Overview
Nico Nico Douga (ニコニコ動画), currently "niconico" is a video posting and sharing service provided by Dwango. It was opened on a trial basis on 12 December 2006 and fully launched in January 2007.
The service is characterised by its unique feature of being able to display comments on the screen of the video being played 'as if text is flowing'.
It is known for its influence on Japanese internet culture from the late 2000s to the 2010s, particularly in the fields of anime, games and 'angura' culture, as one of the centres of meme origination.
Compared to YouTube and other video services, it is notable for its superior tagging and search functions, which make it easier to find videos even in more minor genres.
In the past, an amateur video culture flourished, with numerous amateur creators competing in video editing and sound processing techniques, as well as lively creative activities in various genres such as music composition (especially VOCALOID), cover singing, dancing, crafts, explanatory videos, self-produced hand-drawn animations and MAD videos.
Today, although it is not as busy as it was in the heyday, it still has a certain amount of activity as a streaming service with official contracts for anime and drama programs, and as in the past, as a site where amateur video creators post their music, live games, MAD videos, commentary videos and so on.
Service
The site has undergone numerous renewals and service additions and expansions due to the increase in user bases, and the name of the site itself has now been changed to simply "niconico", while "Nico Nico Douga" (ニコニコ動画) is used as one of the services provided by niconico.
In addition to the video posting service "Nico Nico Douga" (ニコニコ動画), the current "niconico" includes various other services such as the live streaming service "niconico Live" (ニコニコ生放送, 'Nico Nico Namahousou' a.k.a. "Niconama"), an illustration posting service "Nico Nico Seiga" (ニコニコ静画, 'Seiga' means still image in Japanese, and is a counterpart to the 'Douga' (moving pictures) of video service) which is similar to pixiv, the content library service for creators "Niconi Commons" (ニコニ・コモンズ), the wiki-style encyclopedia site "NICO NICO PEDIA" (ニコニコ大百科, 'Nico Nico Daihyakka' lit. Nico Nico Encyclopedia) which explains the definition and meaning of every term, the web news site "Niconico News" (ニコニコニュース), etc.
Embed videos in the pixiv encyclopaedia
You can paste Nico Nico Douga videos into the pixiv encyclopedia by entering ［nico:smxxxxxxxx］ (where x is the video ID) on the article edit screen.
External Links
Nico Nico Douga ニコニコ動画 ...Video Service.
Nico Nico Seiga ニコニコ静画 ...Illustration Service.
NICO NICO PEDIA ニコニコ大百科 ...An encyclopedia site that in some cases provides a fuller explanation than the pixiv encyclopedia.
