Twitter has been a huge success in Japan as an entertainment medium. In fact, @shimmage visited a bookstore that had devoted an entire shelf to books originally having appeared as tweets! But when I met with the Japan marketing team two months ago, I was told that social media such as Twitter was rarely used in a B2B context. How can a medium so popular with the general public be underused in the business community? Is Twitter a victim of its own success?
Japanese bookstore, Twitter books from @shimmage
One of the biggest hurdles of B2B adoption is that over 50% of Japanese companies block social media sites outright, such as the popular Japanese Facebook variant Mixi and Twitter. The popular conception is that such technology saps, rather than contributes to, productivity. In other words, it’s just for entertainment. It’s understandable, then, if this attitude might dissuade companies from establishing a social media presence.
Of course, we’ve seen this in the U.S., too. One of the most powerful productivity tools we now use—the almighty e-mail—was itself thought to be simply a distraction in the beginning. More recently, instant messaging was a victim of the same misunderstanding. If Twitter has been so easily adopted, it’s only been because of such historical trial and error.
We all agreed that the only thing that would change the cultural assumptions about business uses of social media is case studies of it being used in productive ways. And there are such examples. Cisco is using it in a minimal way—as a PR mouthpiece—and Oracle is taking it a big step further and adding personality, linking to blog posts, and generally being more dynamic. As a result, Oracle’s followers are growing rapidly, while Cisco is receiving a tepid response.
Social media adoption is on the rise, and Juniper Networks has jumped into the game with both feet. Who wants to miss out on the benefits of a productivity tool? But certainly, more companies need to step up and prove its use. It’s still a greenfield opportunity. What other Japanese B2Bs are using it well? I’d love to hear from you.
