Social Media Sux! Let's Help Them Get it Right!

I really am getting irritated at Facebook! They started placing ads on my wall.

I don't want to see any ads! This ad is an ad for a smartphone application.

What's the ad for? It's an ad for an app that helps you make money! Wow! Make money with an app? I'm in!

So, what to do? I always click: "Hide ad."

Then they ask me some question. Don't ignore them! Help their algorithm get it right! 

Mark something! I'm in a hurry and do not want to help them "THAT" much... 

My faves are marking the first 3 or 4. Choose the one(s) you like! 

Viola! A job worth doing is a job worth doing right!

The Best Teacher in High School I Ever Had Wasn't a School Teacher - She Was an Extremely Beautiful Classmate!

With that title, you are probably thinking about some hot high school "sexcapades" or a story of some girl who taught me about sex in high school. No way. I think those things only happen in movies or crappy Bob Seeger songs. For 90% of the people in high school (at least in my time) dates and going to dances were only things we dreamed about or saw in movies. I was one of those people. 

I never had sex until I was 20, or was it 21?

My high school yearbook photo 1975

After so many years of elementary, junior, high school and college and university, I can only remember a few teachers who really taught me something. I had one in 4th grade, Ms. Demuth, in Minnesota. She gave me a Snoopy card once that said, "Life is full of rude awakenings." I'll never forget that lesson. I don't remember any elementary teachers who influenced me or inspired me after her. 

In High School, I had Mr. Holts, my science and biology teacher. Mr. Holts taught me that there's a big difference between playing and doing. And then, and, in college, there was Mr. Al Miller. Mr. Miller was best of all because he taught me about television, how to handle myself in front of people and, outside of school, he taught me how to be a real gentleman; how to be kind and respectful to people - to all people.

Mr. Miller impressed me because he would, for example, talk to parking lot attendants and doormen and call them, "friend" or "sir." He treated everyone with respect. Not only did his mannerism and respect for people influence me, it touched me so much that it set the way I try to treat people all my life. Alas! I am a poor student and I can never attain the enlightenment of my sensei. I think few people can be such a sincere gentleman as Mr. Al Miller. If the world was filled with people like Mr. Miller it would be so much a nicer place to live. 

But I digress.

Mr. Al Miller was the best school instructor I've ever had  

Even though I had these teachers in school, the best teachers I had in school weren't actually my official teachers. Nope. The best teachers were girls I liked. There were several of them. They didn't teach me important things because they were my girlfriends or anything. They didn't teach me anything because they were particularly kind to me. They taught me well because they were only kind to me when they wanted something from me. They were kind to me when they wanted something like for me to tell them the answers to questions on tests so that they wouldn't fail. They taught me when they used me.

I'd oblige them because, well, in my high school immaturity and insecurity I figured being used and then dropped like a wet a dirty dish rag was better than not being used (or even spoken to) at all. This might sound bitter, but it's not. Those girls taught me well and I appreciate them for it. The lesson that they taught me was a lesson in life and, had they not taught me, someone else would have. They taught me the real world.

One of the girls who really taught me well was a girl who was in several of my high school classes named Kathy Dobbe (I think that's how it is spelled!) I'll never forget Kathy. Kathy Dobbe doesn't know that, all through high school, I had a crush on her and thought she was the most beautiful girl in school - maybe even in the entire world. I thought Kathy was a goddess. 

Kathy was a great teacher. The peculiar part about Kathy's teachings to me is that I'll bet we never spoke three words in total to each other my entire junior and senior years.

I am reminded of Kathy recently because, on Facebook, a few weeks ago, I saw one of those dumb "Guess who's joined your high school class Facebook community?" notices and saw that Kathy had joined (I don't join things like that - come to think of it, how do they know what high school I went to???). I also wonder why so many people seem to long for high school days. Are things that bad today? Were things that good back then? I don't think so... But, then again, I wasn't a popular kid in school...

