Understanding Japanese Social

NetworkWoosung Ahn

failed in Japan

REALLY?

Yes. Less than 5% of members use their real photos.

Mobilein 100M PV

2008.

01

2007.

01

2006.

01

2005.

07

Yes. Mobile web is growing in Japan

Gree; page view growth by device

$600MM

31.5

%

Japanese social networks market growth

AD Sales

Other Sales

With mobile-tailored version and anonymity,can foreign SN join the market growth?

Game is also the biggest growth driver

of revenue and traffic.

909%

The revenue growth that Gree achieved due to well made social

games.

So, is a good mobile game a solution?

So, is a good mobile game a solution?

•Game is very culture-oriented.

•WoW couldn’t be introduced.

•Dragon Quest is No. 1.

•Game is very culture-oriented.

•WoW couldn’t be introduced.

•Dragon Quest is No. 1.

No

Anonymity, mobile, and games seem golden ingredients for SN’s

success.

Do Japanese really want SOCIAL network?

Japanese are actually very

social.

Love to share and discuss information among human

beings. (definition of social media, Wikipedia)

Not IDENTITY

JP Top 20JP Top 20 US Top 20US Top 20

[Portal] Yahoo!, Goo, MSN, Nifty, BIGLOBE, Geocities [Search] Google, Windows Live

[Blog] FC2, Ameblo, Livedoor [Portal] Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Go, ESPN Sportszone, Comcast

[Search] Google 日本 , Google.com, Windows Live [Social network] Myspace, Facebook

[Video] YouTube, Nicovideo, Yourfilehost.com [Video] YouTube

[Commerce] 楽天 (Rakuten), Amazon.co.jp [Marketplace] EBay, Amazon.com, Craigslist.org

[Social network] Mixi [Knowledge] Wikipedia

[Knowledge] Wikipedia [Blog] Blogger.com

[Forum] 2ch.net [News] CNN

[Photo] Photobucket, Flickr

[Company] Microsoft Corporation

Blogging. Video sharing. Threading.

(Alexa traffic comparison)

No. 1 Blogging Nation

2ch.net; the largest Internet forum in the

world

Nicovideo. 10M users in 23 months, shortest record in Jp’s web history.

People love to comment on shared videos.

Japanese love to share videos, even illustrations

more than photos

Check friend’s diary

Update my diary

Community

News

Photo album

Dating

Game

Review

Avatar

Video sharing

etc

78.9 pt60.3

pt47.9 pt17.8

pt7.9 pt5 pt

3.7 pt2.5 pt2.1 pt1.7 pt3.7 pt

That’s why No.1 reason to use SN

is to check friends’ diary

That’s also why Twitter rocks in Japan!

Of course, mobile accessible/ playable apps are absolutely

important.

MORE IMPORTANT THING is to provide CONTENT that Japanese

love to share.