Too Many Social Media Parties - Facebook is Like Going to KMart and Gabbing With Strangers - It's Also an Invasion of Privacy

There's so many social networks. I won't name them, you probably know more than me. I use Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. From what I've seen, there seems to be way more social networks than we could possibly need.

When you stop to think about it, K-Mart and Facebook have a lot in common. 

I think they should call it "Facemart" or "K-book"

The good, bad and ugly part of these social networks is that they all seem like going to a Sears Department store or the flea market; there's so many different people there and you never know what you are going to see or who you are going to meet. Once in a while you might bump into an old high school friend or work aquaintance. 


In my case, I've never bumped into a high school friend. Perhaps at 55 (and I was one of the youngest in my graduating class) my peers don't use Facebook. 


It seems that most of us do not have enough self-control to keep our Facebook networks down to a few friends. I don't. May I make a lame excuse? I think some of us admit everyone who asks to be friends because of our job. I used to co-host an extremely famous and popular FM radio show. When people requested to be a friend, I don't think it would be prudent to say, "No!"


You might lose a listener. In this day and age, FM radio needs all the listeners it can get!


But these social networks have gotten out of hand. Imagine that all social networks are like parties your friends are having - it's kind of like New Year's Eve; John is having a party; Mary is having a party; there's a party at Rick's and there's another party at your favorite watering place. There's so many parties. Do you go around to all of the parties and have superficial conversations for one or two minutes with 4 dozen people or do you go to one party and have a good, deep, intelligent discussion with just two or three?


I think it is much better to have the conversation at one party with two or three people. That's why, right now, I'm trying to decide which social media networks to quit.


If people want to find me, I have this blog; I am on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. I also write for Lew Rockwell. If you Google search, "Mike Tokyo" I am the top result. So I am easy to find.


Even so, with all these parties I am at, I still get invited to other "parties." I am flattered and thankful, but I always decline.


Recent parties I've been invited to are the Google friends (I haven't really looked but it seems like Facebook to me); I've also been invited to "parties" that are being run through other "parties!" What I mean is that I will be at Facebook and someone invites me to go to "Farmville," (I have no idea what that is) or some other social network (party) that I assume is some sort of computer game. I sit in front of a computer all-day enough as it is, the last thing I need to do is waste precious time playing computer games. Beside these invitations, I get ones asking to share my calendar and asking for all sorts of information.


I decline them all. Facebook and social media and the Internet in general is already too much of an invasion of privacy as it is.


On my Facebook account, I have more than a thousand "friends." I don't write that to brag, there's many people who have more than 5,000 "friends!" Of course, I don't have 1,000 real friends. I think I can count my real friends on my right hand... But, I like to think that, because of my work in radio and perhaps my writing on Lew Rockwell I have lots of "friends." 


For the people who have more than 5,000 friends, their accounts get locked and they can't add anymore friends. For some seemingly arbitrary reason Facebook locks your account once you pass 5,000. It seems absurd. If people have fun adding tons of friends that they don't know and will never meet, why not let them? What's wrong with having 50,000 friends? Or 250,000 friends? Or 10,000,000! You know that if there were a Justin Timberlake account, he could easily have a million friends! And that would be good. Perhaps if he were doing Facebook all the time, he wouldn't have time to record any new music to torture us with.


Anyway, no more than 5,000 friends on Facebook. So what do these people with more than 5,000 friends do? They make another account.


I think this social media and "friends" business is out of hand. Now, you and I both know that we don't have 5,000 or even 1,000 or probably even 100 friends. Some people, I think, use Facebook as a sort of "Rolodex" in the sky. Which is okay, I suppose and that sort of makes sense. Keeping track of business relations in a box of business cards is a pain. Which is why, I reckon, the folks who made Linkedin got started; they wanted to make a Rolodex in the sky. 


I've written before that I think Linkedin is a joke. Please refer to: How to make Six Figures a Year From Your Linkedin Account:

If Linkedin would clarify why we're here, kind of like 

Facebook does, that would clear a lot of confusion.  

Is Linkedin merely a place for unemployed men to be bragging to other unemployed men? Not hardly.

