eMarketer Estimates Show Twitter Leads Social Networks in Japan

Japan is home to one of the world’s largest Twitter audiences, which will total 25.1 million people this year, or 47.3% of the country’s social network user base, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast of worldwide social network users.

Twitter actually has a larger following in Japan than Facebook, which will be used by an estimated 40% of social network users in the country this year. Japan became a Twitter stronghold following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, when it emerged as an invaluable communications tool after some telephone networks were damaged.

Mobile social networks will be used by 36.0% of mobile phone users in Japan this year, a figure that falls slightly behind the average of 41.3% for Asia-Pacific. In addition, Japan, which has a slightly older population, will record the lowest social network penetration in Asia-Pacific this year. Just over half (51.0%) of internet users in Japan will use social networks regularly, compared with 71.5% for the region overall.

“Japan continues to be one of the strongest markets for Twitter. The tendency to engage in self-effacing behavior is common in the country, and Twitter allows users to engage in social media without drawing attention to themselves,“ said eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu. “Privacy and anonymity are important to Japanese internet users.“