Overview With more than 100 million internet users in Japan, the penetration of internet users among the

population is almost 80%.

Internet Penetration

20.5%

Online Population Offline Population

79.5%

Adaptation of Internet was slow in Japan as compared to its western counterparts, although it quickly grew and the current percentage penetration of internet is second only to South Korea (82.5%). In terms of internet users it is the third largest country in Asia, as well as in terms of % of total internet users in Asia. The strength of Japan in internet in Asia is demonstrated by the following graphs.

Internet Users (in mn), June 2012

Penetration (% of Population)
538.0
Korea, South Japan Brunei Darussalam Taiwan Singapore

China India Japan Indonesia Korea, South 137.0 101.2 55.0 40.3

82.5% 79.5% 78.0% 75.4% 75.0%

The high internet penetration in Japan is aided by 35 million broadband lines as of 2011. The credit for this goes to the DSL broadband technology which helped the rapid growth in 2003. 35 million broadband lines make Japan the 3rd largest broadband country in the world after US and China. Though what is also important to understand in case of Japan is that internet on phone is growing and its going to keep growing as has been estimated. This can be seen in the figure given below

Mobile Internet Users in Japan (in millions)

87.2 80.3 73.6 55.4 60.3 66.3

92.1

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

These figures are an indication of what holds in store for the future of internet as well as social media in Japan. Japanese took a lot longer to embrace the internet but when it comes to mobile web they were far ahead of countries such as US. NTT Docomos i-mode was launched in 1999 compared to the first iphone which came in 2007. So Japanese became accustomed to the internet on phone quite a while ago. Ironically, Japan has the lowest smartphone ownership when compared to its western counterparts as can be seen from the figure below.

Own a Smartphone
48% 46% 42% 41% 36% 24%

U.K.

Australia

U.S.A.

Germany

France

Japan

However, there has been a surge in willingness to own a smartphone in Japanese which is much higher than most of its western counterparts.

Intend to own a Smartphone

51% 29% 23%

21%

21% 13%

Japan

U.S.A.

Germany

France

Australia

U.K.

This is possibly the base for the estimated rise in mobile internet use in Japan. Of all the various activities that Japanese are involved in on a mobile in Japan, Japanese access media on their mobile very frequently. The following figure gives us an idea on the frequency of usage of media on mobile in Japan.

Frequency of mobile media usage in Japan

Less than Monthly, 3% Monthly , 5%

Weekly, 11% Never, 34%

Daily, 47%

More than half of the population is using some form of the media on their mobile at least once a week. The Japanese are very active users of mobile media and the marketers have responded to it accordingly. This can be seen through the greater focus on Mobile Ad spending as compared to some other countries.

18.1%

18.0%

Mobile Ad Spending as a % of Digital Spending 2012

6.5%

5.8% 4.4% 3.3% 2.4%

Japan

South Korea

U.K.

U.S.A.

France

Germany

Argentna

As we can see here, the only other country which comes close is South Korea while the third best countrys expenditure on mobile ads is almost a third of Japanese mobile ad spending.

Social Media Japanese traditionally have been bloggers and social media was seen more as medium of information rather than interaction. When compared with countries such as USA or Germany, it can be easily noted that the use of social media has been very low, but when it comes to blogging or microblogging, Japanese lead the way.

Use of Social Media

SNS Usage Blog Usage Microblog Usage

Japan

USA

Germany

France

Australia

However the situation has changed dramatically after the March, 2011 earthquake. International social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter have outdone the local social networking websites such as Mixi and Japanese have come out of their conservative nature in social media. Anonymity on social networking sites which was the original trend has been replaced with Japanese opening up to sharing information. As a result of this the social media has seen growth in Japan in the past couple of years and this growth is expected to continue as can be seen in the graph below.

