### B. Sharing of purchasing experience

We then asked if they have shared their own purchase experiences by product type, the young-generation who have shared their experiences via websites accessed by PC and mobile phones cited "books/magazines" most frequently, at 20.8%, followed by "travel/tickets" at 17.0% and "music/videos" at 16.7%. It is thus fair to say that the trend of sharing the purchase experience with the general public is gradually spreading, led by the young-generation (Figure 1-62). It is expected that such a trend will expand across the generations.

In response to such new movement, companies are also expanding their efforts to find new contact points with consumers, centered on the Internet. For instance, the rate of companies with more than 100 employees which launched company websites has reached 83.6%, proving that use of the Internet is being widely spread as a means to provide information to business partners and consumers (Figure 1-63). The percentage of companies which have launched at least either a business blog or SNS is 6.8%, or one company out of about 15 companies. As seen by the number of employees, the percentage of large corporations with more than 2,000 employees is high at 15.5%, proving that the movement of using consumer-participatory CGM (Consumer Generate Media) for business activities is gaining momentum, particularly among large corporations.

Under such circumstances, the so-called “Web 2.0”, which contributes to the further expansion of ubiquitous networks, the flow of information concerning consumption, with, for example, the disclosure of opinions of consumers themselves and the use of evaluations of other consumers as a criteria for making

Fig. 1-62 Share of those who had shared their own purchase experiences with others via websites accessed by PC and mobile phone among young generation

(Source) “Communication Usage Trend Survey (2007),” MIC

decisions about their own consumption, is now becoming a two way communication pathway, in which participants involved in consumption send and receive information, evolving from the traditional one-way path in which companies, the suppliers of products, used to send information to consumers. On Web 2.0, information concerning companies and products is not necessarily positive, but may contain critical and negative information that the companies have been reluctant to release.

Therefore, in a society with abundant information, in order for companies to provide consumers with information concerning their products effectively, it is increasingly necessary to review conventional corporate strategies and to build new relationships with consumers; specifically, actively utilizing information sent by consumers and developing more effective advertising..

### 4. Tasks for realizing a safe and secure ubiquitous network society

## (1) Experiences of damages accompanying the use of the internet

When being asked about any bad experiences accompanying the use of the Internet in households in the past 12 months, the most cited response was “received unsolicited e-mails”, at 40.8% as of the end of 2007, followed by “Detected computer virus but not infected” at 20.0%, and “Infected by computer virus” at 16.0% (Figure 1-64). As for bad experiences accompanying the use of mobile phones, “received unsolicited e-mails” was most frequently cited, followed by “received fictitious-claim e-mails” at 7.9%, indicating a tendency toward damaging e-

Fig. 1-63 Ratio of companies launching websites, business blog and SNS (by number of employees)

(Source) “Communication Usage Trend Survey (2007),” MIC