Social Media in Japan: In Conversation with Comnico

Facebook recently topped the 5 million user mark in Japan, and its rapid growth in the country has the attention of not only individual users, but also of corporations who want the attention of those users. This past week, Dentsu and Microsoft Japan unveiled their Sociobridge service to help companies market on Facebook better. And last Friday at AdTech Tokyo, I spoke with another company helping corporations develop a Facebook presence.

In fact Comnico Inc., a Tokyo-based company with about 18 staff, does all kinds of social media work in Japan, ranging from Facebook to Twitter campaigns to planning Ustream live-stream events. Comnico has prominent clients like JAL, Citreon, and Otsuka (makers of Pokari Sweat).

One of its most notable campaigns kicked off this past September, a Facebook promotion for Puma called ‘One Click To Jamaica.’ This was a slick game that lets the user run in Usain Bolt’s shoes for a few fleeting seconds, clicking as you cross the finish line to see how close to 9.58 seconds you can come. The campaign runs until November 11, so feel free to give it a try.

I spoke with Comnico’s CEO, Masayuki Hayashi, about his thoughts on recent changes in Japan’s social media landscape and what he thought about Facebook’s rapid rise. He explained:

Comnico CEO Masayuki Hayashi

The hot platform is Facebook, that’s for sure. In just this week we’ve had more than ten new inquiries from different clients about Facebook. So it’s kind of booming. Some people say there’s kind of a Facebook bubble — maybe — but users are growing, and I’m sure that Facebook will be kind of a base influence for social media in Japan as well.

Masayuki remarked that Twitter is very important too, but it has a different function:

If you want to [disseminate] information in real time than Twitter is better. But if you want to stock your fans, then Facebook is preferred.

As for home-grown social media service Mixi, he says that he would like to support the new Mixi pages. As far as demand goes, he says (with a smile) that there is “some interest.” How will Mixi fare versus other social media competition? Masayuki says that Mixi will survive, but their role is different than Facebook. “Facebook creates a type of social graph, but Mixi is more for interest graphs among groups,” he noted.

Right now Comnico is serving the Japan market only, but is considering expanding to Asian countries in the future. The majority of its shares are held by internet service provider Nifty Corporation (TYO:3828), with whom Comnico is working with to accelerate its business. Nonetheless, Masayuki says that Comnico would like to stay independent and retain its ‘venture spirit’ moving forward.