Twitter first launched brand pages in the US in
December last year and four months later the advertising feature has come to Japan, the first market in Asia. DoCoMo, the
country's largest mobile operator, national retailer Lawson and Warner Entertainment Japan are the first
companies that will take advantage of the pages, according to the Twitter
Japan blog [Japanese], via Asiajin.
It's of little
surprise that Twitter has chosen Japan as its third market to launch brand
pages - behind the US and the UK, the latter of which got the feature in
February - as the micro blogging service has been a runaway success in Japan.
Twitter has broken into the mainstream
in Japan which, in a country that has traditionally preferred domestic
services to those from overseas, is quite an achievement.
Last year Twitter
founder Jack Dorsey took stock of its remarkable growth, which began by
allowing Tamagotchi owners to feed their pets more easily, before becoming
(arguably) Japan's most popular social network.
Proof of Twitter's appeal in Japan came last year when
Mixi, which has been the country's leading social network for some time,
announced an advertising partnership with Twitter to help combat the growing threat of
Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg's service has taken its time to grow, but the last
six months saw its membership double to reach 10 million members in the
country.
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VOCABULARY
1.
Launched
- to start something, usually something big or important
2.
Feature - a part of something that you notice because it seems
important, interesting, or typical
3.
Retailer –
a person or business that
sells goods to customers in a shop
4. mainstream - accepted
by or involving most people in a society
5.
appeal
- to make a serious public request for help, money,
information etc
6.
combat - to try to stop something
bad from happening or getting worse - used especially in news reports
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Do you have a twitter account?
2.
How often do you use twitter?
3.
What do you say about online marketing?
4.
How do you think these social networking sites
earn profit?
5.
What is online marketing?
