Why Twitter Resonates With Japanese Consumers
In terms of the nationality of Twitter users, Japan can be said to be one of the countries that favors using Twitter the most.
More than that, Twitter is not just a "temporary" social channel to Japanese. It has become inseparable from their lives, and their usage habits are not easily changed.
Young Japanese are especially frequent users in the country. The number of users has reached more than 45 million.
So, what is it that makes the Japanese so fond of Twitter?
We can begin by analyzing the design of Twitter and the traits of the Japanese people. After that, we can gradually understand the reasons.
Looking from the perspective of Japanese and cultural characteristics, there are two points to consider.
Japanese are about “reading the air”
The unique term "reading the air" comes from Japan.
Being group-oriented is very important in Japanese society, and anyone who wishes to understand the truth of what a Japanese person says must understand not only the words being spoken but also the meaning behind those words - the actual situation and the “atmosphere” of the speech.
The fact is, though, that individuals still have a lot of things that they actually want to express and convey. Twitter provides an environment where both positive and negative content can be tolerated.
In one or two simple sentences, people can express their immediate feelings and honest moods.
It’s a monoethnic country
Japan is considered a monoethnic country where many topics are resonant across the country. For example, what happens at the Red and White Song Festival, what happens at school, and so on.
People don't need to worry about their culture being difficult to understand.
Compared with Facebook which provides news that easily connects to the world, Japanese Twitter is relatively insular, so everyone can comfortably post easily understood content in this comfort zone.
Twitter has these very characteristics which fit the needs of Japanese people the most.
Fast information transmission and dissemination
Japan is a country prone to natural disasters and has a high urban population density. Traffic jams and train stoppages occur frequently.
In face of these emergencies, tools that can spread news quickly are very necessary.
Compared with a TV broadcast which requires preparing and organizing material and information, first-hand news can be sent out on Twitter in real time, and users can use keywords to make immediate information searchable.
Twitter also allows users to access pictures or condition updates uploaded by people on the actual scene. Compared to TV or other media, Twitter's news dissemination rate is the fastest.
Short and instant post capabilities
Each post on Japanese Twitter has a 140-word limit and is mainly text-based, so users don’t need to worry about whether the photos they upload look good or feel pressure to be liked.
To Japanese people, Twitter can feel like a return to the old newsletter era or the passing around of paper notes at school.
Through concise texts and short, fast exchanges, users can achieve their communication needs simply and quickly.
Lastly…
The global usage rate of Twitter is actually in decline. Japan is the only country that has really maintained a stable usage rate.
Twitter's fast-spreading feature has brought people a lot of convenience, and is the go-to platform to find out the most recent, trending topics in Japan.