The truth is that Linkedin was designed for the gainfully employed to show their old high school girlfriend (who savagely dumped them just before the big year-end dance) that she made a mistake that she'll always regret because you - and only you - were the one who really loved her most (that b*tch!) When you understand that, then Linkedin makes sense. 

But I think Linkedin can survive if they simplify greatly and make their service as easy to use as Facebook. If they don't, they'll go bankrupt or get bought out by Facebook.


The problem with these social networks, like I said, is that there's too many of them; they are not personal at all; their net is cast too wide.


I think a good social network would be confined to a certain demographic of people - but then, how would they survive financially? Those would be something along the line of forums for those employed in a certain area of business or, for example, a social network just for people in the, say, flower arrangement art. That makes sense to me.


Going around to these social media sites and gabbing with people you don't know and will never meet seems to me, often times, a complete waste of time... Much like playing computer games.


Would you go to a K-Mart and stand around talking to people you don't know?  


Facebook seems to be getting the most popular in Japan (making my past predictions wrong). But Facebook, like I mentioned, is a total invasion of privacy. Never put personal information on your Facebook account. I even have the wrong birthday for myself. I suggest that you don't put your correct information on Facebook too! 


If you use social media and use it well, it can benefit you. But spreading yourself around to so any parties and having 5,000 friends means nothing anymore (well, actually, it never did). Having good conversations with close people or meeting new people through introductions is the best way. 


Most social media is missing that part of the equation and, hence, are becoming more and more impersonal and their own worst enemy.

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Organic Marketing: The Future of Advertising

The old order of marketing and advertising is falling by the wayside. The future of advertising is not tomorrow, it was a few years back. And if your company is not on it now, you are way behind the curve.

There are examples all around us of the new way to advertise. Some big (and fashionable and cool) companies are doing it. They are laying the foundations and showing everyone how it is done... Let me repeat that: They are showing everyone how it is done! Yet 95% of the companies see it but do not copy or follow or, well, maybe they "just don't 'get it.'"


These businesses are like dinosaurs. I reckon that when that huge-a*sed asteroid hit the earth several millions of years ago, the brontosaurus were standing there and, weeks and months, after the temperature had dropped dangerously low, they began to think, "Gee... It's getting awfully cold..."


Do you think the dinosaurs thought, "Maybe I'd better move to where it is warmer?" Nah. They didn't. It may or may not have helped. But certainly standing there and doing nothing, or doing the same thing they had always done, wasn't a good option.


My God! If I had a few dollars for every company I see everyday standing, there doing nothing, or doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, I'd be a millionaire! (Maybe only a million yen because I hate going outside too much, but you get the idea!)


The old way of advertising:


Talk to people in suits and give them money. They run a full-page advert in a newspaper. It says, "That's a great place to eat steak. It is soooo delicious!" Cost of this advertising: $5000.00 or more.


Joe Happoshu sees the ad. You see the ad. Do you go there? Nope. Why? No one believes this sort of advertising anymore. 


The new way of advertising: 


Your friend at the office says to you one day, "Say! Have you tried that new steakhouse on the corner? It's really good." Do you go there? Yes. you do. Why? Because you believe your friend. Cost of this advertising: Zero.


There's an old saying: "Credibility is very hard to get. It is even harder to buy."


So why does your company continually try to buy credibility?


The new way of marketing is to build a reputation by using organic methods to spread the word of mouth. Organic means that we tie up other companies with yours and make a mutually beneficial marketing program that is very low cost and gets the word of mouth buzzing. It must be organic; it must make sense to the public... People interested in one aspect of the marketing will be drawn to another if we fit the pieces of the puzzle together correctly. And bloggers (that people like your friend in the office read) write about you.


Sure, sure... Your company and staff (and your advertising agency) pay lip service to blogging and Web 2.0 and 3.0, but if you were to actually sit them down and explain to you a concept like Web 3.0 I'd wager a donut that they can't do it and I'd wager a year's worth of donuts that they DON'T do it. 


The problem with most Japanese companies is their advertising people are so stuck with the old way of doing things, they just can't get their head around concepts like Web 3.0... Web 3.0!? You kidding me? Look at most company Internet web pages and you'll see that they are stuck with Web 1.0 concepts. Concepts that are nearly ten years old!!!


