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Serkan Toto
Interview with Serkan Toto - November 2008
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| Serkan Toto is a German blogger based in Tokyo, and an aspiring entrepreneur. His blog, Tokyotronic, reflects his opinions and insights on the Japanese web and IT industry. |  |
| Us: | Serkan Toto: |
| 1) Despite high internet and mobile penetration in Japan, only a few companies like Nissan & Panasonic seem to be have ventured into the social media space in Japan. Young entrepreneurs often blame this on the top-down management style in Japan, because companies lead by older, less tech-savvy managers are believed to be less open to adopting new technologies. As a future entrepreneur, do you agree with this view? Do you think corporations in Japan are gradually moving online? Why or why not? | Japanese corporations are moving but they are moving slowly. Especially companies from the old media landscape (TV, music, print) are still very reluctant as far as embracing the web is concerned. NHK recently established a YouTube channel, at least. But they still don’t use social online media to the fullest because they think it endangers their very own existence and justification thereof. Other Japanese companies, i.e. from the automobile/electronic/gaming/ foods/service industry are moving faster. Top-down management is also existent outside Japan, where also older managers usually have the say. So, provided the view that older people don’t really embrace new technologies is true, the phenomenon is not limited to Japan. For example. Japan’s robot industry, which is in itself futuristic and insecure as far as practicability is concerned, is the world’s strongest. And even companies such as Honda and Toyota are investing millions in the corresponding technologies. |
| Given the culture of the Japanese and their extreme emphasis on trust, transparency, professionalism and loyalty, do you think corporations should venture into the social media space in Japan and build informal relationships with their Japanese consumers? | This heavily depends on what kind of company it is and what it wants to achieve. But there are no general reasons why corporations shouldn’t use social media to get in contact with Japanese consumers. Foreign corporations should note that some big foreign social media don’t play a role in Japan (MySpace, Facebook) while others do (Twitter, Youtube). It all depends on the context. |
| Japan’s biggest social networking site, Mixi, has over 11 million users. It can be an excellent platform for corporations to listen in on personal viewpoints of their consumers, yet a lot of companies are reluctant to tap into this space and connect with their consumers. What do you think makes them so resistant? | Mixi is very protective of its social network and earns money with advertising and premium accounts for members. I don’t see a reson for Mixi to encourage corporations trying to build relations with consumers via the platform itself. If they want to do it, they can buy ads on Mixi or initiate a partnership with Mixi (promotion, product placement). |
| Blogging is changing the scope of citizen journalism in Japan. However, The Edelmen Blog Omnibus Study (2007) indicates that the Japanese are less likely to be influenced or induced to act after reading blogs, as compared to the blog audience in other countries. Do you think blogging as a means of citizen journalism is a short-lived trend in Japan? | There is hardly any citizen journalism in Japan. People here are, in comparison to other nations such as the USA or Korea, less interested in politics. There is no well-known citizen journalism site in Japan. OhmyNews, which is super-successful in Korea came to Japan in August 2006 and tanked 2 years later. |
| 5) Do you have any other comments on the nature or future of the social media space in Japan? | The Japanese social media space is hard to get into for corporations because of cultural, business-specific and language barriers. Corporations wanting to tap this realm should move as fast as possible, be ready to invest some money and look early for Japan-based partners. These partners should have good relations with the local press, customers, potential clients etc. and help reduce risks and costs while at the same time raising the chances for success. The Japanese social media space is moving as fast as the one outside this country and is almost impossible to be observed, analyzed and entered from abroad. |
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