Even if you don’t speak the language in which it’s written, it’s clear that websites from different parts of the world look very different. New research puts numbers on that observation and sets out some clear patterns about the way users interact with the social internet.
A key element in JFDI.asia’s vision is our ambition to create products and services by Asians, for Asia. We are planning our own research into what makes the regional markets different.
In the meantime, a fascinating recent Harvard Business Review article by Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and data visualization designer Tommy McCall pulls together a range of insightful data about the different ways our friends and colleagues in the region use the internet.
Some illustrative findings from this survey of 50,000 international users of social networking:
- South Koreans are big bloggers but low social network profile managers. About 55% use the country’s dominant social network, Cyworld, which is very game-like compared to other social networks.
- Japanese users see social web mainly as a way to connect with closest friends, not to reach out to a wider social circle and certainly not to meet new people.
- Users in Europe, North America and Australia tend to use social platforms in similar ways and share more photos but do less ‘microblogging’
With thanks to David Straker for spotting this research.