日本SNSの匿名性(by JAY ALABASTER)

JAY ALABASTER “Japan's online social scene isn't so social” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_hi_te/as_tec_japan_shy_internet


例えば、或る日本人女性のMySpaceMixiでの対照的な振る舞い;


Like a lot of 20-year-olds, Kae Takahashi has a page on U.S.-based MySpace, and there is no mistaking it for anyone else's.

It's got pictures of the funky Tokyoite modeling the clothes she designs in her spare time, along with her name, plus personal details and ramblings in slightly awkward English about her love life.

Switch to her site on mixi, Japan's dominant online hangout, and her identity vanishes.

There, Takahashi uses a fake name and says she is an 88-year-old from the town of "Christmas." Her profile is locked to outsiders.

Takahashi is far from alone: the vast majority of mixi's roughly 15 million users don't reveal anything about themselves.

それに続く言葉は”It's not just mixi. It's Japan.” YouTubeでも「自分自身を放送する」人は少ない。お見合い系サイトのMatch.com*1でさえ、日本で自分の写真を掲載する人は半分以下。曰く、

Welcome to Japan's online social scene, where you're unlikely to meet anyone you don't know already. The early promises of a new, open social frontier, akin to the identity-centric world of Facebook and MySpace in the U.S., have been replaced by a realm where people stay safely within their circles of friends and few reveal themselves to strangers.
さらに、これは「リアル」(オフライン)な日本の反映であるとも;

Indeed, the Japanese virtual world has turned out just like the real one.

People rarely give their first names to those they don't know well. Spontaneous exchanges are uncommon even on the tightly packed trains and streets of Tokyo. TV news shows often blur the faces of those caught in background footage and photos to protect their privacy.

さらに、2ちゃんねる的な「匿名的自己爆発」も言及される;

Even if the Japanese Internet isn't a place to meet new people, the fixation with anonymity still has led to an explosion in self-expression — a sea change in a culture where strong opinions are usually kept to oneself. Anonymous Japanese bulletin boards like the massive 2channel are highly popular, with active forums popping up to discuss news events just minutes after they occur.

As is true elsewhere in the world, Japan's online anonymity can bring out the uglier side of human nature, but observers like the writer Shibui find that it is also freeing people to speak their minds.

ともかく、日本のSNSにおける匿名性の横行は西洋人からは奇異に映るらしいということなのだが、これは単純に〈恥の文化〉の日本といった文化本質主義に完全に還元できるものでもあるまい。この記事でも、Mixiの変容について書かれている;

"We can't change the mindset of Japanese people," says Tomoe Makino, in charge of partner development at YouTube's Japan site. "It's the uniqueness of Japanese culture — anonymous works in Japan."

It wasn't always like that. When mixi was launched in early 2004, many people registered with their own names and photos.

"It was all friends, or friends-of-friends, so you could easily search using real names, and it was easy to be found," Shibui says.

But mixi quickly grew in popularity, and was heavily featured in the media as it sped toward a public stock offering in 2006. New members can join only with invitations from existing users, but some people began to send out invites randomly. The circle-of-friends concept was broken, and existing users began to lock their profiles and withdraw behind anonymous user names.

匿名化は増大するリスクへの対処という意味も持っている。しかし、注意しなければいけないのは、匿名に逃げ込んでリスクを減らすという振る舞いが却って全体的には他者(及び自己や他者が生息する空間)への信頼性を低下せしめて、ネット空間をリスクフルなものにしているということであろう。匿名が許される空間の方がそうでない空間よりも〈悪い奴〉も入り込みやすいということは言うまでもない。
ところで、ネットの匿名化はオンラインの世界に〈世間〉の流入を許してしまったということになるだろう。今や〈世間〉はオンライン/オフラインを貫通している。かつて匿名性が低く、つまりそういう意味でオンラインがオフラインと地続きであった時の方がオンラインが〈世間〉から守られていたというのは皮肉なことではあろう。

なお、Mixiを巡っては、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060303/1141406739http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060629/1151595514http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060816/1155696078http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060824/1156437067http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20070304/1173019029http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20070519/1179545420http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20080722/1216737932も参照のこと。