Sunday, October 05, 2008

10/6/08 On Japanese Social Networking Sites

I found this article on msnbc.com that I thought was interesting. It comments on Japanese society in relation to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, or the Japanese native Mixi. I can personally relate to this article. I signed up to Mixi about 2 years ago in order to stay in touch with Japanese friends after I returned to the US. It was really a pain finding the people whom I know. Someone would add me as their friend, and I would check out their page to try to figure out who they were, only to find a picture of a dog wearing a hat. No additional photos. What the heck!?

One paragraph is especially striking. It concerns the online dating site match.com.


Match has increased its paying users in Japan by tailoring its approach to better fit marriage-minded Japanese women, timing advertising campaigns with national holidays when they travel home and face pressure from parents to find a mate.


Maybe its just me, but this sounds a bit predatory.

1 comment:

  1. hahah They are just trying to find a cute american like you!!! hahah. Oh no!!! I would recommend to do not look at those websites!! haha You know...

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