Anyway, from the Facebook, notice, I saw what Kathy looks like today. Well, I am assuming it was Kathy.  I've never met her mom, but I gather that she today looks like her mom did back then. Kathy looked pretty good, all things considered. I think she looked quite good especially compared to her peers. 

Not aging fast enough? Drink soda! Hoo boy! Japanese people don't drink sweet drinks anywhere near the level that American people do. Even lots of younger Japanese still prefer tea. 

Damned if people in America don't look very old, overweight and past their years! Kathy didn't really look that way, but when I see people in America my age, they all have gray hair and are fat! I saw another picture of a girl whom I have known for over 35 years last night. She is a year younger than me but in her photo she looks easily ten years older than me. It must be that processed food Standard American Diet (it's called S.A.D.) that those people are eating. I'm glad I eat raw food and live in Japan where people eat healthy food. (Any wonder why Japanese women live, on average, at least six years longer than American women? The men live more than four years?)

But I digress.... Again!!!!

Unbeknownst to her, like I mentioned, Kathy also doesn't know that she taught me self respect. She taught me that because I had a complex all through high school; I thought I was inferior and shorter than all the (pretty) girls in school. Really! This complex messed me up because I figured that pretty girls don't like short guys. The guys all have to be tall, dark and strong; just like in the movies. Kathy taught me that I wasn't shorter. In fact, I was taller than her by a few inches... Actually, until she taught me, I never knew that I was taller than all of them. I simply never realized it.

Now, you're probably imagining that Kathy taught me this important lesson in self-esteem in life at some school function like a dance. Imagine! Kathy Dobbe and me dancing cheek to cheek on the high school gymnasium floor to some slow and romantic song. It's one of the last numbers of the evening. The lights are turned down low. Everyone grabs their date and heads to the dance floor.... We look into each others eyes and we embrace...

The saxophones start to play... "And they called it puppy love...." 

No. No. Stop the music... Stop the music! I'm not that old!

Think of it, Kathy and I, cheek to cheek, in a warm high school kid's love embrace? Can you imagine it? No? Neither can I. I was enthralled with Kathy but that was it. Even if I had asked her for a date, and she said, "Yes," that would probably be the end of it. She'd probably have scared me so much that, had we met for a date, I couldn't talk. Not a word. If I could utter a sound, it would be like a bird chirping or a wheel squeaking. Nope. Couldn't do it. Just like in the movies. And that's the only part of this that is like it is portrayed in the movies: Geeks can't handle beautiful women. Geeks are always like that. 

It's been scientifically proven that high school geeks' vocal chords stop functioning properly when they are around girls who they think are so pretty they aren't real or aren't from the Milky Way galaxy. 

I suppose I should tell you why I had such an inferiority complex. It's a long story so I'll make it brief. Before moving back to California, I had spent the last 8 or 10 years (I can't remember) moving all around the USA and going to a different school almost every year. That meant that when I went to a new school I had to start over and make new friends... This also meant that I didn't have very many friends. This is hard on a kid but a good lesson in life (that is for another blog post on another day). Since I went to schools in the South and Midwest, I was used to their school system and their curriculum.

Well, I don't know about today (but can't imagine that it's so different) the level of education in Midwestern and Southern elementary schools are a few years ahead of California public schooling. That means that what they are teaching in 5th grade in a school in Minnesota, they are teaching in 7th grade in California public school. So when I moved from Minnesota, where I was getting "C's," to California, I was suddenly getting "A's." Classes that I hated and struggled in in Minnesota, like Algebra, were, in California, one big joke. Suddenly, from being a dumb kid in school in Minnesota (or as my very kind older brother would insult me all my life, "The F-minus Kid") I went to being the smartest kid in my class.

Through high school, my older brother got all "A's." He went to school in Minnesota too (you do the math). So, even though my grades in academics weren't as good as his, I was still a geek, got mostly A's and, as such, an outsider. Because, even back then, in a California school getting good grades meant you were a momma's boy or teacher's pet and definitely NOT cool.

So here I went from being a dummy in school with no friends in the Midwest to being a smart kid in school with no friends in California. I thought being smart was good? Not in California public school it isn't. Can you imagine how that would play games with a 15 year old's mind? 

