Feedster Expanding to Japan Blog Market
Feedster has joined other blog search companies like Ask’s Bloglines and Technorati in expanding its blogging services into the Japanese blog-frenzied market. Feedster will be partnering with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. for Feedster Japan.
Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc. made an undisclosed investment in Feedster in September 2005, and since then the two companies have partnered to promote Feedster’s presence in Japan.
Feedster Japan will be offering its normal blog content, syndication and search features while also offering search results accessible via cell phones.
Blogging has become a part of everyday life in Japan. According to Ask.jp, there are over 10 million blogs indexed it its Bloglines Japan index. Last year the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications counted 3.35 million people blogging and 16.5 million read blogs in Japan. I’m working on getting some updated numbers.
“Blogging and feed creation continue to experience explosive growth around the world. In the US alone, our index has exceeded 25 million sources,” says Chris Redlitz, president of Feedster. “By using Mitsui’s evolving media group, Feedster is entering a very hot market at just the right time with a product mix and a partner that will accelerate our growth in Japan.”
