世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com recerntly reported on an opinion poll conducted just before Christmas by goo Research on the subject of awareness of Web 2.0. 1,075 people from their monitor group successfully completed the internet-based private survey. 53.5% of the sample was male, 17.9% in their teens, 19.7% in their twenties, 16.8% in their thirties, 17.4% in their forties, and 28.2% aged fifty or older. Note that this demographic is slightly more male and younger than the average monitor group from goo Research; perhaps due to Christmas and other end of year activities the sample was slightly skewed?

For me, I’d have to say that I’m fed up hearing about it, and it’s over-hyped, an answer that sadly was not available. Perhaps that’s one of the 20 others in Q1SQ1?

As can be seen in Q2 and the headline, Google users seem more aware of Web 2.0, although the exact causal relationship is unclear. All in all an interesting but puzzling set of results.

In case you’re wondering, here The Register sums up what Web Two Point Naught is all about.

Q1: Do you know the term “Web 2.0″? (Sample size=1,075)

Understand what it means (to SQs)	16.4%
Just heard the term (to SQs)	35.9%
Never heard of it	47.7%

Q1SQ1: What impression do you get on hearing “Web 2.0″? (Sample size=562, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Advanced	328	58.4%
Seems useful	184	32.7%
Don’t really know	172	30.6%
Why not 2.5 or 3.0?	65	11.6%
Just have a favourable impression	58	10.3%
Seems entertaining	52	9.3%
Smells fishy	50	8.9%
Fed up of hearing about it	36	6.4%
Just have a bad impression	17	3.0%
Embarrassing	7	1.2%
Other	20	3.6%

When the same 562 were asked if they thought Web 2.0 was in vogue, 32.9% thought it was to some extent, and 6.4% thought it was the bee’s knees, meaning that just a fraction over one in five of the total sample felt it was a trendy term.

Q1SQ2: Do you think “Web 2.0″ is in vogue these days? (Sample size=562)

Very much so	6.4%
To some extent	32.9%
Can’t say either way	32.2%
Not much so	20.3%
Not at all	5.7%
Its day has passed	2.0%

Q2: Which search engine do you mostly use? (Sample size=1,075)

	Heard of Web 2.0 N=562	Not heard of Web 2.0 N=513
Yahoo! JAPAN	40.9%	61.0%
Google	44.8%	25.3%
goo	9.4%	6.2%
livedoor	0.0%	0.0%
Infoseek	2.0%	1.4%
MSN	1.3%	3.3%
BIGLOBE	0.5%	1.8%
Other	1.1%	1.0%

In addition, when asked about what was their browser home page, for those who knew about Web 2.0, 50.2% used Yahoo!, 11.0% Google, and 8.7% a blank page. For those not knowing about Web 2.0, 62.0% used Yahoo! and 7.0% Google.