Mixi
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| Type of business | Public kabushiki gaisha |
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Type of site
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Social networking service |
| Available in | Japanese |
| Traded as | : ) |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Shibuya, Tokyo |
| Founder(s) | Kenji Kasahara, Batara Eto |
| Key people | Kenji Kasahara (founder, president, executive director) |
| Website | mixi |
| Alexa rank |
 1,082 (April 2014[update]) |
| Advertising | Banner ads |
| Registration | Optional, restrictive |
| Launched | February 2004 |
| Current status | Active |
Mixi (ミクシィ mikushī?, stylized as mixi) is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (: ). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded by Kenji Kasahara in 1999 as a limited liability company and became a Japanese corporation in 2000. The company changed its name to Mixi, Inc. from E-Mercury, Inc. in February 2006 to align its name with the social networking service. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo.
They also publish the popular mobile freemium game Monster Strike.
The focus of Mixi is community entertainment, that is, meeting new people based on common interests. Users can send and receive messages, write in a diary, read and comment on others' diaries, organize and join communities, and invite their friends. Research indicates that some users, particularly young women, are more likely to use Mixi to connect in more private ways with close friends, particularly in contrast to perceptions of Facebook as a more public social network.
The corporate headquarters are on the seventh floor of the Sumitomo Fudosan Shibuya First Tower (住友不動産渋谷ファーストタワー Sumitomo Fudōsan Shibuya Fāsuto Tawā, ) in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Mixi has enjoyed a steady growth in its userbase. In 2005, the website had more than one million users, and less than a year later, it had more than five million users. The site had more than 10 million users in February 2007, and as of July 2010, more than 30 million. This number includes deleted and multiple accounts.
In 2008, Mixi began "Celebrity Accounts" in which celebrities who are on the social networking site are allowed to surpass the 1000-friend limit and potentially have an unlimited number of followers. Many popular figures have "Celebrity Accounts" such as actress, model, singer Anna Tsuchiya, producer and rapper Shing02, Akihabara idol Haruko Momoi and countless others including fictional character Arsène Lupin III from the series of the same name. Mixi maintained an official list of these accounts.
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Wikipedia