Mixi

Mixi is a Japanese social network founded by Kenji Kasahara in 2004.

Development

Mixi enjoyed great popularity right from the start. In 2005, after just one year, the network already had more than one million users. One year later, it was already 5 million. By March 2012, user numbers had risen to 27.1 million .

Mixi's Functions

Similar to other social networks, Mixi offers a multitude of functions so that users can exchange information. These functions include:

• Mixi Voice: Users send status messages and communicate with friends and relatives in their stream.
• Mixi Photo: This feature allows users to publish photos that can be flipped through or commented on.
• Mixi Diary: Users can keep their own diaries.
• Mixi Check: This function allows you to share a wide variety of content such as news, videos, locations, products and many more. The function is linked to the GPS service on smartphones.
• Mixi Apps: Games, tools and much more can be found in the app section.
• Mixi Calendar: Users can manage their appointments, invite friends to events and track responses.
• Mixi Classmates: Here users can search and find old schoolmates from the past.
• Mixi Colleague Network: This tool allows users to search for their colleagues.

Technical Basis

Mixi is mainly based on open source software and uses Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl, Memcached, Squid and Shard. The company has over 100 MySQL servers in use and adds at least ten each month. Mixi uses 39 computers with a memory of 2 GB for caching.

Using Mixi

A Japanese mobile phone number is required to register with Mixi. Thus, anyone who does not live in Japan is excluded from the network. Since 2012, the service has provided a mobile app for Android and Apple devices. Each account can accumulate a maximum of 1,000 friends (called myMixi).

Critique

Mixi was criticized in 2008 when the social network announced an adjustment to its terms and conditions. The adjustments stated that users should confirm that the rights to all information they post, including photos and other data, should be transferred to Mixi. However, due to protests by users, these terms and conditions were not implemented. To this day, all rights for the posted content remain with the original owners.

Weblinks

• The story of Mixi in Japan: the rise, the fall and the Facebook takeover
• Mixi, Japan's Biggest Social Network