My high school in California, was a regular west coast high school like you'd see in the movies. You know, pretty blond girls and handsome blond guys. Everyone drove a hot rod American car and had perfect teeth. The ocean wasn't a ten minute drive from school so we had tons of surfers, stoners and our high school also had the standard issue football team and basketball team that every all-American high school had.

Everyone at my high school looked like they had just jumped out of some Hollywood movie. This is Janet and Randy, who were Prom King and Queen. 

The boys teams at my high school were lousy (you wouldn't know it by the "big man on campus" attitude those guys showed while at school). Nevertheless, it was a big deal every year when we'd play the cross town high school's own lousy team in our standard issue cross town rivalry. The teams would basically take each year going back and forth beating each other. The cheerleaders would cry because, well, as you know, beating Cross Town is so immensely important, especially since, as any cheerleader will tell you "...This is senior year and our last year at high school. We must win!" Maybe it was all planned that way... Maybe they do that in American society to teach militant tribalism (it's great for military recruitment)....

But I digress.... For the third time...

I was talking about Kathy Dobbe. Besides the very pretty girls, surfers, stoners, hot-rodders, and football and basketball players, my school also had geeks. I think I was King Geek at my school. I was King Geek because my grades were almost all "A's" and I was president of the Science Club for my junior and senior year.

That's me on the top left, Science Club president. Foolish me. At the time I never thought about dating any of these girls... But they were the classiest (and most beautiful ones) in the whole school yet I never realized it (and, probably neither did they!)

Being a geek in high school sucks because the "cool kids" (pretty girls, surfers, stoners, hot-rodders, and football and basketball players) didn't want to have anything to do with you. The only friends a geek has in high school is other geeks. So, all through high school, I only went on a date twice. The first time was when Shanda Shinkaruk asked me to go to a backwards dance with her (she was pretty too and terrified me also!) and then, my senior year when I got up the nerve to ask one of the smartest and most popular girls in school, Debbie Henry to go to the prom with me. Debbie said, "Yes" and that changed my life too.... But let me stick with Kathy for now. Debbie is another story.

How did Kathy teach me self-respect and give me a better self-image? It's ridiculous, really, when I stop to think about it. Here, all that time, all through 11th and 12th grade I thought all these girls would never go on a date with me because, are you ready?.... I thought they wouldn't go on a date with me because I was shorter than they were.

Seriously. This is what I thought. It was what I believed. The day that Kathy Dobbe destroyed this belief is still strong in my memory...

Only geeks and dorks helped the teachers with things like the projectors and handing out petri dishes. I did that sort of thing a lot. Come to think of it, this might be my first photo of my ever having worked in the cinema industry.

It was biology class. I can't remember why, but Mr. Holts told us to line up to collect some materials. For some reason, it wound up that Kathy Dobbe was standing right in front of me. I had never come that close to her before.  I was an extremely shy boy and would never intentionally stand next to her. I was so shy that, had she come close, normally I would shy away and back off to the other side of the room. But here she was! The girl of my dreams! The girl I had only seen from afar and she was standing only two feet in front of me... This goddess!!!!  

As usual, Kathy paid no attention to me and was talking to one of the other beautiful people, a guy, in the class. When she turned her back to me was when it hit me. I was shocked! I couldn't believe it. I had to get closer and check and recheck again. Were my eyes deceiving me? Not only was I taller than Kathy but I was taller by at least three inches!

You cannot imagine how much that really confused me and threw me for a loss. I was absolutely dumbfounded. It was as if a scientist who dedicated his entire life to a theorem and was completely and totally convinced that this theory was true had just found out that all his beliefs and life's work were completely wrong. Everything he (I) had thought, believed and was convinced to be true was completely wrong and had zero basis in reality. You can imagine how this twisted my mind especially as a geek and president of the Science Club!.... Chuckle.

Soon after, I began talking to many other girls. I began to check my new theory and discovery by use of the Scientific Method: "I am taller than these girls hereby it is OK for me not to be such a loser." I tested it over and over and found it to be true.

