After the Quake: Mobile Internet Use Soars in Wake of Japan Crisis

Japan has long been one of the world’s most connected populations, with 100.9 million mobile subscribers in December 2010 and more than 75 percent of these subscribers connecting to mobile media. When compared to users in the US and EU5 countries, Japanese users show a higher propensity to access information via apps and mobile browsers. In a society where mobile use has become an integral part of one’s lifestyle, it does not come as a surprise to find mobile use becoming a crucial lifeline in a time of crisis.

To understand the nature of mobile web usage in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami, Comscore compared Japan’s fixed Internet and mobile Internet traffic patterns on an hourly basis in the days before and after the quake hit.

In the two days before the quake hit Japan, total Internet traffic in the country followed a predictable weekday pattern, with traffic peaking around noontime and dipping thereafter. On March 11, Friday traffic followed a similar pattern during the first part of the day, but then showed a significant spike in activity following the quake, reflecting a large demand for information following the disaster. In the two subsequent days over the weekend, there is no noontime spike, but Internet traffic is sustained and even surpasses weekday traffic in the evening hours – a pattern that is very atypical of weekend Internet usage.

A look at mobile Internet traffic alone shows even more interesting results, as the increase in weekend traffic is more pronounced coming from mobile phone usage. Here, the effective increase in Internet consumption is more apparent in the days following the quake, with mobile Internet use doubling at peak usage times from the days before the quake. In the days following March 11, mobile Internet use sustains its increased volume throughout the day - not just in the evenings - and reaches its peak late at night on March 13.

PC and Mobile Internet Usage Soars in Comparison to Average
Supporting these findings, the traffic patterns for March 11-13 show an unusual increase when compared to baseline averages for each of those days of the week. To establish a baseline average for Japan Internet traffic on a typical Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we averaged the amount of traffic observed on each of those days for the four weeks prior to the earthquake. A look at computer-based Internet traffic for those days following the earthquake compared to the baseline shows significant lifts in traffic, peaking with a 48-percent lift vs. average on Saturday, March 12.

Mobile Internet traffic patterns exhibited even more pronounced increases. March 11 showed a 42-percent lift vs. a typical Friday, while March 12 posted a 69-percent lift vs. a typical Saturday. The relatively higher lift in mobile Internet traffic indicates an even greater reliance on mobile devices in the wake of the event, perhaps reflecting the number of people displaced by the crisis or the need to stay abreast of recent events during times in which they would not otherwise be turning to their mobile devices.

Anecdotal information out of Japan support these illustrations of heavier mobile use following the quake, with reports of mobile phone chargers being sold out en masse throughout affected areas on the day of the quake (as stranded commuters had to rely on mobile phones for communication). With landline connectivity unavailable in some areas, there were reports of others relying on VOIP services such as Skype to connect with others to find more information on damage from the earthquake, traffic reports, and other affected areas.

Heat Map Shows Hourly Spikes in Activity in Hours Following Quake
A final illustration shows hourly mobile phone use in Japan in the days before and after the quake. While the pattern of mobile use across the country doesn’t seem to change drastically from a glance, there is a relative increase in the intensity of mobile use in the evening hours in the days following the quake, consistent with what the rest of our data is telling us.

All these data offer a compelling story of how people leverage technology for news, information and communication in the wake of a crisis. But while mobile phones undoubtedly facilitated essential communication and knowledge-sharing during this disaster, it’s important to consider the limitations of this technology, given its dependence on having wireless infrastructure in place.

It will be interesting to see if mobile continues to play a similar role in disaster relief efforts in the future and how the technology could evolve to better serve this need. Similar to how social networks have become an integral part of mobilization in the recent and continuing revolutions in the Middle East, an important question to ponder is whether mobile could eventually become the primary medium for communication in a crisis?