Mixi
Encyclopedia
mixi, Inc. is one of several social networking
websites in Japan
, founded in 2004. As of May 2008, mixi had over 21.6 million users and an 80% share of the social networking market in Japan. mixi was founded by Kenji Kasahara
, under E-Mercury, Inc. (actually Mixi, Inc.).
Started in February 2004, there are now more than 10 million members and 1 million communities on mixi, and more than 2 million page views per day as of December 2007.
Many popular figures have "Celebrity Accounts" such as actress, model, singer Anna Tsuchiya
, producer and rapper Shing02
, Akihabara idol Haruko Momoi
and countless others including fictional character Arsène Lupin III
from the series of the same name.
Mixi maintains an official list of these accounts.
"By posting information, including diaries and the like, on this service, users grant the service the unrestricted right to use said information (whether in the form of reproduction, publication, distribution, translation, modification or the like) without compensation."
However, the clause was never actually implemented, apparently due to user protests. The relevant portion of the terms of use currently states that "all rights (including copyright and personal-usage rights) for content belong to the user that created it."
As of December 2008, Mixi is now discouraging use of Mixi as a dating site, prohibiting users from “using Mixi mainly to meet with strangers of the other sex”.
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
websites in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, founded in 2004. As of May 2008, mixi had over 21.6 million users and an 80% share of the social networking market in Japan. mixi was founded by Kenji Kasahara
Kenji Kasahara
is a Japanese entrepreneur who founded mixi, a social networking site. He is currently ranked as the 37th richest Japanese person.-Timeline:1997: * Created the job information website .1999: * Founded eMercury Inc....
, under E-Mercury, Inc. (actually Mixi, Inc.).
Overview
The focus of Mixi is "community entertainment," that is, meeting new people based on common interests. As is typical of social networking sites, users can send and receive messages, write in a diary, read and comment on others' diaries, organize and join communities, and invite their friends.Started in February 2004, there are now more than 10 million members and 1 million communities on mixi, and more than 2 million page views per day as of December 2007.
- Registration requires a valid Japanese cellphone number, which bars anyone who is not or has not been a resident of Japan.
- A community is a place for people to share their opinions through an online forumInternet forumAn Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
and a way to express tastes and hobbies. - Footprints is a function that allows a user to see who has visited their page. Since 2009, users have been able to remove their footprints from another user's page if they wish to make their visit incognito.
- myMIXI, or MAIMIKU for short means buddy or friend. This is similar to a contact in flickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
or zooomrZooomr- History :Zooomr was created in 2005 by Kristopher Tate and Michael Van Veen of BlueBridge Technologies Group. On June 19, 2006, Thomas Hawk, a well-known photographer and blogger from San Francisco, was recruited by Zooomr as its so called "Chief Evangelist." On July 17, 2006, Zooomr released...
, or friend on MyspaceMyspaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, and involves an approval process. The maximum possible number of myMIXI a user allowed to have is 1,000. Accounts that are marked as tarentoTarentois a Japanese rendering of the English word "talent" and is used as a catch-all term for mass media personalities who regularly appear on television. Detractors of the phenomenon have referred to it in an English sense as "famous just for being famous" because many that fall into this career line...
or celebrities don't have this limitation. - The word Mixi is a combination of mix and I, referring to the idea that the user, "I", "mixes" with other users through the service.
- "Mixi Station" is an application that detects songs being played in iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
and uploads them automatically to a communally accessible list in the "Music" section, and was implemented late in June 2006. By July 2006, support for winamp was implemented via a winamp plugin, which was quickly made official by Mixi. - Batara EtoBatara Eto, formerly known as Batara Kesuma, is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of mixi, a Japanese social networking site.He was born 1979 in Medan, Indonesia...
was the only developer at the start of the social networking site. - Mixi heavily uses open source: LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, ApacheApache HTTP ServerThe Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache , is web server software notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. In 2009 it became the first web server software to surpass the 100 million website milestone...
, MySQLMySQLMySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
, and PerlPerlPerl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
. It uses several hundred MySQL servers. Mixi also uses Tokyo Cabinet NoSQL database. - "Mixi Fatigue " is a psychological state in Japanese youth experiencing a sense of tiredness from using Mixi and voicing the desire to discontinue using Mixi, and finally deciding to terminate their Mixi account.
- Mixi added the feature to upload your own video content, along with the ability to post content from YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
History
Mixi has enjoyed a steady growth in its userbase. In 2005, the website had more than one million users, and less than a year later, it had more than five million users. The site had more than 10 million users in February 2007, and as of July 2010, more than 30 million. This number includes deleted and multiple accounts.Celebrity Accounts
In 2008, mixi began "Celebrity Accounts" in which celebrities who are on the social networking site are allowed to surpass the 1000-friend limit and potentially have an unlimited number of followers.Many popular figures have "Celebrity Accounts" such as actress, model, singer Anna Tsuchiya
Anna Tsuchiya
is a Japanese singer, lyricist, actress and semi-retired model.Tsuchiya was born to a Japanese mother and an American father of Polish-Irish descent from Buffalo, New York. In her earliest years, she spoke English and Japanese...
, producer and rapper Shing02
Shing02
Shingo Annen , better known by his stage name Shing02, is a Japanese rap artist and producer. Due in part to growing up in Western cities, Shing02 stands as one of the few multilingual rappers from Japan able to compose songs entirely in either Japanese or English...
, Akihabara idol Haruko Momoi
Haruko Momoi
is a Japanese voice actress and singer/songwriter. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and is affectionately referred to as 'Halko' by her fans, a nickname she gave herself which is inspired by HAL 9000, the onboard computer of the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey....
and countless others including fictional character Arsène Lupin III
Arsène Lupin III
is a fictional character introduced by Monkey Punch in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. According to its creator, Lupin is the grandson of Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin....
from the series of the same name.
Mixi maintains an official list of these accounts.
Terms of use
In early 2008, Mixi announced a plan to revise their terms of use Mixi 利用規約. The changes, which were supposed to take effect as of April 1, 2008, included a section that appeared to grant Mixi unrestricted ownership to all user generated content. In particular, the proposed changes to Clause 18 stated:"By posting information, including diaries and the like, on this service, users grant the service the unrestricted right to use said information (whether in the form of reproduction, publication, distribution, translation, modification or the like) without compensation."
However, the clause was never actually implemented, apparently due to user protests. The relevant portion of the terms of use currently states that "all rights (including copyright and personal-usage rights) for content belong to the user that created it."
As of December 2008, Mixi is now discouraging use of Mixi as a dating site, prohibiting users from “using Mixi mainly to meet with strangers of the other sex”.