I stood next to the beautiful girls in school. I was taller than them. When some of the pretty (but dumb) girls in science class would suddenly take a 180 degree turnabout and go from not even knowing that I exist or actually being mean to me to being so sweet and kind and asking for my help giving them the answers to Biology tests, I started having an attitude. I'd intentionally give them the wrong answers.... Really! I am ashamed to admit that I did that one time but then felt bad about it... After that, if those girls wanted my help, I'd just tell them, "You're always mean to me then you want my help at test time? No. I don't think so." Then these girls would get really mad at me and bad mouth me. I think they got mad because I had always given them answers before so they had come to depend on me and when the answers stopped coming, they thought I was a jerk. They treated me like a jerk 100% of the time from then on.

That's OK. I didn't care. Before that, they treated me like a jerk only 95% of the time excepting at test time. Now they'd treat me like dirt 100% of the time. So what? Their loss, not mine, I figured.

And, after all, I was taller than they were and I got good grades. "Who needs dumb manipulative girls, anyway?" I realized.

Life is full of give and take. Life is also full of manipulative people. I thank god that I was to have this seemingly banal experience of standing in line behind Kathy Dobbe and how that changed my life. It's weird the little seemingly unimportant things that make a huge impact on our lives and way of thinking. From the lesson I learned from Kathy Dobbe, I learned self-respect and self-confidence... Perhaps from that experience I also learned too much, way too much, self-confidence too and exercised that far too often.

But this self-confidence has taught me to be independent and to be creative and to depend on myself. It has helped me to avoid the rat race whereby too many people today fear for their jobs and their future. Of course, I sometimes worry about the future and money too, but, opposed to a company employee who has no control over whether or not they lose their job or get laid off, I create my own work and I create my own income. I have come to, through experience and self-confidence and a good self image, to know that, if I put my mind to it, I can do anything. I believe that thinking that way, and helping your child to do so also, could be one of the best lessons in life that they'll ever learn.

________________________

I think the lessons I learned from this one experience are (if you are a student, this is for you. If you are a parent, please consider how you can help your child):

1) What we think and believe is often not true. An open mind is necessary. Some of the things we believe are so opposite of actual truth it is epiphany when we realize it.

2) Often we need others to help us achieve these realizations and epiphanies. 

3) We need to have more self-confidence and to explore.

4) Learning to read and write in school is important, of course, but many of the other important lessons are not taught by teachers. They are taught by other kids, parents and the outside world. We need to prepare our kids better for that.

5) Parents need to tell your kids that they are beautiful. This seems obvious but not enough parents do this. Most parents never do this at all.

6) A kid with great self-esteem and self-confidence can do anything and be whatever they want to be. Make sure your child is that way. 


Thank you Kathy Dobbe and to the Kathy Dobbe's everywhere.

I Found a Major Facebook Glitch

I have discovered a major glitch on Facebook and have also found out that several of my friends have the same problem. You might have it too!

The problem is that we have a lots of friends, but Facebook shows us as only having a few "followers." 

Why does that matter? Why is that a big deal? Well, because, if you are like me and host a radio show, or do anything where a strong social media presence is a must, then this is critical: It looks like you have no REAL friends or followers to show clients. If you are like me, you need to show potential clients and sponsors how many friends I have and how many followers you have on Social Media.

That's why I wrote this post, I thought I should alert others.

I have nearly 5000 friends on Facebook. But it shows me as only having 34 followers! That's impossible. A few months ago, it showed that I had something like 4117!

Now, only 34? How did that happen?

As of today, I have 4,989 friends. I used to always have a consistent 5000 friends, but I have been deleting a lot of people who go off on politics supporting this clown or that. (Please refer to: Musicians, Artists and Politics - The Day the Music Dies) 

So, almost 5000 friends. Great. I must have lots of followers, right? I do, actually, but my Facebook page says I only have 34. WTF?

I was wondering what made so many people get mad an unfollow me? But actually, they haven't. There's a bug in the system; the counter is wrong.

