世論 What Japan Thinks

A few months ago I remember seeing a news segment on internet-based social lending services, but I cannot say the idea appealed to me.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 26th of July 2010 1,073 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.9% of the sample were male, 15.8% were in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 20.8% in their thirties, 16.7% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

Social lending services are basically online swap services. The one I saw on the television was points-based. Lending stuff out gained you points, borrowing stuff cost you points. Much of the stuff being circulated was household goods; items seemed to spend a month with one family before moving directly on to another, and another. However, rather than being something like, say, a high-end espresso maker, most of the items seemed to be not worth much more than the postage they would cost. Brand clothes and bags seemed to be another line that I could at least understand the attraction of.

Research results

Q1: Have you seen or heard of a social lending service? (Sample size=1,073)

Yes (to SQ1)	6.2%
No	93.8%

Q1SQ1: Have you used a social lending service? (Sample size=66)

Yes	6.1%
No (to SQ2)	93.9%

Q1SQ2: Would you want to use a social lending service? (Sample size=62)

Want to use	4.8%
Want to use, but a little worried about safety	50.0%
Don’t want to use	45.2%

Combining all three questions we get:

Q1+SQ1+SQ2: Would you want to use a social lending service? (Sample size=1,073)

Want to use	0.3%
Want to, but worry about safety	2.9%
Don’t want to use	2.6%
Already used	0.4%
Not heard of it	93.8%