OFF-TOPIC: The End of Ameba's ペタ (Peta)

Users of Ameba have probably heard of it already. On August 18th, the popular blogging website announced that their ペタ (Peta) service will be terminated on November 18th (official statement here).
It has existed since November 2006, so this makes a total of nine years being part of the website.

For those who never heard of it before, here is a short explanation of "Peta":
Everyone with an Ameba account can automatically use Peta because it's part of the blog. If you click on someone's blog you can "give" this person "a Peta" to show that you've visited his or her account. So basically it's a button you can click on. Your "button" might even changes depending on how many people are clicking on it, so there are different sizes and different animals like a dog, a horse, a dinosaur and so on.
According to Ameba, Peta's purpose is to trigger communication so that people can get to know each other. However, the website regards the new like function below every blog post as a good replacement for Peta, since it's purpose is similar.

Now the answer to the question some of you have probably asked themselves up to this point:
How is all of that related to the visual kei scene?
As you may know, a lot of musicians have an Ameba blog. It's a good way to publish important statements or to give readers a glimpse into their private life.
Peta is still used by many bands for promotional purposes. Since a lot of Japanese and overseas fans have an account to stay updated about their favorite bands, it's a great way for artists to get noticed and to gain new fans, especially for rather unknown or new bands. Same goes the other way around: It is a good way to discover new bands and great music.
For many people, Peta turned out the be kind of like a game too. It's goal is to get as many clicks as possible to get new buttons. Moreover, it has always been a special favor if someone clicked your "button" at midnight, japanese time.

Nowadays, a lot of artists aren't even using Ameba anymore and prefer Twitter instead, while back then almost everyone had an own blog.
However, some musicians have still been shocked about this change:

シンペタありがとう ペタが無くなるから、最近は、なるべく返すようにしてるよ 今日は31人の人がシンペタしてくれたね ありがとう！いつも見てます#アヴァンチック

— アヴァンチック レイ 10/24ワンマン (@avanchick_rey) August 23, 2015

Avanchick Guitarist Rey:

Thank you very much for your Peta
Since Peta will disappear soon I'm recently trying to return as many as possible

Today, 31 people gave me Peta
Thank you! I am always watching

アメブロからペタが消える！？ 「アメーバブログより」 pic.twitter.com/OVRgmG5ZEL

— アヴァンチックNOAH10/24ワンマン (@avanchick_noah) August 19, 2015

Avanchick Vocalist NOAH:

Peta disappears from Ameba!?

ペタ終わるんだ… 何か寂しいねー😓

— 弾丸 NO LIMIT Leo (@Leo_dangan) August 19, 2015

Dangan NO LIMIT Guitarist Leo:

Peta will come to an end... That's something sad 

ペタ無くなっちゃうのか( ˘•ω•˘ ).｡oஇ ペタ返すの地味に好きだったのに( ´•௰•`)

— 和斗 (@jackmw_kazuto) August 19, 2015

JACK+MW Drummer Kazuto:

Peta will be disappearing ( ˘•ω•˘ ).｡oஇ
Although I liked to return Peta ( ´•௰•`)

For bands and fans, especially the ones who've been using Ameba for some years already, this change will surely be hard to get used to. Of course, there are a lot of Ameba users being happy about this decision too because they have always been bothered by people "misusing" it to get attention.
Nonetheless it has played an important role for some bands who had it rough to stand out within the vast amount of visual bands.
Making good music is not always the key to success. You need people to give your songs a listen first.

So, what's your opinion on this? If you are Ameba user, please share your stories with us and tell us which bands you were able to discover thanks to Peta!

Source: Ameba

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