Japanese Social Media Fast Facts

August 2012

Fast Facts 1

Fast Facts

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Japan is the 4th largest population of Internet users in the world . Throughout the years, Internet penetration has been increasing. Currently, 80% of the population uses the Internet. The penetration rate

of social media in Japan is 19% . Twitter is an example of a popular social media platform in Japan. Mixi surprisingly falls out of the top 10,

notching only 15% of the SNS users while Ameblo and Livedoor reach more than 30% of users. Even Hatena has nearly 20% . Japan accounts for the 3rd most bloggers in the world with 4.9%. It

seems that blogging is part of the Japanese culture as Japanese bloggers make more than 1,000,000 blog posts each month!

Source:  Wikipedia  

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Fast Facts

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With nearly 100,000,000 internet users out of a country of 126,000,000, internet usage is at 80% in Japan having one of the highest rates of internet penetration in the world.

Fast Facts [ Source:  James  Lawrence  -­‐  Search  Engine  Market  Share  

3G Fast Facts 3

3G Fast Facts

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Entering 2011, Japan had over 35 million broadband lines in place, making it the third largest broadband country in the world after the US and China. Much of the success of broadband in Japan is owed to the

stunning growth surge that occurred back in 2003 on the back of DSL broadband technology.

Source:  www.budde.com.au/Research/Japan-­‐Broadband-­‐Market-­‐Overview-­‐StaBsBcs-­‐and-­‐Forecasts.html  

Social Media and Search Facts

Social Media Facts 4

Social Media Facts

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What is the Social Media landscape in Japan

Social Media Facts 5

Social Media Facts

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As of April 2011, Mixi ranks as the most popular social network site with over 23 million subscribers and 80% of the social media market share

Social network users in Japan, 2011-2014: - 2011: 39.5 million - 2012: 44.7 million - 2013: 47.8 million - 2014: 50.7 million

Source:  www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-­‐by-­‐country/11-­‐long-­‐haul/54-­‐japan  

Facebook Facts

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The 2 major SNS Platforms in Japan are racing to take the leadership position.

Facebook Facts [

Facebook users in Japan, 2011-2014: - 2011: 7.6 million (+61.6%) -  2012: 11.5 million (+51.5%)

-  2013: 16.5 million (+43.0%) -  2014: 19.5 million (+18.7%)

Mixi ranks as the most popular social network site with over 23 million subscribers and 80% of

the social media market share

6Source:  What  Japan  Thinks  

Video Sharing Facts 7

Video Sharing Facts

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Video sharing is very popular in Japan on both web and mobile platforms. This is highlighted as Japan ranked second in the Asia Pacific region with 60.4 million viewers and posted the strongest user

engagement with an average of more than 12.5 hours of video viewing per viewer.    

Note: Nico Nico Douga (“smiling videos”), Japan's largest home-grown video sharing platform, is only available in Japanese and is widely used to watch Anime and Manga.

Source:  www.forrester.com/rb/Research/global_online_populaBon_forecast%2C_2009_to_2014/q/id/57427/t/2  

Blog Facts 8

Blog Facts

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Top 10 blogging platforms: 1. FC2 Inc. 2. Livedoor-Blog 3. Ameblo.jp 4. Seesaa 5. Yahoo! Blogs 6. Cocolog-nifty.com 7. Hatena-Diary 8. Blogger 9. Goo Blog 10. JUGEM

By some estimates, as much as 40% of Japanese blogging is done on mobile phones. Unlike many of their Western counterparts, many bloggers in Japan shy away from politics, controversy, and barbed

language. Compared with Americans, they write at less length, they write anonymously, and they write a whole lot more often.

Source:  hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Table1.pdf  

Microblogging Facts

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Microblogging Facts [

Twitter was launched in 2006 and has been embraced far more rapidly by the Japanese mainstream as compared to the likes of Facebook, MySpace, and eBay. According to studies, 16.3 percent of Japanese

web users tweet, as opposed to just 9.8 percent in the U.S. . Japan moved 3 places from 6th in 2010 to becoming the 3rd in the world for

total Twitter usage in 2012 . On Dec 14th, Twitter confirmed that Japanese users had once again recorded the highest number of tweets per second. The proportion of tweets emanating from Japan in April

2011 was 25% in the world .

