1. Summary

2. Twitter and Instagram in Japan

3. Japanese Based Social Media Applications

4. Social gaming

5. References

Summary

Japanese social media is very centered around media connectivity with friends, each popular platform in Japan is due to its ability to keep updated with friends and family. In Japan, LINE, a Japan-based app dominates the social media market, winning over Facebook and the large growth in the gaming market. Twitter, however, is thriving in this East Asian country having over 35% of their population using the app. Japanese social media trends rely heavily on current events and improvements in technology or gaming. ^[1]

Social media in Japan was revolutionized by Twitter, LINE and interactive video games.

Twitter and Instagram in Japan

One of Japan’s most consistent social media sites in terms of popularity is Twitter. In recent years it has been the leading social media site based on population usage. Approximately 35% of the population in Japan is on Twitter, while 54% of that population are male users. In terms of age demographics on Twitter, the average age has leveled out in recent years. Twitter in Japan was dominated by teenagers at first but has since increased in users over the age of 30. Only 43% of users are under the age of 30 in 2018. Additionally, since print media is still very popular in Japan, several news sources and large companies are using “cross-channel” campaigns. It is also very common to see campaigns start on print and eventually move to Twitter to continue the conversation.^[2] Furthermore, Japanese Twitter user Hanna Golota says that language is a big part of why Twitter is so popular in Japan. Japanese users can type more information than English users because of the limited character count. Twitter for Japanese users is more similar to a blogging site because of the lack of spaces used in Japanese. She also expresses that Japanese Twitter saw a huge spike in numbers after the 2011 earthquake. In the wake of this natural disaster, media outlets were not functioning efficiently. In order to compensate and receive information, Japanese users took to twitter because of its faster communication system. Since then, the account @earthquake_jp has remained on the top 10 most popular accounts in Japan.^[3] In comparison, while Twitter still takes the lead, Instagram in Japan is a rapidly growing platform. In the last two years the number of user accounts for Instagram in Japan has increased by 43%. Additionally, while the country continues to experience large amounts of tourism, a common trend of tourists is to refer to popular Japanese Instagram accounts for ideas of where to go. This differs from the traditional touristic environment because the photos that are being referred to are taken by actual citizens of Japan and not promoted by popular companies or the government.^[4]

Japanese Based Social Media Applications

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter didn’t gain immediate popularity in Japan. One of the reasons for the slow and steady growth of Facebook users in Japan was the fact that users had to register accounts using their real names and created a privacy issue. Additionally, Facebook didn’t really start to get attention in Japan until the release of the film “The Social Network” in 2011. Another reason people in Japan started using Facebook were monumental natural disasters that occurred. These disasters made social media connections key because of the fast traveling news outlet that social media sites create. Japanese users also typically go to Facebook for more of a resume platform than a way to keep in touch with friends and family. Japanese users view Facebook similarly to how some use LinkedIn.^[5]

After the launch of LINE in 2011, it quickly gained over 50 million followers in 399 days. It acts as an all inclusive app mainly used for messaging but also has features that allow video calling, photo-editing, ordering taxis and more. Video games were recently labeled a new social media platform due to the interactive quality in online multiplayer games. It has become a specific target market and social-networking site where users can communicate with each other via microphones. Social media trends for the future predict Twitter will remain the most-used platform and other media channels will see an increase in influencer based content according to Japan Association of Marketors. ^[6]It is also predicted by 2021 there will be around 58.5 million Japanese users communicating with LINE. ^[7]

Another increasingly popular Japanese based social media platform is called Mixi. Mixi is the leading social networking platform in Japan and has similar features to Myspace and Facebook. The social media site was created to give users a way of fully expressing themselves.^[8] Mixi is a closed social network that was only available to users with a Japanese cell phone which is why it didn’t have the effect LINE had in user expansion among other Asian countries such as Korea and China. Mixi was launched in 2004 and has since been growing in numbers. Some characteristics Mixi has is that each profile is the same layout and users cannot personalize their page view. This limits users' ability to express themselves online. The homepage of Mixi is a collection of recent blog posts or pictures from friends the user is connected to and users can also see their recent page viewers. Another interesting aspect about Mixi is that it has a space for users to write reviews. These reviews can vary from book reviews to restaurants or movies. ^[9]

Social gaming

There are other factors that strongly affect Japan’s digital market such as social gaming which is an industry that has millions of users. Digital In The Round says that two widely known gaming giants in Japan are GREE and DeNa which are millions of users strong. Since the early 1980’s, video games have been an enormous part of Japanese culture. The North American video game crash in 1983 heavily contributed to Japan’s dominance of the global video game industry. Since then, Japan has produced many of the industry leading companies like Nintendo, Sega and Sony Computer Entertainment. According to BBC News, in 2002 the Japanese video game industry made up about 50% of the global market.^[10] Recently, video games have been considered a form of social media due to the advancement of online multiplayer capabilities. These capabilities consist of the ability to play a game with multiple users and communicate with these users via microphone. Video game developers in Japan have looked to target the market of social-networking through video games with Mobage.^[11] According to The Japan Times, Mobage is a popular social-gaming network with more users than Facebook in Japan. Social-game creator DeNA predicts that in a few years, social gaming will be a 2.6 billion dollar business. The business of social gaming in Japan has been primarily directed toward the mobile device gaming community, which has over 107 million users. Japan currently has the largest mobile gaming market in the world, which generated 5.8 billion dollars in 2014. “On the subway in Tokyo you will see women, men, young and old playing video games.” Mentions Matthew Ryan of Japan Dreaming. “The reason for that is the games are made to be fun for a wider audience and they keep the functionality simple. Japanese video game developers have mastered the art of simplicity with great depth.” ^[12]

References

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