7. Privacy and guideline are trend worldwide, and Japan may start to follow this trend
Privacy and guideline issues have been hot in 2009 and 2010 in English sources and this is expected to be a trend in 2011, but no yet in Japan
8. Geo-location for geo-marketing is a trend worldwide, Japan may follow this trend
Geo-location became a hot topic in 2010 with recent announcements and launches of geo-location functions from some companies, and this is a predicted trend for 2011 worldwide as well; however, it may take time for geo-location to attract attention from online marketers and spread in Japan. This may attribute party to language and other issues.
Having said that, web services and contents that are likely to benefit greatly from geo-location such as Groupon http://www.groupon.com/ and Gilt City http://www.giltcity.com/ have arrived and started to grow in Japan lately similarly to the western countries and therefore it is quite possible that geo-location gets hot once the “time” comes.
9. Curation/curator concept may start to be understood and spread in Japan following the west
The increase in importance of curation/curator has been mentioned in 2009 and 2010 in English sources. The concept of curation/curator in social media is still unknown in Japan; however, recently has been introduced in an article by Kumasaka (2011) and it is likely that it will be widely spread and understood by online users as the use of social media gets much more popular. It is quite logical that curation/curator would be valuable as a reliable and informative screening/filtering and interpretation role when everyone can be a publisher and not all information online can be relied on.
10 Individuals and small and mid-sized businesses can be competitive as large companies online worldwide including Japan
The fact that social media vehicles made how individuals and small and mid-sized businesses can be competitive (exposure etc.) has been often mentioned in English sources.
This trend may also come to Japan in 2011, when social media is becoming hot especially with the outbreak of Twitter and the fact that Facebook has been hot in January 2011, exposed in many media including leading business publishers and their online website. Such articles encourage organizations and people to leveraging social media in business and predict that unlike traditional media era social media era will make individuals, small and mid-sized businesses as competitive as large companies online.
11 Boundaries between web companies, media, agencies and brand diminish, worldwide including Japan
This is what can be concluded from the article by Thomas (2010) and this trend is also been seen in Japan as well.
Thomas also points out that with social media brands are now breaking their own news instead of relying on advertising or PR to disseminate their message. This is the emerging trend in Japan such as the cases of Fast Retailing http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ (known for UniQlO brand) and Wacoal http://www.wacoal.jp/. The two companies leveraged Twitter to break their own news, resulting in a great campaign success in late 2010.
With proliferation of the Internet, agencies regardless of their location etc. started web business and thus distinction between web companies and agencies have been decreasing.
12. Social media is shifting the workplace of marketing and advertising talent in the U.S. but this might not be the case in Japan
One thing that Japan may not follow the trend of the US or even if it did it would take sl many years is the shift in workplace of marketing and advertising talent. Thomas says that instead of agencies of New York City and Chicago, social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook in Silicon Valley are attracting marketing and advertising talent.
In Japan similar trend cannot yet be predicted in Japan because of the difference in business environment. First, strong marketing and advertising agencies, Japanese and foreign capital, are mostly located in Tokyo (with branch or region offices in Osaka and elsewhere), so are most Internet companies. Second, in general young Internet companies are not usually considered to be great place to work in. This may be because in Japan venture business is still not well accepted and is regarded as “cool” as in the U.S. and the social norm that a success person works for large traditional companies. Thus it is a reality that in general, except for a few exceptions such as Rakuten http://www.rakuten.co.jp/, Japanese internet companies are not still well known by majority of Japanese citizens especially conservative people and are not regarded as top class companies. Third, because of such a situation in Japan, web digital and social media marketing has not yet been established as a profession like in the west.
Therefore, if a Japanese digital marketing and advertising talent is in earnest to leverage his/her skills and expertise, it would probably be in foreign capital companies in Japan or relocate abroad, such as Silicon Valley, or start a company to create and establish digital/web/social media marketing in Japan like a few of the author’s online friends.
13. Influencers of social media different from traditional influencers have emerged in the west and Japan may follow such a trend
This has been pointed out in multiple English sources, and there have been some articles by media including Forbes introducing influencers in social media. Examples of such articles include “So many people (e.g. women, female celebrities, marketers, authors in marketing) to follow on Twitter”. Also, in English speaking countries social media seems to have become an established field and there are many English blog portals specialized in social media such as Mashable, and social media experts and bloggers. Under such a situation, charismatic bloggers of such blogs such as Brian Solis and Chris Brogan as well as charismatic marketers such as Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki are the influencers online.
Influential people on Twitter in Japan are still mostly authorities and celebrities offline, people who have been well known and influential through traditional media. However, 2011 is said to be the first year of social media for Japan and as Japan catches up with use of social media we might start to see Japanese influencers online who are not necessarily influential offline although it may take time.
References:-
Fujishiro, Hiroyuki (2011) Use of Social Media by Japanese Companies Have Come to This Stage (In Japanese)
http://www.nikkei.com/tech/business/article/g=96958A9C93819499E0E2E2E3E58DE0E2E3E0E0E2E3E2E2E2E2E2E2E2;p=9694E3EAE3E0E0E2E2EBE0E4E2E0
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
Kumasaka, Hitomi (2011) 30 Social Media Predictions! What Aspects of the Internet Will Facebook Change? (In Japanese)
http://diamond.jp/articles/-/10677
Thomas, Jesse (2010) 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011
http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/advertising-industry/
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