Social Media in Japan

So is finally time to talk about social media in Japan. First I think is adequate to point some unique characteristics of Japans Social Media Market.

Japan has about 120 million residents and 2/3 of it are connected to the internet, this large penetration of the internet in society hasn’t invest much on it, only half of Japan’s 4000 companies spend more than $100k on the internet at all and there are more mobile internet users than wired in Japan.

Is also important to notice that Social Media scene in Japan is totally isolated. Mostly because of language and cultural barriers.

Wikipedia defines Social Media as Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The image below is a brief history of social media penetration in Japan.

As I said before Television is still the major media in Japan, but the world of the Internet is a challenge in this sense, because advertising on the Internet is still small, and advertising space there in most cases is cheap. Japan’s online advertising is taking steps to become a great media between 2004 and 2006 it grew from 3% to 6% of all advertising investments as shown by eMarketer.

And analyzing the 2007 Advertising expenditures in Japan Internet ads rose faster than any other media. The Internet media investment grew 24%. from 2006 to 2007, and for the first time, exceeded expenditures on magazine advertising. It is a big step but if was responsible for only 8,6% for the total expenditures, while TV was 28,5% and Newspapers 13,5%. Click here for the full article – Dentsu: 2007 Advertising Expenditures in Japan.

Through a survey from Goo Research is possible to see which are the most popular Social Network Systems. Thank you very much for What Japan Thinks for translating this research and many other surveys

Are you currently using a Social Networking Service?

Currently using	31.5%
Used to use	10.5%
Never used	43.1%
Don’t know what SNS is	14.8%

Which Social Networking Service are you currently using?

	Votes	Percentage
mixi	296	86.0%
GREE	36	10.5%
Yahoo! Days	26	7.6%
MySpace	19	5.5%
Rakuten Ichiba Links	9	2.6%
freeml	6	1.8%
livedoor Furupa	4	1.2%
CURURU	4	1.2%
So-net SNS	3	0.9%
Facebook	1	0.3%
CyWorld	0	0.0%
JOCOSO	0	0.0%
SayClub	0	0.0%
Other	57	17.1%

Social Networking has steadily increased in popularity in Japan they provide platforms for the Japanese to socialize interact and communicate online. It is said that the Social Networks offers a safe environment  for self-expression and social development.

Mixi is Japans top Social Network, it is completely build for Japanese people and culture, hardly Facebook, MySpace or Orkut will be able overcome Mixis popularity. In June 2008, Mixi accounted for 12.4 million, or 41%, of the 31 million unique visitors for all social networking sites in Japan. The biggest problem for the penetration of other Social Network ar the language barriers, most Japanese know that Facebook and MySpace have Japanese-language sites.

Another advantage Mixi has is it Mobile platform, most Japanese accesses the internet and engages in social networking via their cell phones.

Mixis revenue comes from advertising. Yahoo! Japan had a 45.1% share of total ad impressions with 13.3 billion impressions, followed by Japan’s Mixi with an 11.3% market share and 3.3 billion ad impressions.

For now this is enough I will try to next week write a part two: focused more on blogging and Micro-blogging and mobile advertising.

Also I found a great Mandala with the Social Media Scene in Japan. Click Here for the Full Size

QR Codes

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes.

Here is a QR code that is linked to the blog

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging). QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks. Users can also generate and print their own QR Code for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR Code generating sites.

Advertising agencies are now using QR codes to extend information in printed ads such as magazines, newspapers and outdoor media (busstops and posters). People use their cellphones to access hot sites our download special content.

You can generate your own QR Code in this website – Kaywa QR

To download the mobile software use this webpage – Kaywa Reader

And here are a couple of interesting uses for QR codes on Japan Probe

Children Keitai

Here is some interesting data. Is a survey about Cellphone usage among children in Japan, before I read I thought that most young children, 7 to 10 years old, probably had cellphones and were, somehow, hard core users of services like mobile manga and tamagochi.
I got blown away with the result that shows that actually Japanese parents are not very fond of their children walking around with cellphones, but the ones who give a mobile to kids are mostly for safety reasons.
But why is this important? Well the survey shows also that the parent and the  children choose together the phone, making market to explore since is easy to see the reason to buy and the developing different applications to please parents and children.
Click for the full survey

Rocking Cellphones

Japan carries have a variety of mobile phones with accelerometers that let you play Chokkan (motion) games, send an email with a flick of your wrist, and use the phone physically to interact with applications. Recently, much has been made of using the onboard cameras to accomplish the same thing, and there are more and more cool applications coming out.
With the success of games like guitar hero Taito released Chokkan Band. The sensor on the phone detects movement, allowing anyone to use the phone as a guitar, violin, drums, or other instrument. Synched up together, you can create an entire band in perfect harmony, jamming out to songs downloaded through the service. The game is free, but songs come at a small fee.

Here is a Video from Reuters about the app
Vodpod videos no longer available.

And here is the Campaign video… sad isn’t it
Vodpod videos no longer available.

How is McDonalds helping in Media Convergence

I’ve been following through a Japanese blog called Trends in Japan that always have some good news about how media is used in Japan, and Mc Donalds have been doing some great Breakthroughs.

On May 27th Nintendo, in cooperation with McDonalds, started a new wireless information and gaming service in 21 restaurants around Tokyo. This is part of the Nintendo Spot project to give DS gamers wireless access to the internet on the train and in McDonald’s restaurants.

Different to Europe and America it is hard to find a restaurant or bar in Japan offering a free WiFi hotspot to connect your computer or mobile gaming device to the Web. That is because Japanese usually use their mobile phones to connect to the internet, but also because of security concerns about open networks. Another important reason is that restaurant owners in Japan aren’t interested in having their customers lingering around in the often overcrowded spots in downtown.

Also after nearly a year in development, McDonalds Japan has finally released it’s innovative new Kazasu Coupon (Contactless Coupon) loyalty and payment program, beginning with 175 stores and expanding gradually to its 3,800 nationwide stores by 2009.

Kazasu Coupon uses Felica RFID technology installed in most modern Japanese phones to create the first program of this type, allowing customers to choose their meals, redeem coupons, and pay for purchases all with their mobile phones. This is similar to CMode, the vending machine payment/coupon system from Coca-Cola, but with a far greater reach and selection.

To join, customers must download an application to their phones and register via mobile web, allowing them to choose the coupons they like. When making their purchase at McDonalds, the coupon is redeemed by placing the phone near the RFID reader at the register, instantly adding the item to the order. To complete the order, payment can also be done using NTT Docomo’s iD mobile wallet.

Kazasu Coupon has the potential to be a powerful CRM program for McDonalds, allowing them to target coupons and campaigns directly to customer’s mobile phones according to their preferences and purchase history.

While this is still in a testing phase, Kazasu Coupon will likely include more interactive features and downloadable content once it becomes a full-fledged loyalty program and will focus on CRM directly to the pockets and pocketbooks of their customers.

This shows how great are the opportunities media convergence offers to new business and marketing models.