Within the Japanese social media landscape, the messaging app LINE stands out as the most widely adopted service. The app was released in June 2011 as a response to the Great East Japan Earthquake that had disrupted conventional communication channels in affected areas and made an alternative form of communication necessary. LINE proved an instant hit and recorded 18 million registered users in Japan by June 2012, just one year after its release. Part of its appeal was cute and customizable stickers that could be used to give messages a more personal touch. Today, the service boasts a
of over 90 percent and has become a part of daily life for many people. It is not only used for communication purposes, but also for mobile payments, online shopping, and various forms of entertainment, such as manga and mobile games.
Other leading social media services
Next to LINE, internationally successful networks, such as Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Facebook,
enjoy a high popularity in Japan. As is the case in many other countries, YouTube is the most successful video sharing service, while TikTok is
particularly well-received among young people. Japan was the first country in which Twitter grew faster in terms of user numbers than Facebook. This was partly a result of the Japanese writing system, which allowed for more content to be written per single post, and partly because of privacy reasons and the prior availability of services that were similar to Facebook. One of these was Mixi, which recorded increasing user numbers until the beginning of the 2010s and was known as Japan’s leading social network before becoming gradually supplanted by its competition.
Social media is shaping everyday culture
Survey data show that the
average time people spend on social media has increased significantly in recent years. Next to the spread of smartphones during the 2010s and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 onward, factors such as the expansion of the social commerce market and the growing importance of social media platforms as purveyors of information played a role in this development. Since Japan is a country that is prone to natural disasters, social media services also represent an important way of gathering information during emergencies. Despite an aging and shrinking population, it is expected that the already
high number of social media users will increase further in the coming years. Consequently, social networks and similar services shape everyday culture to an unprecedented degree, both in the private as well as in the public sphere.
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