As a funny aside, I was mentioning to someone how it is a waste of money to buy advertising on the Internet to have a paid ad at the top of the page for results for a Google search. The guy told me that they were spending ¥2 million yen (about $25,737 USD) per month on that.* Inside, I cringed. I told him that he could do the same thing for free (it requires effort though) and he told me that he "had a good engineer." I told him that there is a big difference between an engineer and a blogger...




Stop for a second and think about that logically! Thinking that an engineer could be good at advertising and marketing is just laughable if you stop and consider it... If you are running a big company and spending a big budget on SEO or banners ads for top results on Google searches, then I ask that you do, STOP RIGHT NOW and think about that for a few seconds!


You have an engineer running your advertising and marketing promotions for the Internet? Quick questions? Do they blog? Do they Facebook, Twitter or do any other Social Media? And, the killer question; This person is in charge of your company public image and face on the Internet; would you be comfortable with that person speaking in front of a crowd of, say, 1,500 people? No? Then why in the hell do you believe this person carte blanche for the Internet where there are 500 million people?


Sounds pretty dumb, doesn't it? You'd be surprised at how often I see this everyday. In fact, this is not the exception, it is the rule. Any questions why business is down?


The new way requires ideas, creativity and effort. It doesn't require geeks who have poor social skills or huge sums of money to be thrown to wonks with stale ideas or your own company marketing people sucking a lot of air through their teeth. 


They require ideas and creativity. Here's one I arranged last year:


A major pizza chain wanted to promote their New York pizza and their new online ordering system. They've asked me for ideas. I have given them many so far. This was the idea I gave them this time:


Order a pizza online and get the chance to win a vacation for two, business class to New York for 5 nights in a 5-star hotel.


Simple. 


The pizza chain got a great 2-month campaign and visibility and buzz at no cost to them (I was paid a small coordination fee). The airlines? The hotel? They got their name, photos and advertising on 7.5 million flyers delivered to people's homes; 7.8 million menus inserted into newspapers; 3.8 million direct mailing to subscribers of the pizza chain; 250,000 flyers on boxtops delivered with pizzas to customers homes; top page visibility on the pizza chain web page which receives over 12 million unique views per month. And write-ups in major Japanese magazines as well as a huge buzz campaign on Twitter and Facebook. 


Cost to airlines and the hotel? Zero. Simply the cost of providing the gifts.


Not only did all three of these entities enjoy a great promotion that was organic (Makes sense, right? Everything is New York related) This campaign ran for two months. If you do an Internet search for this campaign in Japanese you'll will find over 606,000 results. Those results are almost all bloggers and mentions on Social Media about the campaign.


If any these entities arranged this promotion through Dentsu or Hakuhodo, it would have cost them at least $100,000. I arranged it for about 1/20th that price.


This campaign did not require any email registration or any actions by the end users at all. They didn't even need to order a pizza! All they needed to do was go to the website and become a member of the online ordering service that the pizza chain has started. No purchase necessary.


In spite of the fact that nothing was necessary to join the contest, purchase or enroll, the pizza company had over 16,000 direct email inquires from end users. Throw that in with the word of mouth promotion from innumerable bloggers and Tweets and you have a killer promotion. That is an awesome result!


Am I bragging? Well, thank you. Yes, I am. 


Is your company missing the boat? If you are in Japan, I'd wager that you are. It is funny that Japan is so technologically advanced yet we find that so many companies do not take advantage of all the tools available.


Is is laziness, fear or the hesitation to take responsibility? I'm not sure but some people are really blowing it for their employers. Don't believe me? Here's a recent article that talks about how a whopping 40% of Japanese companies don't even use Twitter. Of course, Twitter is a small part of the puzzle (and, actually, a very minor piece of a bigger puzzle) but the fact remains that such a high profile FREE media is not being utilized by Japanese companies shows that this is just the tip of the iceberg of a bigger problem.


Are you going to do something about it? Or is sucking air through teeth the best way to get the job done?




