventurous, reclusive, perfectionist, attention-seeking, fickle, defensive and accepting.

People in the “attention-seeking” category tended to concentrate on finding new and unique hot places and boasting via social media, while people in the “adventurous” category were more active in seeking new “hidden” places such as Haebangchon-gil and Serosu-gil, which branched off from more popular destinations as the former locations rose in value and rents increased.

An official from Cheil Worldwide Data team stated their research showed that, “search term related behavior manifests differently based on one’s psychological disposition,” and added that the results would be beneficial in coming up with a personalized marketing strategy.”

By Sang Youn-joo (sangyj@heraldcorp.com)