Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
1–10 of 14 posts
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#2One factor not mentioned in the article is that a large portion of the Japanese internet population has been accessing the web through their cell phones for years. The web as viewed on those phones is unlike those seen on computers or on modern smartphones. For example, NTT DoCoMo, one of the major Japanese cell service providers, launched its i-mode web service in 1999. Competing providers KDDI & J-Phone soon launched EZweb & J-Sky, respectively. By 2006, these services had already amassed 80 million subscribers.[0]
I highly doubt Facebook supports any of these services, which can make it very difficult to break into the Japanese market even if they get all the cultural kinks ironed out and pay some celebrities to endorse them.
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#3Hopefully Goldman Sachs will be able to arrange for a treaty to be signed with Japan requiring their citizens to sign up for Facebook or be fined.
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#4One factor not mentioned in the article is that a large portion of the Japanese internet population has been accessing the web through their cell phones for years. The web as viewed on those phones is unlike those seen on computers or on modern smartphones. For example, NTT DoCoMo, one of the major Japanese cell service providers, launched its i-mode web service in 1999. Competing providers KDDI & J-Phone soon launch…
When I access Facebook from Japan it's at least trying to promote such a service to me: http://i.imgur.com/zpaAz.png
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#5One factor not mentioned in the article is that a large portion of the Japanese internet population has been accessing the web through their cell phones for years. The web as viewed on those phones is unlike those seen on computers or on modern smartphones. For example, NTT DoCoMo, one of the major Japanese cell service providers, launched its i-mode web service in 1999. Competing providers KDDI & J-Phone soon launch…
When I access Facebook from Japan it's at least trying to promote such a service to me: http://i.imgur.com/zpaAz.png
Yeah, that looks like it. Note the "There is a long way to go but most basic functionality is there." Sounds like they only recently started working on it, and given the difficulty of unseating entrenched social networking sites, I'd say Facebook's got their work cut out for them. They'd have to provide something that's clearly not available from the existing sites.
The best way to do this would probably be to convince the Japanese of the value in being a member of a social networking site connected to your real life, since competing with existing services on their own turf is going to be very difficult. However, I don't know if the Japanese would be interested in such a service.
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#6If I were running Facebook, I don't think I'd want to be considered as competing with Mixi, Gree, and Mobage. A lot of people use Mixi almost as a blind dating service, and that's not really what Facebook does.
I'm not much a fan of Facebook, but I could see them picking up there if they really push the photo sharing and contact list aspects of the service, though. For a lot of my Japanese friends on Facebook, I could probably tell you every meal they've eaten outside their house since they've joined. Partnerships with Purikura wouldn't be an altogether bad idea, either.
The first thing anyone does when they meet in Japan is transfer contact info over infra-red. It'd make a lot of sense to integrate it with "friending" on Facebook, since as it is, changing your address means e-mailing your entire contact list, and losing your phone means losing contact with anyone who doesn't e-mail you regularly. There's definitely room for them there - they'll find it if they're actually committed to learning how things work there.
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#7If I were running Facebook, I don't think I'd want to be considered as competing with Mixi, Gree, and Mobage. A lot of people use Mixi almost as a blind dating service, and that's not really what Facebook does. I'm not much a fan of Facebook, but I could see them picking up there if they really push the photo sharing and contact list aspects of the service, though. For a lot of my Japanese friends on Facebook, I coul…
I would suspect they could easily gain ground once they get some people working in Japan to get all the cultural "quirks". I don't use facebook myself, but everyone around me seems to use it quite a bit, Japanese as much as foreigner, but that's mostly relatively young population.
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#8One factor not mentioned in the article is that a large portion of the Japanese internet population has been accessing the web through their cell phones for years. The web as viewed on those phones is unlike those seen on computers or on modern smartphones. For example, NTT DoCoMo, one of the major Japanese cell service providers, launched its i-mode web service in 1999. Competing providers KDDI & J-Phone soon launch…
This is a valid point, but I think it's changing. I spent October to December in Japan, and the iPhone is HUGE there now (whereas a year ago, I didn't see one). I'd guess that 30% of the people I saw on the train used an iPhone.
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#9I think Japanese people prefer to use Japanese companies when possible, just like Americans prefer American products over made-in-China products. "Loyalty" aside, the user experience ends up being better, because the users and developers are the same people.
Re: Facebook Wins Relatively Few Friends in Japan
#10If I were running Facebook, I don't think I'd want to be considered as competing with Mixi, Gree, and Mobage. A lot of people use Mixi almost as a blind dating service, and that's not really what Facebook does. I'm not much a fan of Facebook, but I could see them picking up there if they really push the photo sharing and contact list aspects of the service, though. For a lot of my Japanese friends on Facebook, I coul…
I've never transferred my contact info over infra-red. I do however have an enormous pile of meishi (business cards). You are right that many more people in Japan use their phone provided email address rather than a service like google or yahoo. I've had that "your phone email address and your personal email address don't have to be the same" talk with many, many people.