Twitter is a hit in Japan, succeeding where other social networking imports like Facebook have foundered as millions “mumble” - the translation of tweet - and give mini-blogging a distinctly Japanese flavor.

推特風靡日本，雖然臉書等其他社群網路在日本慘遭滑鐵盧，推特卻成功了。Twitter直譯指「嘰嘰喳喳」、「喋喋不休」或「碎碎念」，這個迷你部落格帶有明顯的日本特殊風味。

The arrival of the Japanese language Twitter service in 2008 tapped into a greater sense of individuality in Japan, especially among younger people less accepting of the understatement and conformity their culture is usually associated with, analysts say. A mobile version of Twitter started last October, further fueling the Twitter boom in a nation where Internet-connecting cell phones have been the rule for years. These days, seminars teaching the tricks of the tweet, as the micro-blog postings are known, are popping up. A TV show features characters that tweet. A Tokyo bar has screens showing tweets along with World Cup games.

分析師指出，推特於2008年推出日語版服務後，立刻充分利用日本較注重個人化的特色，尤其是年輕人較無法接受日本文化中含蓄保守和注重整體一致性的色彩。去年10月，推特開始推出手機版本，進一步助長瘋推特的熱潮。多年來日本一向手機上網掛帥，最近傳授如何上微型部落格推特貼文技巧的補習班，如雨後春筍般林立。東京一家酒吧在轉播世足賽之際，同時在螢光幕上快報推特相關消息。

The proportion of Japanese Internet users who tweet is 16.3 percent and now surpasses the ratio among Americans at 9.8 percent. Twitter and Japan's top social networking site, mixi, have been running neck-and-neck with monthly visitors between 9 million and 10 million but in April Twitter squeaked past mixi, according to ratings agency Nielsen Online. In contrast, only 3 percent of Japanese Internet users are on Facebook compared with 62 percent in the U.S., according to Nielsen. MySpace has also failed to take off in Japan, at under 3 percent of Net users versus 35 percent in the U.S., according to comScore Inc.

日本網民中，使用推特的占16.3%，現在已經超過美國的9.8%。推特和日本第一大社交網站Mixi每月訪客量一直分庭抗禮，都在900萬至1000萬人之譜，但根據尼爾森線上民調機構統計，4月份推特已經略微超前Mixi。尼爾森並指出，只有3%日本網民使用臉書，相形之下，美國高達62%。MySpace在日本也同樣吃不開，據網路流量監測機構comScore統計，日本網民使用MySpace的用戶不到3%，美國則有35%。

Twitter estimates Japanese write nearly 8 million tweets a day, or about 12 percent of the global total. Data from Tweet Sentiments, a web site that analyzes tweets, show Japanese are sometimes tweeting more frequently than Americans. “Japan is enjoying the richest and most varied form of Twitter usage as a communication tool,” says Daisuke Tsuda, 36, a writer with more than 65,000 “followers” for his tweets. “It's playing out as a rediscovery of the Internet.” One reason is language. It's possible to say so much more in Japanese within Twitter's 140 letter limit. The word “information” requires just two letters in Japanese. That allows academics and politicians to relay complex views, according to Tsuda, who believes Twitter could easily attract 20 million people in Japan soon.

推特估計，日本網民每天發布近800萬條推文，占全球總推文量的12%左右。專門分析推文的網站Tweet Sentiments的資料顯示，日本網民推文的頻率有時還超過美國。「日本使用推特當通信工具的方式最豐富多樣。」36歲的作家津田大輔說，他的推文吸引逾6.5萬名粉絲：「這已逐漸成為網路再出發。」原因之一是語言，由於推特限定140個字母，日語可以表達的內容豐富得多，像英文「資訊」（information）這個字，日文只需兩個字母。津田說，這也使學者和政界人士可藉此傳達複雜的意見，他相信推特應可很快在日本吸引2000萬人使用。

Another is that people are owning up to their identities on Twitter. Anonymity tended to be the rule on popular Japanese Web sites, and horror stories abounded about people getting targeted in smear-campaigns that were launched under the shroud of anonymity. In contrast, Twitter anecdotes are heartwarming. One well-known case is a woman who posted on Twitter the photo of a park her father sent in an e-mail attachment before he died. Twitter was immediately abuzz with people comparing parks.

