Facebook Finds Fickle Fans

[Mike Oxlong]

[jim katta]

I read this article and it is absolutely devoid of new information or perspective, clearly just an article to garner page views around the hot topic (Facebook) of the moment. The story is SO devoid of new information it could have easily been written a year ago January 2010. The least they could have done was put a unique spin on the topic rather than rehashing other old stories.

[Mike Oxlong]

Yeah, fair criticism. These two older articles seem to explore the issue in more depth...

Facebook in Japan: Will It Blend?

Facebook is sidelined in Japan as social network battle heats up

[AML]

why the hell are people here so paranoid about showing their real identity online?

I think a lot of it probably stems from the fact that people here have zero education when it comes to PCs and the internet. Just fear of viruses and hacker attacks.

English is another barrier i suppose.

Most people ive asked about facebook often say they are afraid that people they dont know will learn private info from their page. I keep telling them that only people you know can access your info. (ie friends only setting)

Why wont the government spend more money on IT education in schools?

A lot of people look at the internet as some sort of foreign invention that doesnt apply to Japan. And at best its just a fad they use for some light entertainment.

Head in the sand as usual.

[TennoChinko]

why the hell are people here so paranoid about showing their real identity online?

I think a lot of it probably stems from the fact that people here have zero education when it comes to PCs and the internet. Just fear of viruses and hacker attacks.

English is another barrier i suppose.

Most people ive asked about facebook often say they are afraid that people they dont know will learn private info from their page. I keep telling them that only people you know can access your info. (ie friends only setting)

Why wont the government spend more money on IT education in schools?

A lot of people look at the internet as some sort of foreign invention that doesnt apply to Japan. And at best its just a fad they use for some light entertainment.

Head in the sand as usual.

I think there are some real concerns. Identity theft, stalking and harassment are just a few I can think of from the top of my head.

The candor that one may use under an anonymous handle disappears if posting under one's real name. I'd bet most FG posters would post differently or not post at all if we were suddenly required to use 'real names' instead of handles. There are all sorts of real-life repercussions if someone if offended by an off-color remark or even disagrees with something you've said.

In the latter case, the gaijin burakumin Debito aka David Aldwinckle launched a classic Japanese badmouth campaign against Gregory Clark when he disagreed with statements made by Clark on his website and articles. Letters were sent by Debito and his supporters to employers and clients of Clark in order to discourage them from retaining his services as a honorary professor or guest columnist. I am pretty certain that Clark is not even aware of this dirty tricks campaign to this date.

[plaid_knight]

Perhaps people in Japan don't know how to control the Privacy settings for Facebook. This includes the setting to not make your profile publicly available except to your friends. Also, although it asks for your personal info, you really don't need to tell it much other than your name.

[Adhesive]

The candor that one may use under an anonymous handle disappears if posting under one's real name. I'd bet most FG posters would post differently or not post at all if we were suddenly required to use 'real names' instead of handles.

Sure, but Facebook is a different beast considering you have to invite people to view your info. The general Japanese aversion to losing anonymity on the internet, in my opinion, borders on the absurd.

I always laugh when my wife adds a Japanese friend to facebook, and they have a picture of a dog or scenery as their profile pic, and they write about their children as if they're celebrities avoiding the paparazzi (using nicknames, etc.). Who do these people think they are? They've got six friends and lead the most mundane, boring lives imaginable, and yet they think they're somehow going to be the target of some sort of international espionage ring, lol.

[Fullback]

Even Mark Zuckerberg was amazed that people would give up their personal information to him so easily. He thought they were stupid to do so, but he wasn't going to stop them.

There might be a lesson in that. It's not just "other" people, it may be a lack of trust in Facebook.

[Ketou]

Even Mark Zuckerberg was amazed that people would give up their personal information to him so easily. He thought they were stupid to do so, but he wasn't going to stop them.

There might be a lesson in that. It's not just "other" people, it may be a lack of trust in Facebook.

Considering the alleged CIA (DARPA) background, he would think them stupid indeed.

[Greji]

why the hell are people here so paranoid about showing their real identity online?

I agree! Please immediately forward your credit card and bank card numbers to me along with their PINs, so I can demonstrate how your personal information is safe even though it has been exposed to numerous soaplands and wank parlors throughout Japan.....

[Mulboyne]

The potential blowback from making a mis-step online seems far greater for a normal individual in Japan than their counterpart in the West.

It's no comfort to be told that you can control the flow of information. Your relationship with you online friends can change or you might misjudge the nature of the relationship in the first place. If you limit your interaction to only those people you know extremely well, it defeats the point of a social network. People have lost jobs when a mixi friend has grassed them up and the information trail has revealed their real identity. Think how much easier that would be if you used your real name.

There's also the possibility of just making a mistake. There can't be many people who haven't accidentally sent or received an email intended for someone else. Or done something silly online while drunk. Anonymity is just one extra layer of protection in a society which can make a mountain out of a molehill.

If you add the potential for any SNS to move the goalposts on privacy and the possibility for data leaks, I think such caution is quite natural for a Japanese user.