Social Media Users in Japan (in mn)

47.8 44.7 39.5

50.7

2011

2012

2013

2014

If asked before 2011, the figure below of the top social networking websites would have been different with possibly a couple of social gaming sites also in the list, but that is no longer the case. Twitter leads which is possibly the first time where it has more users than facebook. The new mobile based social networking website Line has had tremendous growth and in just couple of years has grabbed the 2nd spot. If the current downfall continues we may not see Mixi in the future, the local ex-leader of social networking websites

Top Social Networking Sites in Japan, 2012

29.9 20 13.8 9 5

Twitter

Line

Facebook

Mixi

Pixiv

The age demographics are very similar to other countries with the younger generation leading the way in social media in terms of number of users. The age demographics are illustrated by the figure below.

Users of Social Media

Male Female

15-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55+

What is also notable from the given figure is that Female are more active on social media as we move up in the age categories. The figure below gives an indication of time spent on social media by Japanese and is split in terms of age categories. As in most cases, maximum time is spent by the youngest generation and least by oldest generation.

Average time spent on social media (in Hours )

15-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55+

Twitter Twitters growth in Japan has been extraordinary. This can be attributed to many factors such as Japanese have always been comfortable blogging, and there micro blogging comes easy to them. In wake of the earthquake in March 2011, when traditional communication channels failed, people turned to twitter for information. Twitter allows the anonymity that Japanese have traditionally wanted. And possibly most importantly, Japanese user internet much more on their phones as compared to a PC.

Japan was the third largest country in terms of twitter users at 29.9 million. This is preceded only by U.S. (107.7 million) and Brazil (33.3 million) as per Semiocast. Japanese is the second most used language on twitter.

Twitter has also made itself at home in Japan by partnering up with local digital players. Twitters Tokyo team has introduced Lifeline a service meant for crisis management. It allows user to locate twitter accounts for relevant local information in case another calamity occurs. While twitter is leader in 2012 of the Japanese social networking websites, the growth has slowed down to 17% as per Semiocast. However with the current rise in use of social media and Japanese love for blogging and mobile internet, Twitter can be expected to hold on to the leader position for some time. Facebook Facebook has continued its global leadership in Japan as it has in most countries. However it lagged behind for a long time in Japan, where cultural barriers and extra concern with the privacy kept it behind the local social networking website Mixi. It was only in the last quarter of 2012 that number of Facebook users surpassed Mixi as per the data reported by Neilson.

Facebooks growth like most social networking websites was triggered by the earthquake on 11th march 2011. The previously successful local social networking websites were based on anonymity while Facebooks insistence on use of real name was stagnating Facebooks growth. After the earthquake hit and normal modes of communication failed, people relied on the information provided by Facebook where they could easily identify real people. Social networks like Mixi could not be relied on because of the anonymity factor. The staggering growth that facebook experienced can be seen below.

Users of Facebook (in mn)

17.2 13.6 10.8 8.2 13.5

May-11

Jun-11

Jul-11

Aug-11

Sep-11

Oct-11

Nov-11 Dec-11

Jan-12

Feb-12

Mar-12

Apr-12 May-12

The age demographics display that the younger population takes the major share of users. Although when compared to other countries it may still be low, it is clearly an indication of Japanese becoming more comfortable with using their real names and sharing information.

Age demographics in Facebook in Japan

55+, 5% 45-54, 11% 18-24, 23% 13-17, 5%

35-44, 22%

25-34, 34%

Facebook has even developed an application to help students find jobs in Facebook. They created connection apps to help job-seeking students to get in touch with young graduates. While Facebook has seen a dip in its number of users in the beginning of 2013, with 13.8 million users, they still are the leader in social networking sites in Japan.

Line This particular social networking site is not yet counted as a social networking site and is therefore invisible in most comparisons. But make no mistake, what started as a text messaging application is all set to become perhaps the most comprehensive social networking site. Line aims (and has already accomplished some) to bring in features which will make it a mix of wassap, facebook, instagram, and twitter. Designed for the smartphone, this is definitely a smart move by NHN the developer of Line. Increasingly Japanese are using internet on the mobile (it has been on the internet through mobile before its western counterparts), and the increasing growth in smartphone ownership with plenty of room still to fill, Line may turn out to be the next gen. Social networking site. The growth of line speaks for itself as can be seen in the figure below.

