Myspace In Japan

The social networking giant, MySpace.com, has commanded the attention of over 150 million Americans since its birth in July of 2003. Despite still being in its infancy, the Santa Monica-based Corporation boasts being ranked as the third most popular website in all of the United States, and standing as the sixth most popular website in any language (Wikipedia, 2007). BusinessWeek featured an article centered around MySpace on February 16, 2007 titled MySpace faces stiff competition in Japan. The article announces MySpace's entry into the Japanese Internet social networking market. There are however, as the title suggests, several barriers to an effortless entry into the potentially valuable Japanese market.

With the extension of their domestic services abroad, MySpace faces the massive threat of Japan's top social networking site, the "8-million-strong" Mixi. Mixi provides a platform for "peaceful communication" that caters to the Japanese collectivist tradition whereby one's group identity defines the individual. Mixi is an invitation-only service, which means registration requires an introduction from someone who is already a Mixi member. Such in-group tactics mirror the "cliquish" Japanese culture. While "Japanese tend to be more reserved and prefer to gradually get to know each other," the character of the American-based MySpace is much more in-your-face. With flashy text and a bombardment of pictures, videos, and messages, MySpace seems the polar opposite of the "prim, organized columns and stamp-size photos" of their Japanese counterpart. Tony Elison, senior vice president at Viacom International Japan, states "MySpace is about me, me, me, and look at me look at me look at me," which caters nicely to the highly individualistic culture within America. After polling one MySpace user and Bryant University student, the three adjectives she used to describe MySpace were "1) Creepy, 2) Informational, and 3) Stalkerish." As the adjectives imply, contrary to the highly protective, closely knit community of Mixi, MySpace allows an unlimited number of people to register, and allows all users to view the profiles of others, a system which for some is lacking in the privacy department.

Two websites, both offer social networking services, yet each approaches this end through vastly different means. MySpace believes it has a chance for success in Japan "because of its 50-50 partnership with Japanese Internet Company Softbank Corporation." Success in MySpace's overseas expansion lies in breaking a chip off the Japanese market which is currently extremely loyal to Mixi.