* = Advertising strategies do need to change with the times. Internet click ads had a click through rate of 3% when the idea was fresh and new in the 90's... By 2003 it was down to .28% ... Today? Last I saw, about two years ago, it was something like 0.07%.... And yet, it is still one of the most expensive methods to advertise. Go figure. 

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Completely 100% Free Advice on How to Make Money Blogging

Bored with your job? Want to get out someday?

If you've ever wanted to quit your 9-5 job and make money by blogging, or you blog now, and want to, someday, use blogging to make money; or if you want to blog and use it as a vehicle to promote your work (and make money by your work), whether that work be book writing; business consulting; selling your art or paintings; getting people to know your music or films; or just to spread the word about you and promote yourself and what you do, then today's blog is for you.


Today I am going to tell you exactly how to make money blogging and how to start to get out of your regular job. There are no costs, books to buy, courses to study or gimmicks or catches at all. This is the simplest, and most direct, way to make money blogging. If you follow these short tips, then, within 2 ~ 3 years, you can start cutting down your regular job hours and start shifting over to the job you dream of doing and all because of dedication to blogging. All because of a desire to do with your life as you want.


And it's all 100% completely free.

Today's blog is especially for people who have a "regular" job yet they have a dream someday to escape that job and the rat race and to make enough money to do what they want with their life. Today's blog could also be for people who want to make a good amount of money by using blogging so that they can live well.

With blogging, as a vehicle to promote or market yourself or your work, that is possible. I, myself, do not do this as 100% of my income, yet; not even 50% of my income. But my teachers do. For myself, after study and effort (mostly effort), I can now see where this is possible very soon for me and am slowly climbing that mountain to where I can see from the top on exactly how to do that. 


I have very good teachers showing me how to do this - two of them are very famous people and, with their help, I am giving you this information.

If you do any sort of Social Media or Internet surfing (and, if you didn't, you wouldn't be here) then you've seen tons of messages and notes about how you can make money blogging. It's true. You can make money blogging. You can't make a lot of money blogging and using banner click-through advertising (unless you are FARK). 

Of course, the most widely used and understood way of making money blogging is by having click through banners on your blog. But I don't really want to talk about that at all. I don't think that is a good way to make money blogging. I mean, if Google asks you if they can use your blog to advertise then you know they are the ones making the money. 

But I will say that, in the last year, I been asked twice directly from companies in the USA and the UK to place banner ads on my site but have politely declined. Why? It was only for $150 a year (about ¥11,000 yen) and it looked like it might be a hassle. Also, why in the world would anyone pay $150 to Japan when the bank transfer fees are $70 dollars a transaction? I wouldn't. That made me figure that those folks, while meaning well, didn't really have any idea what they were talking about. 

One of my friends is a blogger well known all over the world and, while not telling me a dollar amount, he told me that the click through ads were nice but they only pay for dinner a few nights a month. You might think, "Wow! Free dinners a few night's a month?" But when you realize that my friend's blog gets 1.2 million hits per day, you realize that banner click-through advertising is not all its cracked up to be.  

He, by the way, makes well over a quarter million dollars a year as a financial advisor. Do you know how he gets his clients? You guessed it, people read his blog and then ask him for advice. That's how he makes money blogging. It is an advertising tool for his services. 

This is the way to use a blog that I want to talk about.

I have been asked to give advice five times in the last year too. That's where the money is. Even though I haven't made large amounts like $10,000 (USD) a month directly by blogging I can say that I have made over $1000 a month indirectly by blogging. I did this because, through blogging, I have been hired as an advisor (like my friend above) to companies who have jumped into the Social Media realm in order to market their products. In fact, as I mentioned above, I have been asked five times in the last year. I took four of those jobs and two of those were in the last month. 

Even though I averaged over $1000 a month in the last two years by use of blogging, one month - a year ago or so - I made $5000.


Like I said, you can do this too. 

There are three things that you must do in order to set yourself up for a situation whereby you can start to consider using blogging to make money. They are:


1) Consistent daily blogging
2) A focused topic
3) Interesting writing


That's it. Just those three. Now let me briefly talk about each one.


