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"There's a change at the top at Facebook....in Japan, where the company has hired former\u00A0McDonalds and Boston Consulting Group marketing exec Atsushi Iwashita\u00A0as its new Managing Director.\r\n\r\nThe news is reported in\u00A0Markezine -- via Asiajin\u00A0-- although Iwashita, who was most recently CEO at brand consultancy firm\u00A0Interbrand Japan,\u00A0is still to update his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new role. The move\u00A0comes at an interesting time for social networks in the country, as the top sites are refocusing their management to capture young audiences and double-down on mobile.\r\n\r\nLocal rival\u00A0Mixi replaced\u00A0its founder with\u00A0a new (and notably very young) CEO on Monday. Now\u00A030-year-old\u00A0Yusuke Asakura will lead the company, becoming only the second CEO in Mixi's 9-year history.\r\n\r\nThat change to inject more youth and appeal comes in response to Mixi's continued decline and Facebook's growth in Japan.\u00A0Last September, Facebook overtook Mixi\u00A0as it hit 15 million monthly active users in the country. That was a significant moment since Japan had been one of the few remaining markets where Facebook was not the dominant network.\r\n\r\nAsiajin speculates that the two are near neck-and-neck right now, so there's still all to play for in the lucrative market, where Twitter is actually the most popular social service (thanks to its simple and efficient mobile experience).\r\n\r\nLocally developed messaging app Line has shown the kinds of revenues that social services can make in the country. A whopping 80 percent of the $58 million revenue it made in Q1 2013 came via Japan, and Mixi and Facebook will be aiming to grow their user base and presence on mobile in pursuit of a piece of that pie.\r\n\r\nYou can also add private social network Path to that list too.\r\n\r\nThe company launched its Asia-inspired Path 3.0 service, featuring stickers and virtual content popular in the continent, in March having appointed a\u00A0general manager for Japan/Asia last year. Path has long said that Asia is its fastest growing region, with Japan and Korea two of its key markets.\r\n\r\nHeadline image via laughingsquid / Flickr"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/05/17/facebook-hires-a-new-head-in-japan-just-days-after-rival-mixi-brought-in-a-30-year-old-ceo/>