Social Mobile In Japan

Image source: http://takeme2japan.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/graph11.jpg
Social Mobile in Japan

Breakdown of Mobile usage in Japan
In 2008, about 62m users accessed the Internet from both PC and mobile phone.
82.6% of mobile phone users browsed mobile Internet from their phones in 2008.
In 2009, this number increased to 84.3%.
Image: http://www.slideshare.net/yaromir/japan-mobile-sns-study-2010

Mobile Social Networking in Japan
The big three social networks in Japan:
Mobage Townis a game-centric social network with a focus on delivering a fun and entertaining experience.
Mixi is focusing on creating the value of communication among real life friends through social apps and games.
Gree is a virtual online community where users can socialize with each other through avatars, play games and earn or buy virtual goods.
From 4,000 Japanese respondents, 75.4% said they only accessed social networking sites from their mobile phone (and not from their PC).
All 3 social networks placed in top 5 search terms on mobile in 2009. 40 % of users use mobile search everyday.
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/saren/digital-japan-2010-by-the-numbers
Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/163718

Main SNS features used on mobile phone
When logged in from a mobile phone, almost 60% of users play games...
Why Gaming over Conversation?
“Much of this has to be due to cultural differences and how it's not socially acceptable to openly vent, or publicly comment on true feelings especially if there is a mixture of different social levels” – Comment by ckawa- LINK

Brand positioning of big three in Japan
Availability of games and entertainment content is pivotal for success of SNS in Japan.
Mobage Town is mainly focused on offering a high entertainment, gaming experience.
Mixi looks to focus on communication among real life friends through social apps and games
Gree is the in-between network where users can do both. They can socialize with each other through avatars, play games and earn or buy virtual goods.
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/yaromir/japan-mobile-sns-study-2010

Social networks attract users by multiple features

Mobile social network membership overlapping is common in Japan

Japanese user characteristics
Users prefer using mobile phones over computers
Japanese people prefer to be anonymous and rarely publish their real names.
Simplicity is best when it comes to social network formats.
If users want to know anything, they ask (usually strangers) anything important. This includes “my wife is going to have a love affair this weekend. What should I do?”
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/arcarna/socialmedia-in-japan-1835099
90% of 16-24 year olds use the mobile web at least once a day.

Conclusion
There are some differences between the Japanese and West when it comes to mobile usage. However, there are of course some similarities.
For example we all crave phones that have multiple features that can keep us entertained or informed whenever we required it.
The fact that over 500 million iPhone applications have been downloaded proves this.

Conclusion
We have seen how Japanese users usually communicate through games rather
than conversations due to social restrictions within their culture. In the West we
are much more open and willing to share our personal information.
Users in the West also enjoy gaming programmes with Farmville, Mafia Wars and
Texas HoldEm Poker attracting millions of users a month. The only difference is
the way we (in the west) access those games, usually by PC.
The Japanese use their mobile phones so regularly, for so many different things,
this seems be a strong indicator for future behaviour in the West. I believe we
will gradually move away from laptops and PC’s the more mobile phone
capabilities develop.
I think we can even see this change starting to
happen.

Thank You
By Willi5T
@TommyMWillis

http://engagingsocialmedia.blogspot.com	60
http://www.slideshare.net	26
http://benjaminlq.posterous.com	19
http://www.lmodules.com	1
http://onlinetanulas.blogspot.com	1
http://posterous.com	1
http://engagingsocialmedia.blogspot.co.uk	1

Social Mobile In Japan

by Willi5 T on Jan 26, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

7 Embeds 109

Statistics

Social Mobile In Japan — Presentation Transcript