Vol.64 – Facebook and Twitter vs. LinkedIn and Google+ in Japan

Facebook and Twitter have started to become popular among early adaptors in Japan in the last one or two years but LinkedIn has not and Google Plus (Google+) is not yet used even among IT experts even if they have created their account.




In this article, the author would like to outline the popularity of the four social media in Japan.



1. How are the four social media popular in Japan?



Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn status has been explained in the previous articles from Vol.45 throughout Vol.47 when the author summarized the social media situation in Japan to conclude 2010 and predicted the trend for 2011, which turned out to be quite true as in Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS, which was based on a survey result about social media in Japan executed by a leading Japanese media.



In short, local leading SNS called Mixi and local blog called Ameba had been dominating Japan until the recent popularization of Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn remains unpopular among the majority of the Japanese, so is Google Plus (Google+) which is still unpopular even among majority of online marketers.



2. How is Twitter?



Twitter was the first global social media that became hot in the summer of 2010, when it was featured in a special article in a leading Japanese business magazine together with introduction of applications and celebrities already using Twitter. Together with the localization (Japanese version) that was already available and the ease of use, Twitter immediately became hot among early adaptors including many popular politicians and companies/organizations as well as general public.



There were some online marketers who had been giving seminars about leveraging Twitter but few seemed to blog and/or write a book about it.



3. How is Facebook?



Facebook had mostly been used by bilingual Japanese mostly to be connected with friends outside Japan but Facebook outbreak came in January 2011 when the movie “Social Networking” started in Japan and Facebook was featured in mass media. This was when the author was convinced that “2011 will be the first year of SNS in Japan”.



Unlike Twitter, Facebook was immediately used by a few innovative companies in their marketing, which was featured in series of online articles of a leading Japanese business media. This together with the movie was the advantage the Facebook had over Twitter.



Now there are some online Japanese marketers who constantly blog and/or wrote a book about how to leverage Facebook in marketing. Also, people who first started using Twitter (online marketers in particular) tend to prefer Facebook



4. How about LinkedIn?



Japanese people living in Japan who are on LinkedIn are mostly in HR/recruiting and IT industry and few are truly active, such as proactively networking, joining group discussions and leveraging Q&A function.



This might attribute to the fact that online community was not really considered to be a platform for business networking, recruiting/job hunting and so forth in Japan. Such perception is still minor in Japan although there is a sign that the situation might change in the future, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.63 – Social Recruiting: Cases and Future of Recruiting in Japan.



Having said that, the fact that Japanese version has not been available is also a primary reason for LinkedIn not being popular in Japan. There was a news that Japanese version is to be rolled out this June but the roll out seems to be behind their original schedule.



5. How about Google Plus (Google+)?



Google+ is still very new yet grown rapidly in western countries (the U.S. in particular); however, it is still mostly unknown in Japan. It was only in August that the author found one of the first online article posted by a leading Japanese media saying how it is growing dramatically in English speaking countries and its benefits that encompass benefits of Facebook and Twitter.



The author, although had the account and was invited from her non-Japanese Facebook friend soon after Google+ invitation was available in July, started to really use Google+ in August to immediately understand that even few Japanese IT experts in Japan are using and active on Google+ and it is only the real innovators that are posting updates and comments. In fact, the author was extremely surprised that a online friend in IT industry (blogging in Japanese about Internet and social media) sent her a message on Twitter as a reply to her tweet saying about her Google+ blog article that he has created an Google+ account but has not yet understood the merits of Google+.



This is why currently the author mainly uses Google+ to obtain up-to-date information about social media and Internet marketing information; therefore, includes in her circles basically English speaking influencers to follow and to friend with people strong in Internet marketing and technology, and not networking with Japanese people.



6. The author’s final thoughts



Facebook and Twitter that was successful in gaining popularity attributing to strategic use of media is likely to strengthen its popularity especially Facebook, which would contribute to making 2011 truly the first era of SNS/social media in Japan.



The author believes in the potential of LinkedIn and Google+, which is why she has been writing some blog posts about LinkedIn and Google+ for her Japanese blog. The fact that social media has been becoming popular in Japan is a positive factor for sure. If they are strategically rolled out in Japan meeting local needs, marketed and promoted by an effective evangelist, they would surely be used by more Japanese people in Japan.





Resources:-

Twitter and Facebook have gained popularity attributing to how they were introduce by mass media and so forth 2011 is said to be the first era of SNS/social media in Japan, but LinkedIn and Google Plus (Google+) remains unpopular in Japan. Twitter and Facebook popularity is likely to remain strong. Regarding LinkedIn and Google+, if strategically rolled out meeting Japan local needs, and marketed and promoted by an effective evangelist, it is quite possible that they would be used by more Japanese people in Japan.

Vol.60 – Innovative Way of Twitter Use in Japan

Twitter, handy microblogging of 140 characters, can be combined with another communication channel of offline, is now used in an innovative way in a place in Tokyo, Japan that probably the developers of Twitter had never thought of.