[Samurai_Jerk]

People have lost jobs when a mixi friend has grassed them up and the information trail has revealed their real identity.

Any links? I'm not doubting you but I'd be interested to read any stories that may be out there.

[Mulboyne]

Any links? I'm not doubting you but I'd be interested to read any stories that may be out there.

There's this from the FG archive and also this. Two different outcomes but both bad news for the account holder. Certainly, their posts sound like they were out of order - to the extent their indiscretions made national news - but people aren't always clear where the lines are drawn.

Incidentally, it seems the Yomiuri Shimbun has forbidden staff to have Twitter accounts.

[Fullback]

I believe that a problem with using your real name is that everything you write on the internet exists forever.

It can be taken out of context, you can't modify it, you can't retract it easily and it isn't the same as real life. There are no facial expressions that accompany it. There may be contextual things that others may not understand or be aware of like real conversations.

Most people are not smart. There are more stupid people than smart ones in almost every social or business setting. You would simply ignore the stupid ones in real life.

On line, we're exposed to more stupid people in 30 minutes than we would encounter in a week of real life. It's easier for people to lose patience with the overwhelming, sheer numbers of idiots with computers, and that frustration can lead people to say things they would never say in person.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I believe that a problem with using your real name is that everything you write on the internet exists forever.

Exactly. Or Even if it doesn't last forever, when it's in writing it's a lot harder to BS your way out of it. 20 years ago if you got drunk with a big-mouthed coworker and bitched about your boss you could always claim it was taken out of context or you were just blowing off steam and it wasn't as bad as he or she said. But once you put it in writing, it's official and people will choose to interpret it however they want.

[Mulboyne]

Coincidentally, Zak Spa has a new article (Japanese) about privacy concerns on mixi.

The network apparently introduced a friendfinder function on Mixi based on email addresses (apparently subsequently suspended). The default setting for users was "on". which meant anyone could find your mixi account if it was registered to the email address they had for you.

One hostess said this caused her problems because her clients found her that way. She certainly didn't want them in her network but it was also bad for business to refuse them outright. Another guy broke up with a girl, set up a different account but she found him through the address finder.

There are several other accounts of how people have felt exposed on mixi, even using anonymous accounts.

Incidentally, World Business Satellite has a short feature on Facebook which you can watch online.

[Zeth3D]

Well I mean think about it, for those of you that might play online games, why wouldn't you just use you real name? Why not just name your character John Doe or whatever your name is. You probably wouldnt want to use your real name if you arent that good, but you still benefit out of being a casual. Of maybe you enjoy being something more or different from yourself.

Using an alias online make a lot of sense to me. But it depends, as most things do to some extent on geography. My experience in japan is that its much easier to stay connected with the people you want to, but in the US if i want to come into contact with some of my friends my only option is something like facebook.

Dont know if i really contributed anything to this arguement, but on a side note people who have their name in their email address (like my.name555@whatever) I have always personally thought were stupid and ametures on the internets.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Dont know if i really contributed anything to this arguement, but on a side note people who have their name in their email address (like my.name555@whatever) I have always personally thought were stupid and ametures on the internets.

So I guess most companies don't know what they're doing since they include real names in email addresses.

[plaid_knight]

I use an e-mail address with my real name for business and work. For everything else I use a throwaway yahoo mail address.

[AML]

even though it has been exposed to numerous soaplands and wank parlors throughout Japan.....

Beat you to it!

[BigInJapan]

Usage survey of Facebook users in Japan by Macromill ("the leading online research company in Japan")
[SIZE="1"]Survey was carried out on Jan. 26 - 27, 2011 with 500 respondents[/SIZE]

• Facebook use, "checking friend's status" 50%, "looking for old friends" 39%
• Reason I joined up, "a friend recommended it" 41%, "because it seems popular" 22%
• Registered profile with real name, approx. 80%.
  Concerned about posting personal information, "not concerned" 48%, "concerned" 52%

One of the many graphs on the survey page (link above):

People concerned about posting personal information on Facebook

Q. Are you concerned about posting personal information on Facebook?
[INDENT]Sort of concerned: 39.2%
Concerned: 12.4%
Not really concerned: 37.6%
Not concerned: 10.8%
Concerned - total: 51.6
Not concerned - total: 48.4%[/INDENT]

[Mike Oxlong]

Twitter, mixi form Japan tie-up as Facebook gains

Twitter Inc. and Japan's biggest homegrown social networking site mixi Inc. joined forces Wednesday to strengthen their ground against a rapidly expanding Facebook. For Twitter, the partnership with a local social network could point to a new strategy as the San Francisco-based microblogging service seeks to accelerate global growth. Japan is the company's second-biggest market after the US and has served as a key international testing ground of sorts.

Japanese was Twitter's first foreign language platform, and it opened its first overseas office in Tokyo earlier this year. In April, the company hired James Kondo in Japan as its first international country manager. Kondo said he didn't know if Twitter would forge similar partnerships in other countries. But the company is keen to see what happens with the experiment, which launched with a limited Christmas-themed application, he said...