Figure 2-3-2-5 Relationship between the frequency of online-community involvement through social media and the extent personal concerns or problems or social or local community problems have been resolved (by SNS and Twitter)

(Source) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications "Survey on Possibilities Resulting from a Next-Generation ICT Society" (2011)

problems for me, my family, or my relatives," and "gave hope for life in old age." Further evidence that "solving problems" is a key benefit is the fact that some respondents quoted "to consult or question a specialist or person with experience" as a reason for meeting in real life someone they became acquainted with through social media. Additionally, the survey results showed that the more frequently a person engages with an SNS or Twitter community, the more likely that person resolves personal concerns and problems using social media.

Social media has many benefits and, although it is understood that many people use different social media types for different purposes, we have confirmed that people do indeed use social media as a tool to connect people together, deepen their bonds, address personal real-world concerns and problems, and support each other. The use of social media, which is free of time or location limitations, is expected to help people who are in danger of becoming isolated from society to form mutual-support networks and, thereby, lead to a society that includes a wider section of people through the power of ICT.

## (4) Challenges with social media

### A. Concerns felt with using social media

When people who currently use social media were surveyed about the concerns they felt, it was discovered that many people have concerns about their personal information, as exemplified by such responses as “personal information theft,” “illegal use of personal information,” “privacy infringements,” “inability to delete my personal information,” and “recommendations and other information that make use of my personal information or logs of my online activities.” Blog users were seen in particular to have a higher degree of concern, indicating that blog users tend to post frequently even as they harbor concerns about their personal information.

### B. Reasons for not using social media

When asked for their reasons for not using social media, the most common answer by non-users was “no interest.” Apart from this response, though, many of the quoted reasons were connected to personal information

— “don’t want others to know my personal information” (18.2 percent), “don’t want to be known by the general public (even if I participate anonymously people who know me can still identify me)” (9.9 percent), “potential for my profile to be abused” (7.5 percent), and “be personally identified” (6.5 percent). Other frequent reasons were “potential for spam or scams” (17.9 percent) and “no opportunity to participate” (15.7 percent).

### C. Personal information posted online and use of real names

## (A) Personal information posted online

Social media users were questioned about the personal information they post online when they use social media in terms of information made public to all Net users and information revealed only to friends on social media. Filtering the results by social media type shows that SNS users tend to disclose virtually all their information including their address, photos, workplace or school, real name, academic background, job, date of birth, blood type, and birthplace. Twitter and blog users, however, tended to avoid posting all their personal details. Still, a high percentage of blog users do post their family details, email address, and interests and likes. Whether made public to all Net users or revealed only to friends on social media, the most commonly posted personal information included “year of birth,” “month and day of birth,” “blood type,” “birthplace,” and “interests and likes.”

Looking at the personal information made public to all Net users when using social media by generation finds that a high percentage of young adults post details such as “workplace or school,” “academic background,” “date