1. How is Twitter used in what situation?



Twitter is displayed in an electronic bulletin board located in a large crossroads in Tokyo, owned and managed by a hair cut shop.



Tweets range from news and staff member introduction of the shop to comments on the hot topic discussed in the society and media.



2. What is the benefit of using Twitter in such a way and situation?



It allows many people accessible to the shop read the tweets, which is an extremely effective way of attracting current and potential customers. Allowing people walking in the crossroads where the shop is located is of more ROI than allowing nationwide or worldwide online users who cannot come to the shop read blogs and tweets.



140 characters is optimum to read when people are waiting for the traffic light to turn to green from red, although the volume and content is greater in Japanese than in English due to the difference in the characteristics of the two languages. People have nothing else to do when they are waiting for the traffic light to turn green from red so they would read the tweets thus the “reach” is extremely high and effective.



3. Is there any other organization(s) that use Twitter in a similar way?



Yes, there is. It is a commercial facility used by multiple tenants in Tokyo, reported in a recent article on June 20 by a Japanese newspaper specialized in retailing industry.



When the facility opened in October last year, Twitter accounts for all tenants were created so that tweets of each tenant can be displayed in the electronic bulletin board of the facility.



4. How effective is the new use of Twitter by the other organization?



According to the administrator of the facility, this method allows far more information to be delivered to great number of target customers compared with simply tweeting online.



This is because of the two reasons.



The first is reaching greater number of targets. The number of followers of the tenants is around 400 at the most. But major department stores and others in the neighbourhood attract 13.36 million visitors per year (for the fiscal year ending March 2011), all of them are current or potential customers.



The second is the fact that that still only a small proportion of the target customers still do not use Twitter. Main target of the facility and the neighbourhood department stores are senior people and majority of such people still do not use Twitter.



5. What was the reason for coming up with such an idea/breakthrough?



It was the fact that the two cases are free from stereotype/fixed idea that blogs and Twitter is the tool used to online only.



It is true that characteristics of Twitter include real time, interactive and viral, and they are neglected in the two cases introduced above. What was focused and leveraged is “very simply to tweet, even for extremely busy staff working in the shop floor”, and this was the critical requirement for the two cases.



As a result, in two cases, Twitter is used primarily to deliver information one-way which might be not what it was expected when it was first developed; however, the objective of reaching as many target audience to deliver information is achieved.





Resources:-

Twitter use can be combined with bulletin board function by displaying tweets on electronic bulletin board, to achieve an objective of reaching as many target audience to deliver information, although in this case Twitter is used primarily to deliver information one-way and interactivity and other characteristics of Twitter is neglected. Such an innovative idea attributes to being free from stereotype/fixed idea that blogs and Twitter are used only online.

Vol.58 – Reality of Social Media Among Victims of the Japan Disaster

Information on the Japan disaster has been online and shared by social media worldwide ever since the disaster broke out on March 11 so everyone believed that social media played an important part in sharing information about the disaster.




However, the reality was that social media had not bee effective in the devastated area. This is because the information was shared mostly among people who had not suffered from the disaster, according to an article of Nikkei, Japan’s leading newspaper specialized in business and economy, reported on June 19.



Why was it? How is it now?



1. Why was the social media ineffective among victims of the disaster?



Of course it was because the electricity and telecommunication systems went down by the tsunami; however, that is not all the reason.



The biggest reason is digital divide. It is those who leverage PC and smart phones to get and share online information that benefit from social media. People who do not leverage such IT devices will not. Such a digital divide became prominent by the disaster.



2. Is there any data to support such a digital divide?



Yes, there is. It is the survey result of how telecommunication is used announced by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) for 2010 announced in May.



According to the result, 83% of individuals in Tokyo use the Internet when it is only 71.8% in average for the 3 devastated prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.



When it comes to how SNS is used, only 5.4% in average for the 3 devastated prefectures use SNS, which is only half of that of Tokyo.



3. Has the digital divide been diminishing since the disaster?



Yes, there is a sign that the situation is changing in the devastated area and that the digital divide has been diminishing.



Quite a few victims still living in the disaster started using Twitter to share information online with friends living in the same village; i.e. among people of real, offline community. Such communities, in some cases, have expanded to outside of the offline community such as professors in Tokyo specialized in bio energy, connected online.



They would share and discuss online about such topic as possibilities of generating energy from algae in the devastated area.



4. Who taught such victims to use Twitter?



It was a man who had started a venture business in the area of optics in Sendai. In his hometown in the devastated area of Tohoku, there has been a customs in which friends in neighbourhood get together to enjoy conversation over tea. That is to say people were “connected” in the real, offline world.



5. Why did the man teach Twitter to victims?



It was to maintain the current community/network of the victims.



Victims living in the same evacuation centres constituting the same community are connected offline. However, they would be disconnected when their life in evacuation finished; some people would move to temporary houses, some would return to their home, and some others would move to other parts in Japan. Thus their current “community” would be demolished.



