Japan’s biggest real-identity social network Mixi and Twitter Japan have officially announced that partnership that was leaked to the press a few days ago.
The goal is to develop new products and advertising services, with Mixi hinting at a function that may make it possible for their users to introduce friends via Twitter, for example. Others ways to collaborate, according to the partners, include creating location-based services during disasters or linking Twitter with diaries users write on Mixi.
None of this has been implemented yet, and I am asking myself how Mixi and Twitter could collaborate in the advertising field in particular.
But Mixi did set up a special app called “Mixi Xmas” on the day of the Mixi-Twitter press conference to be able to show how the partnership could be turned into action. Through Mixi Xmas (pictured below), users can can send messages to friends and tweet out those messages at the same time. Yes, it’s a bit of a stretch.
For Mixi, I can only hope it’s not too late to step up their game, as Facebook is rapidly gaining ground in Japan.
