The Mobile Landscape in Japan
Great article that talks not just about the technology, but the motivations and cultural trends of techno-savvy Japanese mobile users.
Nico Nico Douga (smile video) has never had the spontaneous, guy-with-a-webcam, videoblog style that sparked YouTube’s global success. Instead, most videos are taken from other media, uploaded through content partnerships, or are mash-ups and original content created by users (but not usually starring users). What’s interesting is that the video content is less important than how it’s presented. Nico Nico Douga’s creative base shines in its unique commenting system, which is a tool for user creation in its own right.
Using an overlay, comments made on Nico Nico Douga are placed on the video timeline by users and literally race across the screen from right to left as the video plays beneath. This allows users to do useful things like writing subtitles, but also communicate with one another asynchronously and enhance the videos by adding written content that all can see. To someone unaccustomed to this kind of communication it seems chaotic and random, but the comments are actually improving the videos by adding another layer of entertainment and interaction.
Below is an animation created entirely on a mobile phone:
http://www.receiver.vodafone.com/mobile-creation-–-the-japanese-way