January 2013 Archives

Commenting on Niconico #1. Why Comment?

This is the first of a series of Nico Blog posts about commenting on English Niconico. The first topic we'd like to address is "Why comment on videos?"


First off, a little background: One of the most common questions we get about our service is, "What makes Niconico different from all the other video sites?"


Our answer, in a word, is this:

Comments!


Placing comments directly on videos allows users to not only interact with the video itself but also with other users. In the 6 years of Niconico, users have found some very creative ways to comment on videos. And in the 3 months since the release of English Niconico, we've already seen some videos with fantastic comments!


The next question we usually get is, "Well, sometimes I just want to watch the video instead of comment. How do I do that?"

Our Qwatch player makes this easy! press the "dialog" option, button #8 below, to hide comments.

videoplayerguide.PNG

Find out more about our video help player


If the conversation has gone this far, the next thing the user normally asks is, "Is commenting over the video really that fun?"

We think so! Seeing everybody's reaction to a video we can all watch and share experiences together thus giving s a richer experience than "Open the video, watch the video, close the video." 

Here are some examples:

mikumikunishiteageru.png

This is from the extremely popular video "Mikumiku ni shiteageru". After we posted this picture on Facebook, some users told the world that they saw our picture ON Facebook! 


Next is an example of a reaction to the video itself:

tetodanmaku1.PNG 

Someone thought to superimpose the supernova via comments! Awesome! 


These are just a few examples of why we think commenting on Niconico can be fun, but the English site is still new and we need YOU to comment while you watch videos! So much of Niconico's culture is user based, so don't hold back, comment anything and everything you think, feel, and hate and love about videos!


Have you found any great comments? Did you write an awesome one yourself?

Let us know at on Facebook!


Happy Nico-ing!

Niconico English

translation_request tag

The tag translation_request as recently found its way into English Niconico.

Are you looking to use your subarashii Japanese skills to share content with the rest of the world? Or maybe you want to see which videos other users want to see translated? 

Do a search for "translation_request" without the quotations! or just click this link --> http://www.nicovideo.jp/search/translation_request 

There are currently 49 videos that have this tag. Remember, if you see a tag that doesn't fit the video, feel free to delete it and add other tags! 

An English definition has also been added to the nico-pedia here: http://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/translation%20request

[Update] English Video Player Help

Our Video Player Help page has been updated! 

Previously only parts were translated to English, but the entire help page is now available to users around the world in English!

Hover your mouse over the video player to see a to a detailed help page about that function
http://ex.nicovideo.jp/help/player/

See what our menus do!

Happy Nico's!
We have recently received feedback from users regarding live programs that are not available in their country. 

Previously there was no way to tell whether you can view a program until you enter the viewing page. Other times we receive questions asking if specific broadcasts can be viewed in certain countries.

We are currently exploring several ways to fix this in future, but for now, we have decided to add the following text to broadcasts that cannot be viewed outside of Japan: "This program is only available in Japan." or "This program cannot be viewed in your country." 

See the screenshot posted below for a real example.

countryblockdesc.PNG

And as always, happy Nico's!

English Niconico needs your help!

It has been 3 months since we released our English version of Niconico. 

And while it's doing well, the comment culture on the English side isn't quite where it could be. 

We understand that a lot of people have been using the Japanese site for a long time and prefer it, while others want to see Japanese comments, and that's awesome! 

However, w'd like to ask users to comment more on videos that you watch in English! Creating this user culture in this beginning phase is of utmost importance, so if you want to help us develop and spread Niconico, the #1 best thing you can do is set your region and language to English and comment while you watch videos and live broadcasts! 

As always, thanks for Nico'ing!

Niconico gets a new look!

Did you notice? 

The English version homepage of Niconico was updated in early January. 

Updates include: 
New layout of Recently Translated Videos 
New layout of User Recommend Videos 
10 video thumbnails in the Rankings section 

And more! 

We hope you like this updates and hope you'll look forward to another batch of updates coming in February! 

Stay tuned for more ~