世論 What Japan Thinks

The third regular survey from goo Research into SNS usage, reported on by japan.internet.com, looking specifically at what friendships were present on these Social Networking Services.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 22nd of August 2013 1,086 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample were male, 13.8% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 21.1% in their thirties, 17.5% in their forties, and 32.3% aged fifty or older.

I was going to say that I only use SNS to keep in touch with existing friends, but then I realised most of the friends I have there are purely internet friends, so I suppose I do use SNS to make new friends.
Read the rest of this entry »

Ginza HS Clinic recently released a bit of curious survey that tried to establish a link between going bald and SNS. Some of you might remember a similarly dodgy survey from them (and headline from me!) from a couple of months back.

Demographics

During the month of April 2013 400 male members of the Rakutan Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample consisted of 200 men who self-identified as going bald and 200 who had a full head of hair. Furthermore, 20.0% of each group were in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% in their sixties.

Talking of slapheads, not surprisingly there is a Facebook group for photos of hot bald men. There is also this bald women group too; Google tells me the Arabic means “Shaved head women Salaat”. Coincidentally, the Japanese word “Salatto” means “sleek, smooth”, just like after a shaved head…
Read the rest of this entry »

Sanno Institute of Management, a private university in Japan, recently conducted a survey looking at people entering employment in 2013 and their workplace life, with the report on japan.internet.com choosing to focus on SNS activities.

Demographics

500 new starts who attended a Sanno Management School Entering the Workplace Seminar held between the 27th of March and the 10th of April were asked to fill out a questionnaire. 463 people supplied valid answers, from which 324 people, or 70.0%, were male.

I use an SNS every day, and if I got a friend request on Facebook from my boss I wouldn’t be too bothered as I use Facebook for little more than food pictures.
Read the rest of this entry »

japan.internet.com reported on goo Research’s second regular survey into SNS (Social Networking Service) usage.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 23rd of May 2013 1,062 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.7% of the sample were male, 13.9% in their teens, 15.9% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.7% in their forties, and 31.9% aged fifty or older.

My primary access is from a computer too, although my smartphone usage is catching up.
Read the rest of this entry »

goo Ranking asked their survey group to choose the times they come to want to quit using SNS (Social Network Services).

Demographics

Over the 9th and 10th of January 2013 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.4% of the sample were female, 8.5% in their teens, 14.1% in their twenties, 29.8% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, 10.4% in their fifties, and 10.2% 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.

I’m not much for SNS and it doesn’t really bother me what others think, but if I consider blogging instead, number three has to be my biggest downer!
Read the rest of this entry »

japan.internet.com reported on a recent survey by Neo Marketing into the true feelings (honne) of SNS users and found rather a lot getting a bit tired of the social grind.

Demographics

As with most non-goo Research surveys, the demographic information was lacking; 1,000 SNS users of both sexes between the ages of 20 and 49 completed a (presumably private) internet-based questionnaire at some unspecified date.

I keep my SNS usage to a minimum; indeed, my wife uses my Facebook account more than me, every day checking up on a few people to see what they are up to, whereas my usage is 99% automated reposts of this blog. I am more active on Google Plus, but as I find nothing wrong with just ignoring people (sorry, that’s just my character!) it never gets too burdensome.

Regarding Q3 and the dissatisfaction of getting requests from unknown people, I believe that when you sign up with Facebook and enter where you live, Facebook prompts you with a list of people nearby, so I occasionally get requests from Facebook newbies who live in the same town and probably think it would be cool to have a foreign friend. I, of course, just ignore them.

The article also had a quote from the head of a psychiartric clinic in Tokyo, saying that they are seeing a few patients having stress from work through SNS, which they have termed “social harrassment”. The doctor recommended taking a break from SNS now and again, and suggested avoiding it just before bedtime and/or Sundays.
Read the rest of this entry »

A recent survey from MMD Laboratory entitled 2012 smartphone user insight survey confirmed a trend I have seen with my own eyes; SNS usage, in particular LINE, has really taken off.

Demographics

Few demographics were presented; just that over the 18th and 19th of December 2012 670 smartphone using members of the MMD monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was aged between 20 and 59 years old.

When I initially read this survey, I was surprised to see email not featured anywhere, but finally I noticed that it was considered a built-in function. What I would really like to learn, though, is what people use for their main email provider; is it their carrier’s functionality or do they choose GMail or other third-party providers?
Read the rest of this entry »

The results of this survey from goo Research into SNS (Social Networking Service) usage as reported by japan.internet.com produces a couple of headscratch-worthy results, the one in the title and that maintaining friendships is more important than deepening them.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 11th of May 2012 1,076 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 15.9% in their teens, 18.6% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

On second thoughts, perhaps maintaining is more important than deepening or widening from a Japanese perspective? Class reunions, for instance, are a regular feature of many people’s lives here, for all of primary, secondary and tertiary education levels. Perhaps these events are viewed more as an obligation, thus Facebook and mixi provide an easy way to link together and fulfil one’s societal role?

For me, both obtaining and generating information is most important, but that’s more because I am an anti-social git…
Read the rest of this entry »

Or any other SNS for that matter, in this goo Ranking survey looking at what words or actions by friends on social networking services rile people.

Demographics

Over the 29th of February and the 1st of March 2012 1,175 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.4% of the sample were female, 10.0% in their teens, 16.5% in their twenties, 29.3% in their thirties, 24.1% in their forties, 10.6% in their fifties, and 9.5% 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.

I don’t really spend enough time on SNSes to have many of my own, although for some reason friends pushing the Like or +1 button on posts that I disagree with does annoy me a little. Thinking a bit more about it, I find things tiresome rather than annoying, I suppose, but then I am an anti-social git…
Read the rest of this entry »

goo Research recently took a look at keeping in touch with close friends, with the surprising result in the headline reported in japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 24th of March 2012 1,082 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

Knowing what I know about Japan, email and telephone being top are not surprising to me, but I was most taken aback by ordinary post coming in third! Thinking more closely, the mixi, Twitter and Facebook figures correlate to the penetration of these SNS within Japan, but I suspect that the old-fashioned post includes New Year postcards, where even I often exchange annual greetings with ex-colleagues who have moved to other divisions within my employer.
Read the rest of this entry »