9Source:  Wikipedia  

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Instant Messenger Facts

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IM Facts [

Japan.internet.com's study highlights the decreasing popularity of online instant messaging in Japan, which can be attributed to the shift towards mobile instant messaging. The two most used services are: • Windows live messenger/ MSN messenger Japan • Yahoo! Japan Messenger

Source:  whatjapanthinks.com/2008/10/22/instant-­‐messaging-­‐surprisingly-­‐unpopular-­‐in-­‐japan/#more-­‐1332  

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BBS Facts [

Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) / Forums Facts

2ch (pronounced "ni-channel) opened by Hiroyuki Nishimura in 1999, is one of the largest Internet forums in the world (largest in Japan). It is one of the most distinguishing features of 2ch is the complete

freedom given to anonymous posting. This is a rare feature as almost all other internet forums require some form of registration, usually

coupled with email verification for further identification of an individual. Other Unique Features: • Anonymous posting • Free speech and derogative language • Affinity towards conservative politics • Sexually explicit context and expressions

Source:  www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/2ch  

Search Engine Facts

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Search Engine Facts [

Search Engine Watch reported at the beginning of 2011 that Yahoo held around 56% market share in Japan with Google holding around 31% and Rakuten around 2.3%. Baidu, the dominant player in China has made a

push into Japan but has yet to secure any noticeable share.

12 Source:  www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/3/Japan_Search_Engine_Rankings/(language)/eng-­‐US  

E-commerce Facts

E-commerce Facts 13

E-commerce Facts

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Nearly all Japanese Internet users shop online - the country has an online shopping penetration rate of 97%. More so than anyone else in Asia, the Japanese prefer paying for goods online with their credit cards over any other form of payment method, with 70% of them saying that was the case. Online shopping is the second most favored online activity in Japan, after email.

Source:  www.ecomzen.com/2010/06/outlook-­‐on-­‐asia-­‐pacifics-­‐e-­‐commerce.html  

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E-commerce Facts

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E-commerce Facts [

Online retailing has a stronger presence in Japan than elsewhere in the region with 73.7% reach. They are also one of the region's top spenders on online overseas products, with Japanese internet users spending on

average US$1,827 on international shopping sites.

Source:  www.emarketer.com  

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E-commerce Facts

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E-commerce Facts [

Top 5 Online Retail Subcategories in Japan: 1. Comparison Shopping (57.6% reach) 2. Books (41% reach) 3. Computer Hardware (23.6% reach) 4. Apparel (19.6% reach) 5. Retail Food (15.2% reach)

Source:  Wikipedia  

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E-commerce Facts

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E-commerce Facts [

Leading Japanese eCommerce Companies

Source:  Doubleclick  Nov,  2011  

Mobile Facts

Mobile Facts 17

Mobile Facts

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There were 11 million mobile handset subscribers in Japanese by the end of 2011. This represents an increase of 13.6% from June 2011. Of these, 2.2 million (20%) were dedicated data subscriptions and 8.8

million (80%) were all other active standard mobile subscriptions. 

SNS Facts

SNS Facts

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Japan Development of 3G market:    75% of Social Networking Sites accessed solely from Mobile    Top 3 used SNS features: Checking inbox, playing games and reading a friend's blog    SNS usage skewed toward females    SNS usage behind Apps/Games, Ringtones and Screen Customization

SNS usage skewed toward females SNS usage behind Apps/Games, Ringtones and Screen Customization

Source:  www.reportlinker.com/report/best/keywords/Japan?utm_source=adwords2&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Country&gclid=CISHvuXZ17ECFXF14god7EUAuQ  

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Mobile Facts 19

Mobile Facts

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In Japan, Online mobile phone activity shows has a bias towards micro-blogging and blogging.

Source:  www.emarketer.com  

Mobile Facts 20

Mobile Facts

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Google Vs Apple Platforms. The Japanese data suggests that Android platforms are continuing to outpace the iPhone platform in Japan

Source:  www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/6/Google_Android_Leads_AcceleraBon_in_Smartphone_AdopBon_in_Japan  

Mobile Facts 21

Mobile Facts

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 According to a survey by Net Asia (Japanese) in January of this year 57.5% of mobile users have experience shopping online via their phones. There is certainly still room for growth but the experience is not novel to the

smartphone. Also, according to comScore (Japanese), by the end of fiscal 2010, there were just shy of 10 million smartphones in Japan. If the year-on-

year 230 billion yen

Source:  Net Asia  

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