Users of Line (in mn)

60.2 44.6 30.1 21.3 11.3 0.05 0.49 3.9

What Line has achieved in months has taken much more time by other social networking sites, even the likes of Facebook and local social network Mixi. A survey by Justsystems reveal that more than 60% of these users are still using Line for its primitive primary purpose of text messaging and free internet calling. This brings down the number of people using Line as a social networking site to approximately 24 million. What started out as an emergency response tool is now perfectly poised to become the next big thing in social networking with its smartphone compatibility design. While Line has done well in Asia, it is yet to make its mark outside the continental boundaries. How it is received in European and North American soil will more accurately determine if it indeed is the future of social networking sites. Mixi Mixi is the perfect representation of what Japanese social media was before the earthquake in March 2011. Launched in 2004, approximately the same time as Myspace was launched, Mixi provided a platform to enable Japanese to connect with each other on the basis of shared interests. What was more Japanese about it, is that it offered things beyond privacy. It offers anonymity, which suits perfectly well to the social culture of Japanese. While Mixi was the leader in social networking sites for a long time, it all changed after the earthquake in 2011. When at that time people wanted information since traditional modes of communication were severely disabled, the anonymous nature of members in Mixi made the information reliable. This is when sites like Facebook which insisted on providing real name became useful. The information derived by users on facebook was more useful as they knew exactly who they were talking to.

The result of the abovementioned phenomenon saw a lot of Mixi users move to sites such as Facebook. The release of the movie Social Network in 2011, also helped increase Facebook awareness among Japanese, and that didnt help Mixi either. The figure below represents the impact on Mixi that came with all these factors.

Users of Mixi in Japan (in mn)

11.9

12.8

14.3

14.8

15.4

15.4

14.5 9

May-11

Jan-10

May-10

May-12

Mar-10

Mar-11

Mar-12

Jan-11

Jan-12

Nov-09

Nov-10

Nov-11

While Mixi has tried partnering up with social gaming sites to increase their offerings, there has not been much improvement in its ranking. There even have been talks about it being on sale a couple of times. Whatever future holds for Mixi is unknown, but by what is known, the picture does not seem pretty.

Social Media Monitoring Tools Japan has traditionally been a blogging country. While social media is rising companies have been slow to adapt to the change. This is why there are not many social media monitoring tools available in Japan, at least not exclusive Japanese tools. Sysomos Heatbeat and Radian 6 are possibly the most effective tools which can be used in Japan. These tools also have a lot of data for English, French and German languages. When a filter is used by country, they are much better positioned to provide results than most other tools. The lack of local Japanese social media monitoring tools, and the technological superiority of international tools represent a scenario where these international players will partner up with Japanese tool providers or Japanese developers. This way they can bring in tools customized specifically for Japanese social media users. With the rise of international social networking platforms such as Facebook, youtube and twitter in Japan, the existing multitude of tools present for tracking these websites may create Japanese versions of the existing tools. Risk management is a major concern for the companies and risk mitigation along with customer engagement are currently the two main services provided to the Japanese companies by local vendors. A lot of these vendors also consult on how to respond to social media in Japan but additional services cost additionally. Monthly reports of various activities on social media is the major service provided by local vendors. To sum up the situation as of 2012 in social media monitoring tools in Japan, one advice a mix of international tools with local tools, until better options come up.

