comScore, Inc. released a study of online social networking in Japan based on data from the comScore World Metrix service. The report found that Facebook visitation more than tripled during the past year, while Mixi.jp was the most visited social networking destination in Japan with 12.7 million visitors.
“The competition between social networks in Japan is beginning to heat up with the recent introduction of the Japanese language version of Facebook,” said Maru Sato, managing director of comScore Japan. “The popular social networking site’s launch of Spanish, French and German language sites earlier this year resulted in strong traffic growth in these markets. If this is a reliable indication, we can expect to see Facebook’s growth in Japan follow a similar trend.”
Facebook Sees Strong Growth in Japan, but Mixi Still Dominates
An analysis of selected social networking sites in Japan revealed that Mixi.jp held the leading position in the Japanese market with 12.7 million visitors in June. Facebook.com, which recently launched a Japanese language version of the site, has grown dramatically during the past year, gaining 213 percent to 538,000 visitors. MySpace.com attracted 1.2 million visitors, up 10 percent versus year ago, while Orkut drew 638,000 visitors and Gree had 455,000 visitors.
Selected Social Networking Sites*
June 2008 vs. June 2007
Total Japan- Age 15+, Home and Work Locations**
Source: comScore World Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Jun-2007 Jun-2008 % Change
Total Internet 53,716 56,220 5
MIXI.JP 12,367 12,738 3
MYSPACE.COM 1,137 1,245 10
Orkut N/A 638 N/A
FACEBOOK.COM 172 538 213
Gree 531 455 -14
* Selected social networking sites based on comScore's Social Networking
category.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access
from mobile phones or PDAs.
Orkut Visitors Show Heaviest Engagement
Though the number of visitors to Orkut is lower compared to other social networking sites in Japan, it ranks as the most engaging of the social networking sites in this study across several measures, including average usage days per visitor (11.5), average minutes per visitor (454), and average pages per visitor (1,557). Mixi.jp also generates fairly heavy engagement, while Facebook.com and MySpace.com show more modest engagement thus far.
Selected Social Networking Sites*
June 2008
Total Japan- Age 15+, Home and Work Locations**
Source: comScore World Metrix
Average Usage Average Average
Days per Minutes per Pages per
Visitor Visitor Visitor
Total Internet 14.9 1,053.1 2,129
Orkut 11.5 454.0 1,557
MIXI.JP 7.5 134.0 246
Gree 3.5 130.5 214
FACEBOOK.COM 3.5 40.5 98
MYSPACE.COM 3.0 34.7 81
* Selected social networking sites based on comScore's Social Networking
category.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access
from mobile phones or PDAs.
Added Mr. Sato, “As these newer sites attract larger audiences and become more familiar in the Japanese market, engagement among their users will inevitably grow.”