1) Consistent daily blogging: Yes. This is hard. But you must do it. You must make daily updating a habit just like brushing your teeth; you can't sleep until you do it. And not just any trash. Good, consistent, interesting writing (I'll talk about the interesting part below). Why constant writing and updating your blog is important is because you must understand how the Google search engine works. The (new 2010) Google search engine is called Caffeine. The old search engine gave priority to blogs and web sites that have many links. Caffeine does not. Caffeine gives priority to consistent and regular updating. Please read the link about Caffeine. But here's an example to show you that I do know what I am talking about. This blog is called "Modern Marketing Japan." That's not a generic title at all. But "Modern Marketing" is an extremely generic title. Do a Google search for "Modern Marketing" and you should see this blog listed in the Top 3 ~ 10 or so of 22,400,000 results for the entire world (the results change constantly with Google Caffeine). That's proof of the power of consistent blogging.


2) A focused topic: As far as the Internet is concerned, we are talking about Long Tail Marketing. Focus on your topic. In the Internet world it is better to be a big fish in a small pond. Read about the Long Tail here in A Primer on the Long Tail and Is the Long Tail all Junk? also read why the Long Tail is beneficial for you even against the Internet giants as it is, for example, damaging Google's own business by reading: Why Google Worries About its Own Future. 


Now, my blog is supposed to be about Japan; media; and marketing and sometimes it gets all over the place, but trust that I do always try to think of a Japan, media or marketing angle for everything I write.


3) Interesting writing: This is the hard one. All I can say are a few things. First, write with your own voice. Stop trying to write like you're Hemingway or writing a business prospective. You're not. If someone wants to read Hemingway, they'll buy the book. If they want to read a business prospective, they won't be 
looking at your blog. People read these things because they want real. They want to hear what real people think. Readers of blogs don't want bloviated nonsense. If they want that, they'll go to CNN's site.

Now, here's a hint on how to write with your own voice and to help yourself have good topics all the time. It's not 100% but it will definitely help you. It helps me immensely. How many times a day do you think about something and then think, "Wow! That's a great idea for a good blog post!" Only to, a few hours later or the next day, not remember what that good idea was? I used to do that all the time. But I've stopped recently. Now, I almost never forget good ideas (good ideas, remember, are money in your pocket!). How do I not forget? I use a notebook. I've written about the benefits of always using and keeping a dollar notebook in the back of my pocket in Pocket Notebooks: The Secret of Millionaires and People Won't Listen! I always have my notebook. So when I have a good idea - about anything - I write it down. It helps me greatly especially when I am stuck for an idea on what to write about. 

As with everything in life, practice makes perfect. If you think that you are going to just start writing one day and become a good writer than you are dreaming. Keep doing it consistently and you'll get better and better as you go.

Like I said, focus on what you are doing; do it consistently; do it well. If you keep doing these three things, for a period of 2 ~ 3 years, then you can start to use blogging to make money.

I know. I've done it. Anyone can. You can too.

NOTE: Please look over my May and June 2010 blog postings. There you will find many articles that will help you to do your blogging smarter and better and tips on how to make money. You might as well read those so that you can learn in a few minutes what it took me a few years to find out on my own. Good Luck.

Also read: Ways to make money from your blog for a pretty generic answer to the question.

This blog is dedicated to my friends Andrew, Peter, Ryu and Jimbo. It might seem tough guys. I know. Been there, done that. But never lose sight of why you do this in the first place. There is a reward down the road.

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A Sinister Purpose to Social Media?

"So-called Social Media started out as fun and games for the kids but it acquired a far different purpose during the Arab Spring, and it has attracted a far more sinister and dangerous audience. " - Robert Klassen

I have written before about how Social Media has really turned into nothing but a sales and marketing tool for many people, as well as an invasion of one's privacy, but I also complained about how it has ruined people’s manners:

Today the rules on manners and how friends, acquaintances and strangers alike are treated have been turned on its head. It’s as if one has any sort of Internet membership or email account, that automatically makes them open game for people to bombard them with junk.

It astounds me how bad the manners have become. Imagine what it will be like in a few hundred, nay! A few thousand years... Imagine if they had Socail Media in the days of Socrates!


Socrates would have written, "The children now love luxury and their Facebook; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. While they protest using Twitter. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” If he were alive today, he’d have added, “Facebook has taken place of any real human communication and true interaction and taught our children to be even worse brats than we could have ever done by ourselves...”

