Japan and Korea Rule the Internet, Facebook Taking Full Advantage

Singapore’s WeAreSocial has whipped up two new reports on the internet in Asia, this time featuring Japan and Korea. For anyone looking for a broad overview of internet developments over the past few years in these two uber-wired nations, check out these presentations below.

For the Japan report, there are a few facts and figures that make that market unique [1]:

• Mobile penetration is 100 percent
• There are 98 million mobile internet subscribers
• 37 percent of Japan’s internet users play online games

Slide 12 on social networks in Japan could use an asterisk though, as Mixi’s own active user numbers stand [at about 15 million], far below its registered user count of about 25 million. Also Facebook’s user numbers (which are never easy to pin down) are now said to be over 6 million according to Social Bakers [2], but the rate at which it is growing can already be called a big win in my book.

Korea is no slouch either, with the fastest internet in the world and 100 percent mobile penetration. As for social media in that country, Cyworld wins out in terms of registered users (see slide 7 below). But again, just as with Mixi in Japan, we need to point out that many of those users are inactive, making things a hell of a lot easier for Facebook.

For a deeper look at Japan, Korea, and other nations in the region, you can check out WeAreSocial’s entire Asia series over on their website.