It’s been several months since the incredible misfortune and tragic events that have struck my beloved 2nd home of Japan. Although you don’t read about it on the news anymore, Japan is still in crisis in both trying to contain a nuclear power plant which might require years of work while also trying to keep radiation-tainted food away from the dinner table of 125 million Japanese who are understandably nervous. #PrayforJapan still needs you, so please do not forget to include the Japanese nation in your prayers. Thank you. Twitter has always had more uptake in Japan when compared to …
read more
I had the chance this summer to speak in rural Japan (Kumamoto, Kyushu for those of you who might have been there to see Mount Aso) at a workshop on social media for the agricultural industry. Whenever I speak, I always mention how social media truly transcends industry (as well as discipline) and always ask someone to challenge me in finding an industry that can’t find a use for social media. The agricultural industry is ripe (pun intended) for using social media because it really does represent what the farmer’s market used to be. Farmer’s markets don’t just sell agricultural …
read more
It was only a matter of time before it happened, but overwhelmed with the sudden and sometimes overwhelming impact that their tweets had on society, some Japanese celebrities are now calling on other celebrities to stop using Twitter. As social networking websites penetrate every society around the world, every country will at some point be dealing with a variety of issues regarding invasion of privacy, employees getting fired because of their use (or perceived misuse) of social media, and even defamation lawsuits from a tweet. In Japan, Twitter has become the rage and even Facebook is still challenged in its …
read more
November 18, 2010 | United States – Japan Social Media Debate, Tokyo – I am honored to be the American representative on a panel, together with 2 Japanese thought leaders in social media, to discuss the differences in how social business has accelerated in uptake in the United States versus Nippon. Since I speak fluent Japanese, this panel will be presented in Japanese and limited to 40 participants.
read more
Image via Wikipedia In January of 2008 Twitter announced that the Japanese company Digital Garage had invested in them and would create an official Twitter Japan presence. In October of 2009 Twitter announced the new release of a localized application for the Japanese cell phone market. From January to June of 2009 it was reported that the number of users in Japan grew from about 200,000 to almost 800,000. In March, 2010 that number jumped up to 7.52 million users and it was reported that 14% of global tweets are now originating from Japan. But it’s more than just that: The …
read more
I just came back from a visit to Japan, where i was impressed with the growth of Twitter in the mainstream of Japanese society. No, not everyone is using the realtime social networking platform, but considering that Japan is a society that both does its social networking primarily on the cellphone and are avid readers of the latest information through the plethora of printed magazine and newspapers that exist, the stage was set for Twitter to be successful in Japan. And the numbers are already showing that the growth is impressive. The interesting aspect is that its growth seems to …
read more
As social media begins to envelop every part of a corporate organization, it becomes important that every employee begins to have a certain level of literacy in using social media tools. This becomes even more important in outward-facing rules where “social business” is changing the way companies engage with present and potential customers over Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs. At some point, just as companies emerged that used the Internet as their platform (Amazon, Netflix, etc.), we will see new companies arise that purely use social media as their platform. And when that happens, it is a natural that they …
read more
Social media is a fascinating and new medium for businesses. If done right, social media can be an incredibly viral way of spreading the word about your company, brand, or product. However, because of its “viral” nature, companies are learning the hard way that social media can amplify the good, and the bad, about your company and/or products. All it takes is one mistake in social media etiquette to damage your brand and have bloggers and tweeters from around the world spreading the message about what you did wrong. That harm can be tremendous and should not be underestimated. Today we look at …
read more
It is rumored in Japan that Facebook will be establishing an office in the island nation sometime in 2010. This comes after Twitter successfully launched their Japanese operations in 2009 and now supposedly have more than 2 million registered Japanese users, more than it is estimated that Facebook has in Japan. If this is true, Japan is one of the few countries where there are more than Twitter users than Facebook. So, Facebook in Japan: Will it Blend?
read more
