World’s first official Facebook how-to site opens in Japan

Wanting to boost the profile of its social network and explain the advantages of its service in Japan, Facebook has authorised the creation of “Facebook Navi“, a navigation service which provides its Japanese users with an overview on the service, its applications and Pages.

Facebook Navi is the “world’s first official navigation service” for Facebook and lists four menu selections detailing “What is Facebook”, “Facebook user manual”, “Editors’ choice of Japanese Facebook pages” and “Editors’ choice of Facebook Apps”.

Aiming to bring down the cultural barriers that might stop Japanese users from using the service, Facebook Navi operates without input from Facebook directly and is managed by Yahoo-backed All About, Inc., a company similar to About.com, which provides expert guides for Internet services and fashion.

Back in February we reported that Twitter had over 10 million Japanese users, five times that of its rival Facebook.

The Facebook Navi launch might look to mirror the success of one of its biggest rivals, Twitter, which partnered with Digital Garage to launch TwiNavi.jp, a navigation site provides “account recommendations, including a comprehensive introduction to the unique services that take advantage of Twitter”.

When asked for comment on the site, Facebook replied with the following:

Confirming that this is a third party site that Facebook has officially approved.