另一個原因是：網民在推特上可以坦白公布自己的身分。日本網站通常匿名貼文，有人便在匿名掩護下，針對某人發起抹黑攻擊行動，這類恐怖事件層出不窮。相形之下，推特的故事較有人情味。眾所周知的一個例子是：一個女人在推特上張貼她父親去世前透過電子郵件附件傳送的一張公園照片，推特上立刻有一大堆人嘰嘰喳喳，討論到底是哪個公園。

So far, people are flocking to Twitter in positive ways, reaching out in direct, public and interactive communication, debunking the stereotype of Japanese as shy and insular, says Noriyuki Ikeda, chief executive of Tribal Media House, which consults on social media marketing. “Twitter is turning out to be like a cocktail party,” he told The Associated Press. “Japanese see how fun it is to network and casually connect with other people.”

社交媒體行銷諮詢公司Tribal Media House執行長池田紀行指出，目前網民使用推特的方式相當正面，他們以直接、公開和互動交流的方式和外界接觸，推翻日本人一向害羞和孤立的刻板形象。他告訴美聯社說：「推特正逐漸轉變成一場雞尾酒派對，日本人已經發現上網與人隨意交流的樂趣。」

Twitter is also proving a good business tool. Companies are exploring Twitter as a way to reach consumers and get feedback, a function that holds potential in Japan where broadband connections are widespread and cheap, and mobile phones outnumber the population. Retailer Tokyu Hands uses Twitter to answer queries from customers, while clothing-chain Uniqlo has used Twitter in marketing by setting up a virtual queue where people tweet with each other and get freebies.

推特也已經證明是個超優的商業工具。企業界正在研究利用推特聯繫客戶並獲得回饋的方式，由於日本寬頻網路十分普及，價格又很低廉，手機數量早已超過人口總數，這個功能應該很有發展潛力。零售商Tokyu Hands已經利用推特回答消費者的問題，服飾連鎖店Uniqlo也利用推特推展行銷活動，用戶可以虛擬排隊，並使用推特相互交流，還可拿贈品。

Twitter may even offer Japan's web entrepreneurs global opportunities that had so far eluded them because it's the first digital “global-standard” outside of search engines like Google or Yahoo! to catch on here, says Toru Saito, chief executive of Loops Communications, which specializes in social networking businesses. That means software applications Japanese develop for Twitter could win acceptance from a global market. Japanese mobile software products have tended to be for Japanese up to now.

推特甚至可以幫助日本網路企業家打開迄今仍未能成功的全球發展契機，因為推特是繼谷歌和雅虎搜索引擎之後，日本第一個受歡迎的「全球標準的數位平台」，專長社交網路業務的Loops Communications公司執行長齊藤徹表示。這意味著，日本開發的推特軟體應用程式，將可得到全球市場認可。目前日本手機軟體產品只能供日本人使用。

Rocky Eda, corporate communications manager for Digital Garage, which supports Twitter's Japan operations, is thrilled people are embracing Twitter. “In finding fulfillment in expressing what's on your mind for the moment, Twitter is like haiku,” he said. “It is so Japanese.” In this June 14, 2010 photo, Daisuke Tsuda tweets with his mobile phone at a station in Tokyo.

負責支援日本推特營運的Digital Garage企業公關經理艾達表示，他對推特受日本網民歡迎感到振奮。他說：「推特就像日本俳句，可以完整表達當下內心的感受，實在太日本化了。」在這張今年6月14日的照片中，作家津田大輔正在東京車站用手機推文。圖／美聯社