REAL Corporation provides a mixi (Japanese SNS) application “Kioku-sketch (Memory sketch)”.Kioku-sketch is an application which offers a causal space for users to enjoy sketching on a certain theme relying on only their memory.

A famous SNS where users post drawings is “pixiv”, but pixiv is a service for semiprofessionals so the quality of the drawings is rather high. On the other hand, Kioku-sketch is an application for amateurs so most of the drawings are casual graffiti.

Japan’s largest Social Networking Service (SNS) “mixi” started providing an application for external developers for creating mixi applications called “mixi-appli” in August 2009. Following the release of the PC application, the distribution of the mobile version started in October 2009. Since then, over 500 applications have already been released.

REAL Corporation’s previous main business domain was website development for singers and artists. However, after releasing mixi application Kioku-sketch, the service is growing rapidly and the number of registered users has reached more than 100 thousand in only 10 days from launch. As of November 5, there are approximately 830 thousand registered users and Kioku-sketch has become one of the most popular applications constantly ranked on the top popular list.

When a user registers to Kioku-sketch, they are first given a theme. The user can select a theme on their own or given by random. Some themes are popular characters like “Pikachu” or “Hello Kitty”, while some are “trucks” or “erasers”. The user draws the theme relying on only their memory by using their mouse or touchpad and then posts the drawing when it is completed. The upload is informed to the user’s “My-mix” (friends connected on mixi) and other users can view the drawing as well. Users can also leave comments to the posted drawing or register it to their “my favorites”. Drawings of the same theme by other users can also be viewed. Because everyone draws relying only on their memory, most of the drawings are weird or poorly drawn which is very fun to see. Sometimes the drawings are good and we can see that there are various users registering to the service.

Present representative of REAL, Mr. Nakanishi comments on the business model of Kioku-sketch, “In the future, it would be nice if people can sell T-shirts or mugs which have prints of their favorite art posted on Kioku-sketch”. REAL’s initial forecast was to achieve 30 thousand users, so the current 1 million users must be a happy miscalculation for them. On the other hand, the additional investment cost of infrastructure such as servers must be a burden. Mr. Nakanishi analyses the reason that Kioku-sketch became so popular was because there is no need for users to know any rules to enjoy Kioku-sketch and it is an easy starting application.

Eventually, REAL would like to deploy the application to overseas SNS such as Facebook. The application should also become popular in Facebook because drawing is a universal activity which does not require language. It is fun to see the poorly drawn picture of your friends and if you see a good drawing, you would want to try drawing yourself. In a good way, Kioku-sketch is a highly addictive application.