Mixi: Japan’s social network

Posted on December 20th, 2007 by Shunichi Arai

Mixi logo

[Update 2011-03-08] Mixi was passed by Gree in 2010, and likely to be passed by Mobage Town, too. See this.

Mixi is the biggest social network service in Japan.(was the biggest until summer 2010). It has 11 million users so far. It's a phenomenon. Before Mixi, the Web was not attractive enough for non-techie people. Mixi changed that. Mixi changed the daily social life of Japanese people.

Batara Eto - an intern from Indonesia - proposed the project to clone Friendster in 2003. He developed the site in the next few month. The site was named 'mixi'. It's quite a remarkable example which shows the diversity of the workforce is the key to success.

Mixi is not very different from Friendster, but there is a small but significant difference from Friendster or Orkut. Mixi has a blogging feature. It really helps to keep users visiting the site. Mixi is actually a social blogging tool.

The company's name is 'mixi' too. Its former name was 'e-mercury' but the name was changed to 'mixi' after the huge success of the service. Initially, the company was founded as an Internet job agency. The job agency service, 'find job', is a quite profitable business too.

The founder Kenji Kasahara is a young quiet person. He looks like an introvert 'Otaku' kind of person. Probably he's a much more acceptable role model for the younger Japanese generation than aggressive Livedoor or Rakuten founders.

See also: (in English)

  1. A Mashable article about mixi
  2. FY2007 Q1 Earnings Results Briefing Session(April-June 2007)
  3. A Financial Times article - September 14 2006

Mixi (as of Oct. 2007)

  • Type: Public (2121)
  • Founded: Jun. 3rd 1999
  • Went public: Sep. 14th 2006
  • Sales: 5.2 billion yen ($45 million)
  • Profit: 1.1 billion yen ($9.6 million)
  • Users: 11 million
  • Page views: 11.75 billion / month
  • People: CEO, Kenji Kasahara
  • People: CTO, Batara Eto (born 1979, formerly known as Batara Kesuma)

Note: Batara Eto will resign from the post in December 2007.

Author Information  Shunichi Arai is developing a product for his new stealth startup. Arai devotes his life to software business, reading, and salsa dancing. Arai also loves to learn other cultures and languages such as Korean.

Tags: Company, Japan // 18 Comments »

  • http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices Global Voices Online

    # At Asiajin,shunichi arai writes about Mixi, Japan’s largest and most popular social networking service.

  • http://www.globalvoicesonline.org Global Voices Online

    # At Asiajin,shunichi arai writes about Mixi, Japan’s largest and most popular social networking service.

  • http://globalguild.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_21.html SCSF(Swift Current, Slow Flow)

    Mixi: Japan’s social networkMixi is the biggest social network service in Japan . It has 11 million users so far. It’s a phenomenon. Before Mixi , the Web was not attractive enough for non-techie people. Mixi changed that. Mixi

  • http://ameblo.jp/globalguild/entry-10061288113.html SCSF(Swift Current, Slow Flow)

    Mixi: Japan’s social network

  • http://d.hatena.ne.jp/globalguild/20071221/1198168048 SCSF(Swift Current, Slow Flow)

    Mixi: Japan’s social networkMixi is the biggest social network service in Japan. It has 11 million users so far. It’s a phenomenon. Before Mixi, the Web was not attractive enough for non-techie people. Mixi changed that. Mixi changed the daily social life of Japanese people.

  • http://globalguild.blog75.fc2.com/blog-entry-551.html SCSF(Swift Current, Slow Flow)

    Mixi: Japan’s social network

  • http://mashable.com Mashable! – The Social Networking Blog

    Incoming Links To appear here, link to any Mashable post from a blog. TorrentSpy Loses Major Court Case Facebook now lets you group your friendsMixi: Japan’s social networkGoogle – Diesel &#038; Gas – Sustainable energy resources ? Vote for Indie Design by Voting for Smashing Darling in the <B>Mashable</B>… Bebo Open Application Platform Supports Facebook Application…

  • http://www.nilab.info/cheapjap/000868.html i am a cheap jap!

    Toughbook: Japan’s favorite notebook | Asiajin The notebook pc is ‘Let’s Note’. Mobile phone companies to filter web content for minors | Asiajin A Japanese large website, the Mobage-town (mobile game town).Mixi: Japan’s social network | Asiajinmixi = mix + i ‘i’ means I (… my me mine). The mixi is Japanese largest SNS (social network service). Kin-en-style: Smoke-free restaurants directory | Asiajin I often watch this site. No-smoking restaurant is placed.

  • http://es.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/06/13/japon-mixi-y-el-anonimato/ Global Voices en Español

    servicio de red social más popularde Japón, derrotando a su competencia con más de diez millones de usuarios y quedándose con el liderazgo del mercado local de SNS. Tan grande es Mixi que hasta planea expandirse al mercado chino, y no es que su fundador Kenji Kasahara

  • http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/06/02/japan-mixi-and-anonymity/ Global Voices Online » Japan: Mixi and Anonymity

    [...] is Japan's most popular social networking service by a longshot, beating out its competition with over ten million users and taking the lion's [...]

  • http://asiajin.com/blog/2008/06/03/yapcasia-2008-report-day-2/ YAPC::Asia 2008 report: day 2 | Asiajin

    [...] in mixi’ by Masahiro Nagano. He detailedly explained their effort to scale the Japan’s biggest SNS with [...]

  • http://asiajin.com/blog/2008/08/22/mobage-town-forays-into-pc-web-from-mobile/ Mobage Town forays into PC web from mobile | Asiajin

    [...] SNS leader Mixi, has been providing their mobile version for years, and now gives favorable treatment to mobile [...]

  • http://asiajin.com/blog/2008/08/28/evan-williams-meets-japanese-twitter-users-in-tokyo/ Evan Williams meets Japanese Twitter Users in Tokyo | Asiajin

    [...] usage can be boosted more. Several companies starting Twitter clone services in Japan and even Mixi, the largest SNS in Japan introduced Twitter clone function for trial named “Mixi Minna no Echo“. CNET Japan [...]

  • http://asiajin.com/blog/2009/08/20/mixi-ex-cto-helps-singaporean-mobile-startup/ Asiajin » Mixi ex-CTO Helps Singaporean Mobile Startup Xsago

    [...] Eto, who suggested to make a Japanese social network to his boss in late 2003 and programmed Japan’s biggest social network Mixi, let the company [...]

  • jeffs_wife

    I would like to join Mixi–could you invite me?

  • http://akimoto.jp/blog/ Akky Akimoto

    Mixi is now open like Facebook. You may register by yourself but it requires your Japanese cellphone e-mail address. That is asked when you are invited by current users, too.

  • CH Lim

    I need Batara Eto’s contact number or email. Who can help to provide it?
    Thank you in advance to anybody who are pleased to inform me by emai to :
    wellmarks@gmail.com

    Kind Regards,
    CH Lim, Medan, Indonesia

  • http://twitter.com/akky Akky Akimoto

    His company Etolabo website has a Japanese contact form.
    http://etolabo.com/inquiries.html

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