Mixi, the biggest social networking site in Japan

"mixi（ミクシィ）は、株式会社ミクシィが運営する、日本最大級のシェアを持つソーシャル・ネットワーキング・サービス (SNS)である。
2004年2月にサービス開始。GREE（2004年2月開始）と並び、日本では最も早い時期からサービスを展開していたSNSのひとつである。
サービス名の「mixi」は、公式サイトの説明[1]によると、「mix（交流する）」と「i（人）」を組み合わせた造語で、利用者同士の交流が深まることを願って名づけられたもの。
また、2007年2月5日より動画共有サービス、mixi動画が開始された。"

References: MIXI, Wikipedia [Online], Retrieved 5th Febuary 2009

URL:http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIXI

Mixi is the largest social site that is used by the Japanese.

Mixi, which launched in February 2004, is the biggest social networking site in Japan. What’s more, it’s growing rapidly. Mixi (MIKUSHII) is operated by MIKUSHII Inc., social networking services with the largest share of Japan (SNS). The service name "mixi", supposedly refers to the fact that “I” can “mix” with other users. On Febuary 5, 2007, video-sharing service was launched by Mixi.

To join Mixi, you need to be invited by an existing member. You also need to be 18 or over, but I doubt anyone sticks to the rules. Your Mixi URL contains a unique user number: since these began at 1 and increased sequentially, it’s easy to tell how recently a user joined. And because Mixi is invite-only, none of these URLs are indexed by Google. I've thought of joining Mixi, but, you need a valid mobile mail account from one of those Japanese mobile carriers in oder to join Mixi.

Mixi’s site design and navigation are extremely intuitive. Your homepage displays a selection of your friends, a list of their latest blog posts and photos and the latest news from your communities. Like Wretch, you can also see the most recent visitors to your page.

Mixi’s profile pages are attractive and load extremely quickly. The reason for this is pretty simple: unlike MySpace, Windows Live Spaces and other US networks, you can’t edit the layout of your page. The advantage is that the site doesn’t break; the disadvantage is that there’s no variety, and Mixi isn’t a great tool for expressing your identity.

Interestingly, Mixi also includes user reviews: users can rate and review books, CDs, DVDs, games, electronics and other items. Clicking on a product takes you to the relevant page on Amazon Japan. This social commerce idea is great - it’s something that MySpace seems to have missed. Another notable feature is the blogging tool - in addition to writing posts on the site, you can resyndicate an external blog on Mixi. Free blogs are limited to 100MB of space, but for 300 yen per month you can buy more hosting space for your blog and photos.

In late June, Mixi launched their equivalent of MySpace Music. This works in the same way as MOG - you download the “Mixi Station” client and allow it to track your listening habits in Windows Media Player or iTunes. The application uploads this data to the Mixi music section, making it publicly accessible. You can then browse the tracks that your friends and community are listening to, and even buy them through iTunes.

Clearly, Mixi is vastly different to MySpace and other US social networks. The lack of customization seems odd, but it’s clear that Mixi has more diverse revenue streams. Product recommendations, iTunes integration and paid accounts are all interesting ways to monetize these networks. And while I don’t think the Mixi model would be a huge hit elsewhere, there’s a certainly a lot we can learn from it.

-Siew Ching-