The man wanted to maintain the network/community leveraging the Internet and therefore he returned to his hometown in the devastated area to proliferate the Internet and social media. He also called for others to join him and by the end of May, 10 people joined him from such places as Hokkaido University.



As long as connected, the Internet and social media can leash its power and potential.





In the next article, the author would like to introduce how the Internet and social media has started to become a critical part of the daily lives victims.





Resources:-

Surprisingly, the Internet and social media had not been ineffective among victims of the Japan disaster immediately after the breakout of the disaster. It was not only because electricity and mobile phone terminals went down but primarily digital divide. However, with an initiative by a man, many victims started using Twitter to share information online. This would also contribute to maintaining network/community that is likely to be abolished when living in evacuation centres finishes for victims.

Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience

The previous 2 articles were about effectively reaching and engage global and local (glocal) audience and manage online reputation for business success. In this article, the author would like to continue the discussion focusing on Twitter.




1. Create multiple accounts



The first thing that needs to be decided with clarity is concept of multiple account and languages, which is about targeting based on customer segmentation,



1) Different accounts to be made for different brands and customer segments



It is better to have separate accounts to effectively target global and local audiences like global companies, although managing multiple accounts requires additional resources. Multiple accounts is possible for Twitter and aligning with their business and brand strategy many (global) companies have multiple accounts, each accounts for specific brands and objectives/target segments etc. Dell is perhaps one of a very good example. For the very same reason i.e. having different twitter account for different customer segment, different account is usually used for different country.



2) Language settings to be performed according to customer segment (global or local)



One thing to note in having different accounts not by brand but by language is language setting, especially when the Twitter backgrounds are the same (like a mirror pages). In order to avoid confusion, it is advisable to ensure that language setting is performed in accordance with the target language of the page. In fact, the author often distinguishes which Twitter account she is working on by the language of the top bar etc. She confirms that she is working on English account targeting global audience from the English top bar texts and that she is working on Japanese account targeting Japan local audience from the Japanese top bar texts.



2. Leverage multiple languages



Managing to leverage multiple languages is one of the biggest challenges in managing different accounts for global and local audience.



1) Try to keeping languages separate in line with the target audience



Unlike websites and blogs, it is more difficult to keep languages (e.g. English and Japanese) separate on Twitter but it is advisable to try to clarify which language is the main language for each Twitter account. This would help delivering the message and clarifying to the audience what kind of customer segment are being targeted. People usually do not follow tweeps whose bio and tweets are in the language they do not understand. They also usually judge from the language of the bio and tweets which geographical segment is the target audience.



Having made Twitter accounts with target language setting, the first step to keep the languages separate on Twitter is completing the bio in separate languages, English and the local language such as Japanese. The next step is to tweet content meeting the needs of the target audience in the language of the target audience, such as English for global audience and Japanese for Japan audience.



2) Mixture of language used is not a big problem



In reality, despite the above 2 steps, the languages of tweets can become a mixture of English and local language (Japanese). This is mainly because of interaction with mixed audience of global and local audience attributing to mixed followers of global and local audience. This is the very case of the author and a few of her online friends, with two accounts, one targeting global audience in English and the other targeting Japanese audience in Japanese. However, it does not seem to be a big problem.



3) Some reasons for the “mixture” of languages seems to include the author’s unique way of tweeting



The primary reason for the “mixture” of the language is the fact that the followers of her English Twitter account started to follow her Japanese Twitter account when she opened the Japanese Twitter account and started tweeting. Her good online friends from the English Twitter account were the first non-Japanese people to start following her Japanese account, which is quite natural; however, she was surprised to find a few, including social media guru, starting to follow her Japanese Twitter account at an early stage. They might have found the account by hash tags such as “LinkedIn” “Twitter” “Facebook” that she included in her bio.



Another possible reason for the “mixture” in the case of the author may be how she tweets some contents. When she introduces information in English to Japanese audience in through her Japanese Twitter account, she includes English headline and links with her brief comment/explanation in Japanese. She does so to introduce first hand information on IT, Internet and social media from western countries that are most advanced in these realms. She also does so to inform her tweeps that she posted an article for her English blog.



Although the percentage is lower, there is a similar phenomenon in her English account; i.e. some Japanese tweeps tweeting in Japanese follows her English account.



3. Result: followers from around the globe would be engaged



As a result, people from around the blog, regardless of location, followers the author. Also, some Japanese followers of social media experts paying attention to up-to-date Internet and social media information have been retweeting with additional comments and western followers have been retweeting the “unique” tweets of the author. The author has been enjoying such interaction and engagement with global and local audiences.



Thus, it can be said that the language mixture is not a big problem and it is the quality of the content (tweet) that counts; i.e. whether the tweet is of value to targeted audience. This may well be highly related to the previous article Vol.39 – Should All Content be Translated For Global and Local Audiences Whatsoever?.