Mixi, a Japanese Social Network
Mixi(Mixi, Inc ミクシィ Mikushī) was Japan’s #1 number one social networking site until recently where I think Gree had taken over the top spot. Mixi which was founded back in 2000 is much like Facebook and Twitter, but completely different.
I really wanted to get an account as I wanted to find out the difference between Mixi and Facebook/Twitter.
For Mixi you can only register if you have a Japanese mobile phone e-mail, I looked around before I managed to get a Mixi account and discovered all the information about it is just too old.
Most articles I read say to get an account, that Mixi is an invite only site, but as I now know you can’t get an invite. I have realised that most Japanese only use Mixi and don’t use Twitter/Facebook as much, I find it strange that my Japanese friends can’t use Facebook too well, even though it can be used in Japanese.
Mixi is only in Japanese, so if your Japanese isn’t strong like mine then use a translator such as Google Translate. You will find many English speaking groups, and also many friendly Japanese people who are trying to learn English too!
When you get to Mixi you see the login screen which changes depending on the sponsor, much like Myspace:
Once logged in the layout is pretty similar to other social networking site’s, with the pictures on the left and the latest updates from friend’s such as albums and normal updates.
A few thing’s I noticed:
Mixi is still running .pl (Perl) instead of .php which Facebook and I think Twitter use, I thought this was a bit odd as this language isn’t used much more.
You can only upload 3 profile pictures, I think this must be because there are more then 10 million users on Mixi?
Profile Page:
The profile page is similar to many other social networking site’s, apart from you can’t leave more than one comment on the main profile (a wall post) and everything is in Japanese.
Views:
One thing I like about Mixi, which set’s is apart from some other site’s is that you can view who has viewed your profile and which profile’s you have visited.
Mixi Touch:
I was a bit disappointed with Mixi Touch, I saw the banner add on Mixi for Mixi Touch and thought they had made an application for the Iphone and Ipod’s.
Mixi Touch is just the same as Mixi, their is an official Mixi App but it isn’t as good. The design for Mixi Touch look’s nice, apart from the fact it isn’t an app and depending on what link you click on the normal site loads instead.
Mixi is a good site to use though, you just have to learn to get used to some feature’s which seem a little old.
For more information about Mixi, please visit this Wikipedia page.
Source:
Morrell, Keith M. “Mixi, Japan’s Social Networking Site.” Rev. of Mixi. Web log post. Gouka Seishi. Keith Morrell, 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www.goukaseishi.com/2010/08/29/mixi-japans-social-networking-site/>.