I also added:

The rules of common courtesy used to dictate silly things like don't call people up at home after eleven pm... Eleven? I remember when it was nine pm!... They also emphasized the importance of an introduction from a mutually trusted and respected friend... Now, if by some chance someone get's your email address, you become fair game for a litany of junk mail and memberships into clubs and associations that you've never asked for nor, in many cases, have you ever even heard of!

It gets worse, because it’s not just the people who have bad manners and invade your privacy, the Social Media helps them do it , and makes it easier for them to do it too!


I think it is worse than that when it is not just people prying on you, but the Social Media itself is actually primarily designed for such purposes! The secondary ('bait') purpose and the reason people start using it is to allow you to meet and stay in touch with old friends and family.


But that's not what the designers of the service created it for... Nor what it has evolved into.

Of course there will always be people with bad manners... Having Social Media is like giving a kid a hammer: the whole world becomes a nail.

It used to be that when you as a businessman, say, left a nice restaurant or bar, you might leave a business card in a tray in order to get a free lunch or a free drink or some special gift from the establishment sometimes. 

You'd welcome such contact from the establishment. But what if, from leaving your card in such a tray, you got an unexpected call or approach from a salesman or marketeer asking you to buy this or join that? 

Wouldn't you be annoyed? I would. I do. How about some privacy? Just because I left a card, doesn't mean someone can pick it up and use it as they wish after I've left.

But, with Social Media, it gets worse, folks. Much worse. How would you like it if, upon leaving said establishment, people started following you? How about if they started following your kids? Get this: Facebook does just that! Facebook  tracks your every move, even after logging out! 

"The social media empire Facebook has unveiled some new “features” on its platform in recent days that many allege are a total and compete privacy-breaching nightmare. But one hidden feature, discovered by a guy named Nik Cubrilovic, an Australian entrepreneur and writer, that few people are aware of is the fact that Facebook now monitors your online activity, even when you are not logged in to the service." 

As my friend Robert Klassen says at the quote at the top of this article, it does seem to me, and I'm sure some will argue, but their are a very many people using Social Media for other purposes than what it was originally designed for. Be those purposes the spread sales, propaganda, ideas or other, more - for lack of a better term - dangerous goals.

"Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you." - Luke 6:31

Perhaps it is time, not for government censorship, but for more critical analysis of Social Media by us as to purposes and beneficial uses.... Especially by parents with teenage young-adults.


I don't think I like the idea of my teenage daughter being "followed" on Facebook, even after she logs out, and I certainly don't like the idea of a marketing service spying on her as their Guinea Pig for research. I can't imagine any other parent would either.


Adults can do as they wish and are free, of course, to decide.

I don't think, for example, joining Facebook so you can share with family and old friends, should be a Carte Blanche for them - or a marketing company - or government - to spy on your every move.

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The Smartest (and Most Profitable) Business in Japan?

Today, you won't read about the company I am going to tell you about in magazines about business or the economy... You won't see news reports about them on TV shows about profitable businesses...Why? Well, as I've written many times before, the mass media is not interested in the truth. The mass media are only interested in filling the spaces between advertisements. That's all. 


Besides that, as a more than 30 year veteran of the mass media, I will tell you that the business of most in the mass media is: kissing businessmen's a*ses in the hopes of getting paid advertising for their media...


While the Internet and Social Media are all the rage today (Hint: when things are "popular", they are already out of fashion) there's still a few "traditional" business models that blow the rest away.


You won't read too much about this company in the mass media... Yet... But you will someday soon (the mass media are always a day late and a dollar short.) But this company blows the socks off of Groupon, Twitter and these other flash in the pan "Social Media" darlings of today. 


I'm talking about a publishing company. That's right, a publishing company. You know, printing press and all. Ink and paper....


Gutenberg would be blown away that a company, so many centuries later after his invention, could use his idea and still make a massively successful and profitable business in the age of the "Internet", in the age of "digital media."


Remember that it wasn't that long ago when people were saying that the Internet was going to destroy books and magazines? Ha! Laughable. Remember that it wasn't that long ago when they said that children today needed to know about the digital age in order to survive? Ha! Laughable. 


