Why Anonymity is so Important for Japanese Social Media

Let’s face it; social media engagement in Japan doesn’t come easy. In America and other parts of the world, engagement metrics and paths toward customer conversion have come down to science but in Japan it’s more like an experiment with decades of age-old tradition standing in the way of boosting your brands “like” status.

While there are many reasons for this, and understanding the total ecosystem of dynamics might take an entire book, as a social media agency in Japan we’ve learned a lot the importance of anonymity and why that creates an entirely new social dynamic within the region.

First, why anonymity is so important

Japan is generally a face-to-face driven culture where reputation precedes individualization. A strict set of cultural norms have set the basis for encouraging creativity and individuality as long as it goes through a certain set of rules first. As a result, the idea of having an individual voice online can be relatively limited for those looking to maintain a specific reputation or persona.

Additionally, while Japan has made significant progress in the last couple decades, the Internet at one time was perceived with more skepticism by older generations as it was originally adopted by a younger and angsty crowd. Though now adopted widely, there is still some negative connotations that are often tied to new advancements and even social platforms that in turn limit the individual user looking to create an identity or brand online while still maintaining certain relationships.

It’s also worth mentioning that Japan is a relatively closed society where nuances such as the fact that “where you were born could identify the career opportunities you’ll receive” or “how what you say online could reflect on your immediate family”. For this reason, consumers often guard or keep relatively private certain information and also thoughts and opinions as not to do anything that could be damaging in the long run to themselves or their larger family.

The impact this has one social media activity

As a result of these cultural norms, platforms are often perceived and interacted with much differently in Japan than in the US.

For example, while LinkedIn is the leading US career driven social network in the US, it’s hardly used in Japan. Why?

In Japan, consumers see LinkedIn as an employment search platform; the idea of being seen by their employer as looking for a job is unprofessional and in some sense, disrespectful from a cultural standpoint.

For this purpose, consumers are more often likely to use Facebook for professional networking where they can make a connection while also remaining anonymous in regard to their intention until there is more of a relationship built.

This impact of course lives beyond just LinkedIn, Japan is a culture full of unique caricatures, dynamic anime, avatars and much more. Platforms like Line and others have been finding ways to use this to their advantage in order to give consumers the opportunity to use their platform while still remaining visually anonymous to the searchable public.

How social platforms can make adjustments

For social platforms looking for more expedited growth in Japan, they’ll need to step outside of themselves to understand the foundations of the culture more.

Traditional features, individual celebrity, and shareable moments aren’t always as common in the region as they are in the US, quite the opposite actually.

In return social platforms should look deeper into exclusive benefits of social media, how they’ve been successful, and how they can be used for an audience so prone to anonymity.

For example, Facebook might be able to benefit from a re-launch and more adamant push of its group(s) feature. In this case, users can create public or private groups to network around issues that matter to them most.

Or if LinkedIn were to spend more time on its Slideshare feature, they’d be able to recruit new users around knowledge and data sharing as oppose to employment seeking.

Regardless of the changes that need to be made, anonymity in Japan won’t go anywhere soon. So, as oppose to working against it, companies should rather embrace it in order to find where the opportunities are within so that they can break new ground and possibly even start a new trend as a result.

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