世論 What Japan Thinks

Every time a survey like this one from Marsh Inc into domains comes up, I comment on how the statistics must surely be wrong, or at the very least the question is framed badly.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 26th of February 2010 300 members of the Marsh monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 2.3% in their teens, 17.7% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

Considering that I would presume that a prerequisite to owning a top-level domain is knowing in detail what exactly it is, 61 people know the details about domains and 73 people claim to have had one, that’s about 20% who just didn’t really know what their domain was. Thus, I have to conclude that “having a domain” includes “having a blog on a sub-domain”, not merely the stricter definition of “having purchased a top-level domain”, especially considering that .jp domains are considerably more expensive than the others.

I own a few .coms and a .net, I had a .biz, and I have a .org and a cunning plan…
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As if Japanese television wasn’t mindless enough (there are good shows, but even the good shows are cheap time-fillers), nearly half of the respondents to iShare’s survey into Twitter and television thought the two make a fun mix.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 15th of February 2010 516 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.2% of the sample were male, 30.4% in their twenties, 33.7% in their thirties, and 35.9% in their forties.

Even worse, about two in five fancied Twittering with the people on the box. I’ve seen a couple of late-night programmes that feature the people in the studio checking emails for topics, and it’s incredibly boring just watching the top of someone’s head as they mutter at a monitor trying to summarise a message.
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Unfortunately what this survey by Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile search omits is what search provider people are using, but still it is quite interesting to see what people are searching for.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 19th of February 2010 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, 1.7% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

I’ve only had a fleeting experience with the default search engine built into docomo’s iMode, but it was pretty terrible. Now I directly use Google and its iMode front-end, although it’s barely once a month that I use it, and then it is always for “<restaurant name> coupon”, which usually gives me a hit in one of the top three entries.
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I’ve been hoping such a survey as this one from iBridge Research Plus, reported on by japan.internet.com, on Google services but focusing on just Google Buzz, would appear, as I’ve wanted an excuse to write about Google Buzz.

Demographics

On the 22nd of February 2010 300 people completed a survey; 52.0% of the sample were female, 14.7% in their twenties, 43.0% in their thirties, 28.0% in their forties, 10.3% in their fifties, and 4.0% in their sixties.

Just in case you don’t know, Google Buzz is Google’s attempt at a social networking service based around their core offerings including Gmail, Google Reader, and Google Chat. However, it launched into a storm of privacy complaints and for me, although I didn’t notice any privacy issues I certainly did notice it imposing itself into my Google Reader window, showing me far too much stuff from my contacts’ activities without any way to easily ignore. I soon turned it off, but I might go back in a couple of months to see if they have added any controls to only show me my friends when I want to see them.
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I’m not really sure how the pie chart I have extracted from this survey by iShare into body complexes relates to the subject, but I thought it was interesting enough to graph.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 8th of February 2010 497 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 31.6% in their twenties, 29.4% in their thirties, and 39.0% in their forties.

I don’t have any complexes, I don’t think, although I used to have a thing about my teeth, but that was a justified complex as they were in a terrible state, so a good few visits to the dentist fixed all that.

I’d love to have seen hair as a separate category, as I think many Japanese men are conditioned by the media to expect to have a full head of black hair well into their middle age. I’m going a bit thin on top and silver in the stubble myself, but it seems to bother my wife more than me!
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A recent survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into mobile devices (the fourth time this regular survey was conducted) found that the iPhone far outsold ASUS’s Eee PC, the top netbook.

Demographics

On the 9th of February 2010 1,080 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 17.0% in their teens, 18.7% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, and 26.6% aged fifty or older.

It is useful to compare the outcome of this survey and the other survey I published yesterday on mini notebook computers.
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In the US and the UK I get the distinct impression that the netbook market is in a rush for the bottom, but here in Japan, premium-priced mini-notebooks seem to be the norm according to this recent survey from Media Interactive reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 16th and 17th of February 2010 1,000 internet users completed a survey, although the means of gathering this sample was not described. 53.1% of the sample were male, 0.8% in their teens, 13.8% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, 28.3% in their forties, 17.9% in their fifties, and 7.9% in their sixties.

I’ve now had my MSI Wind for about four months; I picked it up for under 300 dollars in the US, and it works great as a second PC that I can use when my wife’s busy with the main computer, or for stuffing in my rucksack whenever I have a solo train ride with 20 minutes or more to kill.
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goo Ranking recently took a look at when people think their tour guide on an overseas holiday is terrible – the foreign in the title refers to the location, as the guides may either be Japanese or local.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 22nd of January 2010 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were female, 19.9% in their teens, 29.5% in their twenties, 30.5% in their thirties, and 20.1% in their forties. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

My worst experience was with a local guide in Prague who must have been a closet communist as he spent a lot of time complaining when taking us round one site how the British and Americans had shot up the place during the Second World War, but I thought that was the Eastern Front so would have been the Soviets, and indeed we walked past a photo display captioned to indicate that it was as I suspected the Soviets. Later he spent some time moaning how the Austrian tour guides get double his pay…
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Despite having lots of followers, I still don’t know the answer to the question goo Ranking posed, namely what’s so great about Twitter?

Demographics

Between the 18th and 21st of December 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were female, 8.7% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 27.0% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.9% in their fifties, and 9.3% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Whenever I see programs or read about Twitter users, especially Japanese users, I am overcome with a great feeling of sadness. Mobile users, especially, seem to have devolved from rich email to basically text SMS.
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With the economy going down the toilet and quite a few interesting in earning a bit on the side, this recent survey from goo Ranking takes a look at what side jobs people would like to try.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 22nd of January 2010 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were female, 19.9% in their teens, 29.5% in their twenties, 30.5% in their thirties, and 20.1% in their forties. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Since everyone completing the survey is already a questionnaire monitor, although for just a nominal reward, the number one answer is either completely predictable or is implying that people would really want to answer questions for money.

Which reminds me, Get paid to take surveys! Join for free now! Just follow that link and you too can earn money by answering questionnaires, but more importantly I can earn money doing job number two…