WSJ makes big push into Asian social networking

In a big push into Asia audiences, The Wall Street Journal Asia has launched social media accounts on LINE and WeChat, tapping a wider audience base through these rapidly growing channels.The LINE account will be in Japanese, in addition to a new global English account. “LINE’s phenomenal growth in Japan over recent years has been well documented, but we are now seeing the platform grow in popularity in many regions internationally. The growth potential is exponential," said digital editor Adam Najberg.He said though the majority of WeChat’s 468 million active monthly users are in mainland China, the publication views this as a great opportunity to connect with a new base of users on the dynamic social platform."There are a lot of news and other content sources competing for our attention. I think that future is now," Najberg said. "So many conversations are happening off of our websites and outside of our mobile apps. If we want to be relevant, if we want to be part of those conversations -- or even start them -- the news media has to be on those social media platforms."He added that content on social media these days has to be relevant, timely, appealing and comfortable enough with the platform to drive engagement."And if we do things right, we'll be trusted. Those who want to dig deeper, will come back to our sites, spend time on them and even subscribe," he added. LINE users can add The Wall Street Journal’s account in English or Japanese to receive a daily message that contains a selection of headlines, and can comment on stories on its “Home” page.The Journal’s WeChat account, which was launched with support from digital agency Curiosity China, provides users with a daily message that contains a selection of top stories, along with access to additional stories at wsj.com, which is a built-in option in the navigation menu.