Line takes local approach to outflank Facebook in Asia

Singapore

LINE Corp has an instant message for Facebook Inc: Asia is ours.

Country by country, the chat app from Japan is signing up new users by adopting a different strategy in each place. In its home market, cute bunny and bear stickers drew in everyone from schoolgirls to suit-clad businessmen. In Indonesia, Line built a classmate-connecting service after learning that alumni networks are a powerful social glue there. In Muslim countries, Line rolled out special features for people observing the Ramadan fast.

All of this is aimed at getting new users hooked onto Line before they have a chance to become loyal to a rival service, such as Facebook's Messenger and WhatsApp, or China's WeCha…