Vol.46 – 2011 Trend of Social Media: Worldwide and Japan (Part 2)

This article is the continuation of the discussion on social media 2010 trend and 2011 outlook for Japan, focusing on similarities and differences of those of rest of the world mentioned in recent blog articles, to conclude 2010, following Vol.45 – 2011 Trend of Social Media: Worldwide and Japan (Part 1).




4. Mobile grows, worldwide including Japan



Mobile was the trend predicted for 2010 and also for 2011 as well, and it is the same for Japan, too. Mobile phones had been extremely popular in Japan since 1997 when Japan specific mobile platform and services called I-mode started, and so many people have been using mobile phone on trains etc. And, 2010 marked another milestone in Japan mobile market; launch and outbreak of feature phones such as iPhones and Android. This was one of the reasons for the Twitter outbreak in Japan in 2010, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience .



Early adopters started to use iPhones in 2009, and in latter 2010 more feature phones including Android and Windows mobile have been launched. (Blackberry is also available but has not become popular like western countries, probably because it has not been sufficiently tailored to meet Japan local needs). Today advertising (online, TVCF, print) of iPhone and Android can be seen almost everyday, anywhere. Also carriers have been developing variety of value package products, such as combination of smart phone, monthly phone call cost and internet access fee, and portable wireless LAN system, thus now is a good timing to switch from normal mobile phone to smart phone. Of course, there have also been many applications coming out. As a result, according to recent statistics reported by Nikkei.net (online news portal specialized in business and economy) mobile sales of smart phone has reached as much as 50%. The percentage is expected to continue to rise in 2011.



5. Social gaming grows, worldwide including Japan



Social gaming was another predicted trend for 2010 worldwide, which is likely to be the same in 2011 as well. This is the same for Japan, one of the countries that have been leading gaming industry.



The main players of social gaming industry, worldwide including Japan, are usually considered to be global companies such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, and global SNS such as Facebook are also becoming hot in the industry. The recent rapid growth of Zynga is a good example. And, there may well be more players entering the industry, further activating the market and industry.



Some Japan local web content providers such as Gree http://gree.jp/ and DeNa http://www.dena.jp/, have been providing SNS platform with which members can enjoy gaming, which have become very popular and the popularity in Japan is likely to continue in 2011 as well. Such companies are not well known outside Japan but the situation may change in 2011. In autumn 2010 DeNA acquired a U.S. company in order to start and grow their business internationally, which was reported by Forbes as “a company you need to know in 2010”.



6. Use of social media in business increases, worldwide including Japan, although Japan may be behind in the speed and degree of the increase



Use of social media in marketing and business seem to have taken root in western countries, including among Fortune 500 companies, and some (not all) Japanese companies and business owners are following such trend. With the outbreak of Twitter in 2010, Japanese IT companies such as Softbak http://mb.softbank.jp/en/ started to use Twitter as an information sharing platform among employees (like Yammer https://www.yammer.com/ is used in some western companies). There also have been some case studies introduced in which Japanese companies started to leverage Twitter in business and marketing. There are a few Japanese people specialized in social media, providing know-how and information about leveraging social media in business.



Organizations and/or individuals that are not following such a trend seem to be Japanese traditional companies and conservative people. RSS is usually available in the company websites of such Japanese traditional companies but their Twitter account and Facebook fan pages are rarely found. Some possible reason include the fact that although Internet is well used in recruiting, PR and marketing, such things as finding talent and business partners online is not yet a well accepted concept in Japan, and conservative organizations and individuals still think social media is a fad.




7. Social Media metrics and ROI become more crucial issue worldwide including Japan, although Japan may be behind in this issue



When social media is used in business and marketing, measurement of its success, i.e. metrics and ROI, becomes crucial, and thus there have been some articles on social media measurement ROI in the U.S. It goes without saying that this issue is another area that is likely to become more important and hot as many people say, although as Ferriss (2010) mentions, large companies still may well not be able to define appropriate metrics. Having wrote her MBA thesis on “Concept and Maximization of Web Equity) in 2006, the author strongly feels that it would take time for framework and standard criteria of this issue (or of measurement/valuation of website) to be established similarly to measurement and valuation of company and brand.



Social media site metrics and ROI issue have not yet been hot in Japan, however. This may be because the use of social media in business and marketing is behind western countries so there is no need to measure ROI in Japan, Japan is simply behind the west in this realm (similarly to overall web/IT marketing), and/or lacks in talent who has knowledge and expertise in web/Internet, marketing and finance. Whatever the reason may be, Japan has not yet reached the stage to discuss and define measure success and ROI of social media.





References:-

Ferriss, Tim (2010) 4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011

http://mashable.com/2010/12/28/social-media-marketing-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

Jonas, Trevor (2010) 5 Predictions for Social Media in 2011

http://socialmediatoday.com/trevorjonas/253235/5-predictions-social-media-2011?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29&utm_content=Twitter

Thomas, Jesse (2010) 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011

http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/advertising-industry/

White, Charlie (2010) 7 predictions for the Gaming Industry in 2011

http://mashable.com/2010/12/26/gaming-industry-predictions-2010/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29#