As it was 2,000 years ago and as it will be 2,000 years from now, the wealthy, the intelligentsia, the church and the movers, shakers and leaders of society will be people who read books. It has always been that way, it always will be. 


To think otherwise is just plain stupid.   


You know, I'm talking about one of the most profitable companies in Japan today...a publishing company that puts out old fashioned things like books and magazines... And, no, you can't get their products on Kindle.


I'm talking about Deagostini. Specifically Deagostini Japan...(If that link doesn't work, see here: http://deagostini.jp/)


Look out Internet businesses! Your business models are far too often a scam (or full of scams or SPAMS!) I think so because if your online business doesn't translate into something tangible or real-world, then you are headed for a fall.

Move over Groupon. I've railed on you over and over. But your business model is a joke. Who could possibly think that there would be a potential for a business that survives on SPAM? And you want a 60% sales commission!? Any good business model has to be good for all parties concerned... I don't see where you are getting any repeat customers in Japan... Maybe that's why your advertising here has disappeared. Gee! Does Groupon save me time from having to clip coupons? I never really had a problem with that before. Did you?


Twitter? You kidding me? I get more messages from Twitter that are SPAM than anything that I would ever want to read... And who needs to read idiotic nonsense on Twitter like, "How to get more followers on Twitter for only $5?"


Jeez! Who wants a bunch of "followers" who are people who know absolutely nothing about you nor do they care about you excepting that you are another digit in their masturbatory dreams of having a large "Twitter following"?

What a joke!


But old fashioned publisher Deagostini is no joke.


Deagostini sells a product that you can hold in your hand. Deagostini sells a product that kids can look forward to like Christmas or a birthday. Deagostini sells an "event" and a "limited edition" item... Once they are sold out, they are gone forever...


People in a consumer society have a history of going crazy over stuff like that.

X-RAY SPECS - ART-I-FICIAL

I know I'm artificial

But don't put the blame on me

I was reared with appliances 

In a consumer society 

When I put on my make-up 

The pretty little mask not me

That's the way a girl should be 

In a consumer society 

Deagostini Japan was founded in 1997. Because of the Internet, 1997, was called the beginning of the end for the traditional publishers and old school mass media. 


Deagostini's late entry into Japan was considered by many a joke. All the traditional big Japanese publishers laughed at this upstart foreign company and their ridiculous ideas for penetrating the already overly-saturated Japanese market... A market that was the most profitable with the highest literacy rate in the entire world...


They all said that Deagostini's products were cheap and poor quality. Then, Deagostini were the laughing stock of the Japanese publishing world. It was thought that there was no way a foreign company could come here and survive... 


That was then.


They aren't laughing anymore...Last year, of the top 15 publishing products sold in Japan, 13 of them were Deagostini products. I got the sales figures for Deagostini Japan yesterday. These figures are not public yet, but I have quite dependable inside information. 


Deagostini sales in Japan for 2010 (still not public information) were....are you sitting down? ¥28,400,000,000! That's ¥284 BILLION YEN! (about $370 Million USD!) Not only is that just incredible, but of those sales about 30% is pure profit of ¥842,000,000 (about $110 million dollars!)

Deagostini Japan's newest model... Think kids go crazy

for this stuff? Yes. They do! I know even adults who buy

these items... Heck! I've even bought them before!

How does Deagostini do it? It's so simple that when I first heard this idea, I slapped my head and thought, "Of course! Everyone knows this idea!"


How do they do it? Deagostini releases their products in a limited edition series. Like the Gundam advertisement above, they will release a quality model of a toy product (anime, war plane, car, ship, etc.) in a series of editions to be released once a month or so. There could be anywhere from 12 to 50 or 60 items in a series.


The first editions are really cheap. They get more expensive as the series progresses.


I bought a Zero Fighter for my son last Christmas at the book store because I couldn't believe how cheap it was and the quality was awesome for the price.

This model was high quality metal cast. It had moving parts.

It came with a huge book, and other great things that boys love... 

I think it was about $4.00.... 

Then, regularly, Deagostini releases the rest of the series in succession. As the issue go along, after a certain point, the items grow slightly in price.