Nov-12

Sep-09

Sep-10

Sep-11

Sep-12

Jan-13

Jul-09

Jul-10

Jul-11

Jul-12

Tips for Social Marketers Japanese social media is as unique as Japanese culture is to westerners. So a different approach is required here. Some of the pointers which can help a social marketer in Japan are Focus on social gaming is a must. These local social gaming websites are a big part of Japanese social media consumers. While anonymity was the trend, it is slowly but surely shifting. International social networking websites such as Facebook, twitter and youtube should gain more attention for social marketers than earlier. Line should be recognized as a social networking website rather than simply as a text messaging service. Japanese smartphone usage may be low as compared to other countries but internet usage on phone has been older than most of their western counterparts. With more than 50% of non smartphone users looking to buy a new smartphone, expect mobile based social networking to thrive in Japan. Social media tools are on few and not technologically as developed as the west, so it may be difficult to measure the social media. But with the rise of international social networking websites and the existing social media monitoring tools for these specific websites, investing in international tools will be a safer bet than the local tools. Social media is not just developing but the approach towards social media is also changing in Japan. The traditional conservationist nature of Japanese consumers will not change overnight, so the transformation from using social media as a source of information to actually getting involved in conversations will be slow. The data collected when measuring social media in Japan has so far been PC based. One needs to take into account that the true picture or the complete picture about the status of different social networking websites as well as the social media user in Japan will only be possible when access through mobile phones is also measured. In most age categories women are more active than men with the exception being 15-24. This is to be kept in consideration when social marketers are looking to cater to a particular target audience.

References The Explosion of Japanese Internet Companies in Silicon Valley: A New Generation of Japanese Companies? http://keizai.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Keizai_Nwsltr_072012.pdf Deloitte Publishes Results of State of the Media Democracy Survey http://www.tohmatsu.com/assets/DcomJapan/Local%20Assets/Documents/Press/Release/EN/jp_p_press1 20517_MDS2012_en_170512%20Release_en.pdf Report Says Japan Very Active on Twitter, But Among Slowest in Growth, http://www.techinasia.com/semiocast-twitter-japan-korea-slow-growth/

European Travel Commission, New media trend watch http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/marketsby-country/11-long-haul/54-japan Facebook overtakes Japanese social network Mixi in Japan, http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/09/13/facebook-overtakes-japanese-social-network-mixi-in-japan/ Japans Smartphone Surge: 1 in 4 Mobile Consumers Now Owns a Smartphone, http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2012/8/Japan_Smartphone_Surge South Korea No. 1 in Mobile Web Use http://www.emarketer.com/Article/South-Korea-No-1-Mobile-WebUse/1009262 2012: The year in social media in Japan http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/japan-pulse/2012-the-year-in-socialmedia-in-japan/ Japans LINE social network could challenge global competitors http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2012/07/18/digital/japans-line-social-network-could-challenge-globalcompetitors/#.URzKdPLomdM The Problem with Facebook in Japan, http://www.techinasia.com/problem-with-facebook-in-japan/ Why Japan finally fell for Facebook, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528756.400-why-japanfinally-fell-for-facebook.html NHN Japan's 'LINE' User Number Exceeds 60 Million, http://prnewswire.netpr.pl/en/pr/222031/nhn-japans-line-user-number-exceeds-60-million Line: Japan's Answer to Facebook, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204707104578094363608401842.html Facebook in Japan statistics http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/japan Facebook Visitors From Japan Have More Than Doubled in Last Year, Says Study, http://www.pcworld.com/article/258385/facebook_visitors_from_japan_have_more_than_doubled_in_last _year_says_study.html Japan's Mixi mulls putting itself up for sale, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japans-mixi-mullsputting-itself-up-for-sale-2012-05-14 Facebook overtakes Japanese social network Mixi in Japan http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/09/13/facebook-overtakes-japanese-social-network-mixi-in-japan/ Twitter Throws Japan a Lifeline, http://allthingsd.com/20120921/twitter-throws-japan-a-lifeline/

Social Media Monitoring in Japan Today, http://www.pureenterprise.com/2012/02/11/social-mediamonitoring-in-japan/ Social Media Monitoring Tool Report 2012http://www.goldbachinteractive.com/current-news/technicalpapers/social-media-monitoring-tool-report-2012 Internet World Stats, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm