Happy company: Twitter

Happy company: Twitter

Image: Gerry McKay/Behance

Looks like some ideas truly are global, and the simpler the better. Twitter does really really well in Japan and in China.
In Japan plenty of celebrities use Twitter and it has even introduced a pay service there, with people paying to read popstars' tweets. Some people credit Twitter's minimalist design, even though the design of the most successful Japanese websites looks cluttered to our Western eyes.
Perhaps even more striking is Twitter's success in China, given the government constraints on foreign internet companies, particularly communications companies. Twitter played a big part in exposing the Sichuan earthquakes and embarrassing the Chinese government, and it is often blocked. The government even sponsored a Twitter clone called Weibo, but it's going nowhere and Twitter is huge in China. It goes to show that the government isn't the only reason why US tech companies have a hard time in China.