My OperaWhy Yahoo! keeps its lead over Google in Japan
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 2:39:21 AM
So an interesting read I found in a Japanese blog...
"Google is a bit intimidating so I use the friendly Yahoo!" might surprisingly be the majority
From here will be my direct translation... (you can always go use some translation service too)---------------------
The twist: even if you have your own blog, you feel that Google is hard to use
The day before yesterday, I was invited over to the house of a person who has helped me through the years, and there I had a chance to talk with their college and high school children about blogs. I was suddenly asked how to download videos from youtube, and I dug up an popular entry from hatena blogs and came home feeling like a professor. In the process, I was able to hear some interesting stories about their use of blogs and search engines, so I wanted to write them down.
The older brother has a blog at Livedoor and his younger sister at goo. I became excited that I could talk about blogs with the youths, and I asked "Do you know 'hatena'?"
"What's 'hatena'?" was their answer. I thought that since hatena was still a medium-sized service for blogs, their answer wasn't that unusual. So I thought that telling them that it's a company trying to be the Google of Japan will be easy enough to understand. So I first asked "Do you use Google as your search engine?" The answer I got was "I use Yahoo! for search. Google looks a bit intimidating and I don't really understand it." and "Google's home page is all white and isn't fun, so I don't use it." I felt a bit dizzy. For now, I retreated with a oh, ok.
They have their own blogs, and they know enough to use a search engine if they have something they don't understand. Incorporating whatever is the popular service at the time and a search engine that returns a reliable and sure results, they seem to be the typical youths that casually and lightly take what's in fashion. Even though they're not always passive web user, they're familiar with Yahoo! instead of Google; what I found interesting was that sliver of twist.
I'm content with Yahoo!
The reason why the events of that night never left my mind was because I read an entry that speculated that "Even though Google is on the offence, Yahoo!'s superior position will not move."
Yahoo!'s home page has numerous services like the news, auction, and categorized web site directory that you can visit without a concrete objective.
Even in search, if you search for "Honda," it returns with Honda's stock price, results from shopping, and info on auctions that lets the user easily access related information.
To move away from so much content to a boorish Google requires more than a little reason to do so.
Is there a reason to go and use Google when you know at Yahoo!, there's a high chance that you can find something that you vaguely wanted?
If I can use the Internet, that's enough
Today, when there are over 70 million Japanese surfers but barely 10% of them recognize the term social bookmarking, I think most surfers consider the Internet not "for everything" but "to use a little to find something or communicate with others."
To search through nicely packaged information at a reliable search engine and consume them casually.
I can't really put it in words, but if Google is a service to be "mastered" to the core, then Yahoo! is a casual service to be "dressed" in.
That quirk I felt that night might apply to a surprisingly diverse things.
End translation---------------------------
I don't really know what to say, although I admit myself that "What is this...thing..." was my thought the first time I saw Google. My second visit to Google was quite a while after that when my friend recommended Google to me.
"Google is a bit intimidating so I use the friendly Yahoo!" might surprisingly be the majority
From here will be my direct translation... (you can always go use some translation service too)---------------------
The twist: even if you have your own blog, you feel that Google is hard to use
The day before yesterday, I was invited over to the house of a person who has helped me through the years, and there I had a chance to talk with their college and high school children about blogs. I was suddenly asked how to download videos from youtube, and I dug up an popular entry from hatena blogs and came home feeling like a professor. In the process, I was able to hear some interesting stories about their use of blogs and search engines, so I wanted to write them down.
The older brother has a blog at Livedoor and his younger sister at goo. I became excited that I could talk about blogs with the youths, and I asked "Do you know 'hatena'?"
"What's 'hatena'?" was their answer. I thought that since hatena was still a medium-sized service for blogs, their answer wasn't that unusual. So I thought that telling them that it's a company trying to be the Google of Japan will be easy enough to understand. So I first asked "Do you use Google as your search engine?" The answer I got was "I use Yahoo! for search. Google looks a bit intimidating and I don't really understand it." and "Google's home page is all white and isn't fun, so I don't use it." I felt a bit dizzy. For now, I retreated with a oh, ok.
They have their own blogs, and they know enough to use a search engine if they have something they don't understand. Incorporating whatever is the popular service at the time and a search engine that returns a reliable and sure results, they seem to be the typical youths that casually and lightly take what's in fashion. Even though they're not always passive web user, they're familiar with Yahoo! instead of Google; what I found interesting was that sliver of twist.
I'm content with Yahoo!
The reason why the events of that night never left my mind was because I read an entry that speculated that "Even though Google is on the offence, Yahoo!'s superior position will not move."
Why not Yahoo!? I don't have any problems with it.
That may be the opinion of the majority of Japan's Internet users. Even though Google is clearly more technically advanced in search and in maps, the Japanese seem quite distant to actively seeking information.
Maybe if one gets used to high-quality but narrow contents, one's desire for more diminishes and becomes satisfiable only with search results of Yahoo! and MSN?
Yahoo!'s home page has numerous services like the news, auction, and categorized web site directory that you can visit without a concrete objective.
Even in search, if you search for "Honda," it returns with Honda's stock price, results from shopping, and info on auctions that lets the user easily access related information.
To move away from so much content to a boorish Google requires more than a little reason to do so.
Is there a reason to go and use Google when you know at Yahoo!, there's a high chance that you can find something that you vaguely wanted?
If I can use the Internet, that's enough
Today, when there are over 70 million Japanese surfers but barely 10% of them recognize the term social bookmarking, I think most surfers consider the Internet not "for everything" but "to use a little to find something or communicate with others."
To search through nicely packaged information at a reliable search engine and consume them casually.
I can't really put it in words, but if Google is a service to be "mastered" to the core, then Yahoo! is a casual service to be "dressed" in.
That quirk I felt that night might apply to a surprisingly diverse things.
End translation---------------------------
I don't really know what to say, although I admit myself that "What is this...thing..." was my thought the first time I saw Google. My second visit to Google was quite a while after that when my friend recommended Google to me.
