Japanese social network Mixi recently announced a new partnership with photo editing startup Aviary. Aviary’s tools are already included in a recent update to Mixi’s iOS app because users have been requesting a photo editor of sorts to be implemented in. In other words, this is similar to the partnership between Facebook and Instagram, but not with the multi billion dollar deal Facebook had to propose to buy Instagram. Mixi users now can add in various stylistic effects, change up the lighting, and have captions on top of the photo before sharing them online. Sure, it doesn’t have the infamous filters Instagram is known for now, but Aviary’s photo editing tools is a much needed addition to Mixi’s iOS app.

This is one step towards Mixi’s big redesign since Facebook at Japan has stepped up their game and now has 15 million users, which is now the leading social network there. Mixi is not far behind at second place at 14.5 million users that use it on a monthly basis. While Aviary was able to agree to a partnership to be included in Mixi, they want their photo editing tools seen in every mobile photo app in the future. Fortunately, Aviary has localization support for any language, so that is another good start towards the right direction. They also are able to get a feeling of the Japanese ecosystem and their trends, so they can work on future updates to accommodate those needs. Their photo editing services are also available as a stand alone app for iOS and Android to hopefully spark more interest from developers, other companies, and social networks. It is great to see a startup like Aviary have a big presence at Japan with Mixi and we will see if other Asian social networks will their tools as well along with the ones over here at the states.