世論 What Japan Thinks

2ch is an enormous (the largest in the world, in fact) bulletin board system with an interface that looks as it hasn’t changed since dial-up BBSes were all the rage. This survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at 2ch, with a particular focus on tools for reading 2ch a bit more efficiently.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of July 2009 1,014 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 8.5% in their teens, 7.7% in their twenties, 11.4% in their thirties, 37.5% in their forties, 19.5% in their fifties, and 15.4% aged sixty or older.

Amongst the English-speaking foreigner community, it is perhaps the more seedy and rabidly right-wing corners of 2ch that are best-known, although whenever someone mentions this there’s usually someone else who pops up to tell us of the wonders of the other portions of the site. I occassionally try to find these parts, but I’m afraid the ugliness of the site defeats me every time!

Research results

First, 686 people, or 67.7% of the sample, had viewed 2ch. They were asked the following.

Q1: About how often do you visit 2ch? (Sample size=686)

Every day	16.0%
Twice or thrice a week	10.2%
Once a week	12.7%
Once a fortnight	8.9%
Once a month	13.6%
Once every six months	8.9%
Once a year	3.5%
Less than that	7.0%
No regular schedule	19.2%

In other words, 38.9% of 67.7% of the complete sample, or about 26.3% of the sample were at least weekly visitors.

Q2: From where do you access 2ch? (Sample size=686, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Home	665	96.9%
Work	79	11.5%
Outside from mobile phone	27	3.9%
Net cafe	19	2.8%
Outside from notebook computer	10	1.5%
Other	3	0.4%

Q3: Do you post messages to 2ch? (Sample size=686)

Frequently post	2.0%
Sometimes post	11.1%
Never post	86.9%

Finally, 99 people, or 14.4% of the 2ch users, said they used a 2ch specialised reading tool. How many of the remaining users were aware of their existence is not reported. They were then asked which they used. I’ve not translated the names, as if you can’t read the name, they you won’t be able to use the tool!

Q4: Which specialised tools do you use to access 2ch? (Sample size=99, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Jane Style	42	42.4%
ギコナビ	17	17.2%
2chブラウザ	13	13.1%
かちゅ～しゃ	10	10.1%
ホットゾヌ	5	5.1%
ABone	3	3.0%
2chWatcher	1	1.0%
MapleSyrup	0	0.0%
j2ch-cache	0	0.0%
ぎこはにゃ～ん	0	0.0%
Gickobrowser	0	0.0%
えまのん	0	0.0%
Other	13	13.1%