Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are arguably the most significant new service to appear on the web in recent years. Where MySpace and Facebook dominate in the English speaking world, Mixi is the clear market leader in Japan. It was originally created in 2004 by Kenji Kasahara as a means of directing users to his FindJob recruitment website, and it certainly attracted their attention.
With just 300,000 subscribers in its first year its popularity has since exploded, and is still growing rapidly, with the latest figures from Nikkei reporting that more than 14 million people have signed up and commune online.
As Mixi has thrived it is still used to direct users to Kasahara’s recruitment site, and also thousands of other classified ads too. Indeed Nikkei also report that 80% of the company’s profit is derived from advertising sales (predominantly from the mobile market) but, as with blogs in Japan, a lot more commercial value can be gleaned from such a powerful social force.
In terms of target demographics, whereas blogs seem to attract all age groups in Japan Mixi has greatest penetration amongst Japan’s teens and twenty-somethings. It is estimated that more than half of all Japanese between 20 and 29 are said to subscribe. Such popularity has led to at least one leading market analyst to claim, "It's very difficult to reach 20-somethings because they don't watch TV. Mixi is the best way."
This is supported by recent research conducted by Carter Associates showing that amongst Mixi subscribers aged 20-39, the majority use the service not only to connect with friends but also to search for information. Its growing popularity sees it as second only to Yahoo in some cases, across topics as diverse as fashion, food and travel.
Mobile access
The number of users accessing Mixi from a mobile now outnumbers those visiting from their PCs, and driving this change are the younger Mixi subscribers: 58% of mobile users are under 25 compared to 43% of those who access from a PC.
As a streamlined version, the mobile Mixi service delivers the most appealing features (such as its diary service) while people are on the move. Coupled with the enormous popularity of mobile phone photography in Japan and the fact that people can upload photos to Mixi directly from their phones OLs can now show off their new shoes at lunchtime and compare clothes on the commute home. This behaviour is something that may have been overlooked by Facebook as they enter Japan. Despite launching a Japanese language version of their website in May this year, some analysts predict that their lack of a mobile service is likely to restrict its appeal in this increasingly mobile-web community.
Privacy oriented
Mixi is an invitation only service that ensures subscribers have a mutually agreed association with one another. The Mixi network is also effectively closed to people living outside of Japan as it still only offers a Japanese language version and as of April this year new subscribers have to provide a Japanese mobile email address in order to sign up.
Another trust-building feature of Mixi is that of virtual ‘footprints’, whereby you can see all the users that have accessed your profile recently. This certainly seems like a useful feature that can help users assess levels of ‘friendliness’ but it may also be the reason that Japanese users still like to maintain an illusion of anonymity behind nicknames and obscure profile pictures. Whereas Facebook requires real names to be used by its subscribers Mixi allows nicknames and a quick scan of subscribers profiles show that this is the preferred mode of identifying themselves. Another obvious difference is the profile pictures used by its subscribers. The average Mixi ‘friend’ list seems, on appearance at least, to be populated by an assortment of manga characters, celebrities, pets and random objects.
Despite all of these trust and security-based features there has been a highly-publicised privacy change, that has huge commercial implications and may even yet send Mixi subscribers looking elsewhere. On April 1 this year new terms of use came into force that grants ownership rights of all user-generated content published on its site to Mixi Inc. itself.
It is unclear exactly what the reasons are for this but it could potentially mean that endorsements, from celebrity subscribers at least, be traded by Mixi Inc. Other implications could be that targeted advertising be adapted using personal information, such as a friend’s photos or diary entry. It is an interesting development, of which the consequences are yet to be seen but will be closely monitored.
Mainstream and niche market appeal
14 million subscribers and a dominant market share are testament to Mixi’s mainstream appeal. It is also interesting to note that, unlike the other popular SNSs in the West, each Mixi homepage has the exact same format that cannot be individually changed. This perhaps serves as a reminder of a widespread acceptance of conformity that is a common feature of the Japanese marketplace.
Reflecting this desire to conform, and in common with the Japanese fascination with rankings, one of the features of this standardised homepage is a list of the top 30 most-mentioned terms found in the Mixi ‘diary’ pages.
This ‘diary’ service is one of Mixi’s most popular features. It is essentially a blog but a private blog that only the user’s friends are allowed to read. When you consider the commercial value of publicly accessible blogs in Japan one would expect these 'personal’ diaries to be even more personally engaging and, consequently, influential. This ranking list then can be regarded as a hugely valuable barometer of trends amongst its users.
Representing the appeal amongst Japan’s niche markets are the ‘communities’ found on Mixi. These communities allow users with common (albeit, in some cases, uncommon) interests to form groups and share thoughts, opinions, information and ideas. As we have discovered in our research it is these communities where Mixi users increasingly head to for product information and reviews. The Japan-centric nature of Mixi and communal association of its users carries immediate added value to search hits that a Search Engine or foreign SNS cannot provide.
Another interesting function of these communities unique to Mixi is that they can be categorised. One such category being popularity so that the most popular ‘niche’ communities can be identified for users to join. Or, conversely, avoid.
Either way, the larger Mixi community is currently the single largest online concentration of Japanese people, sharing ideas and information, today. With ever-increasing millions contributing, we should all be listening.