If you are a real collector, you will buy each item until the series is over. Trust that there are tons of collectors with the disposable income to buy this stuff in Japan... Not just Japan! All over the western world. 


In, say, a twenty series set, by the sixth issue, Deagostini has broken even on the cost of production and logistics of the entire series and each item sale after the sixth issue is pure profit.


Get that? In the series, after the sixth issue or so, every item they sell is 100% pure profit.


It's an incredible success story and an incredible business model.


So much so that Deagostini is a model for future businesses in Japan and the world over... How many other businesses can claim that 30+ some percent of their sales is pure profit?


Certainly not Facebook or Twitter, which have no sales; nor Groupon who keeps doing the switcheroo on accounting methods.


Kids want something to hold in their hand and play with. The child's imagination is a powerful thing. Social Media offers no real tangible items....


Deagostini not only offers a product to hold and play with, they sell a dream and something to look forward to every month.


With Deagostini products, kids get Christmas not once a year, but 12 times a year... Adults too.


What's having something to look forward to everyday worth to the average person? Well, judging from Deagostini's Japan sales, it's worth well over $370 million US dollars and growing. 


Nah. No big deal, right? Let's talk about Social Media.... Yawn!


UPDATE: My friend Brenda chimes in:


Mike,

Not only that, they re-issue same series years down the line - all profit! I did some marketing for them in UK years ago.

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Social Media Throws Common Sense and Manners Out the Window

I just got a notice from Twitter that an "Automated Mailing Service" has now started following me. I suppose they mean that they want me to start following them back? An automated robot junk-mailing service wants me to start following them? Are they kidding? Why in the world would anyone follow a automated junk mailing service?


Maybe they got my mailing address confused with the mailing address of my kitchen toaster? Maybe she'd be interested in junk mail generated by a robot. I'm not.  

L7 - SH*TLIST

Today the rules on manners and how friends, acquaintances and strangers alike are treated have been turned on its head.


Social Media, as a supposed source of bringing more people together faster, has also brought along with it a distinct lack of common sense and manners 


In the race to accumulate as many fake friends and followers as possible, tradition and common courtesy have been thrown out the window.


It used to be that little things that we took for granted as to how our privacy were to be respected are  today viewed as relics of the prehistoric past. Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the Social Media landscape set the rules as to who matters and who doesn't in today's world.


As if having thousands of "friends" or "followers" most of whom you've never met (or even many who you paid for) actually matters to anyone excepting the narcissist living inside of one's self.


The rules of common courtesy used to dictate silly things like don't call people up at home after eleven pm... Eleven? I remember when it was nine pm!... They also emphasized the importance of an introduction from a mutually trusted and respected friend... Now, if by some chance someone get's your email address, you become fair game for a litany of junk mail and memberships into clubs and associations that you've never asked for nor, in many cases, have you ever even heard of!


I get tons of mail from Facebook and Linkedin (don't forget Twitter) notifying me of this or that. I don't mind the birthday notices or notices for events that I signed up for but I really hate the notices that congratulate me for becoming a member of some community that I didn't sign up for.


Someone has met me once... That, in some strange way, let's them think that gives them the right to sign me up for their community they've started on Facebook... Well, it doesn't. In fact, that puts them on my sh*tlist.


Next time I write about this sort of bad behavior, I will begin to name organizations. Not that it matters what I say, but it's bad PR.


It's 2011, sure. And the rules of the games have changed slightly due to the Internet. But there's one rule that I doubt has changed in 2,000 years. People might know it, but then again, people today don't read books. So let's me explain it to you.


In the bible in Luke 6:31 it says, "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you."


Since you go and sign me up for communities and clubs without my permission, I'm sure you will warmly welcome all the clubs I sign you up for? Say, "Clubbing Baby Seals Association, " "Nazi's for Peace," or how about, "The 10,000 Coupons a Minute Club?" That's the smash success club that guarantees sending you, robotically, over one million coupons by email every 3 months so that you can save!


No?


OK. Then have some manners and common sense. Please don't join me up to your Social Media, or Twitter or Linkedin, Facebook, whatever community without asking me first.


Hopefully your parents did teach you better manners than that.

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