The weirdest part is that if I click the "Followed by 34 people" link, I can see that I do have hundreds, if not thousands of followers.

I told one of my other writer friends about this and he checked and found the exact same problem. He has "only" 2800 + friends, but his page says he only has 3 followers!!!!! Yikes! Now that can't be right!

So, check to see if your page is like this.

If so, do what I did and write to Facebook and ask them to fix it. (On your top page, top far right, click the upside down triangle. Scroll down to "Report a Problem.")

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 use Social Media and blogs and we tie up other (cool) companies and make a mutually beneficial marketing programs that are 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 17.5 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. 

Where Have I Been on My Blog?

Axel, a regular reader wrote in and complained to me. He wrote: "Why has this column/blog recently morphed into a self-help book? What happened to astute and witty observations on life in Japan?"

Axel is completely right. (Not so sure about the "... astute and witty observations on life in Japan?" part... But he's right about the rest!)

My excuse: Starting in April, I became the producer, director, engineer, writer, song selector, news person and promoter of a new radio program. I am doing the job of 4 people (at the pay of one). The show is called, "WTF?" ("What the Friday" and it is on 761. InterFM): 
http://www.interfm.co.jp/wtf/index.php?mode=fri&id=32

I'm not complaining (too much).

The radio station seems not too interested in promoting our show so I have taken that responsibility by myself completely. So now I do the job of 5 people for that show.

The job that takes the most of my time is promotion. The show is an unheard of 5 hours long live show on Fridays. This is a problem for promotion. The reason being is that if you want people to look forward to a show that is only on once a week, you'd better stick in their minds for the other six days a week.

This is the reason I have not found the time to blog too much. Axel, my friend, the self-help posts are recycled old material.

I spend at least at least two to three hours a day, everyday, writing information and interesting things for our "WTF?" Facebook page. This is the way, I think, that people can "stay with us" everyday of the week and I can ready them and get them to remember and look forward to our Friday show.... 

Frankly speaking, it is exhausting. I never consistently spent two hours a day on my blog! Let me tell you that this is hard work! Not only do I have to think up, research and write good content, I must write it in English and Japanese (I speak and write Japanese but am not a native-speaker so I make many mistakes!)

By starting this Facebook promotion, though, I began to get very interested in seeing what kind of posts draw huge numbers of reactions and views and what posts do not. This is incredibly valuable information that cannot be found in books, they can only be found by experience.

I have to say that I've learned a lot in just 10 weeks. I also have to say that blogging and my past experience with SEO work helped me greatly in figuring out the fast track way to do this.

The results? They are awesome! In less than ten weeks, our WTF? Facebook fan page has garnered over 2000 "Likes." (We average well over "15,000 People Reached" daily!) This is incredible when you consider that the station's Facebook page is nearly 4 years old and they have about 9,700 Likes. 

So a show that is on for 5 hours, once a week, garners over 2000 Likes in 10 weeks while a station that is on 24/7 and has a Facebook page for over 4 years "only" has 9,700? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is an awe-inspiring feat. I thank our listeners and fans...

Yet, people need to be motivated to click. I want my WTF? Facebook page to give everyone something to look at and think, "That's interesting" or "That's funny" if even for just one minute a day. It keeps us fresh in the minds of the people. I want us to be what the daily newspaper was for me when I was a kid: I didn't read the newspaper my dad got; I only looked forward to reading the comics everyday - if even for only one minute. It was just one more small thing, if for only one minute, to look forward to everyday!

Everyone needs something to look forward to! 

That's what I want the WTF? FB page to be for you, our fans and everyone else; just one small fun thing to look forward to everyday of the week!

So it's the WTF? Facebook page, my other job at the research company (we just had a shareholders revolt and they fired the CEO!) and my bad habit of drinking too much that just, pardon my French, mind-f*ck me so much that I haven't the time nor energy to get back to serious commentary and blogging.

But I will very soon, Axel. I promise. 

If anyone would like to help me out by "Liking" our WTF? FB page, I'd sure appreciate it. We also, by the way, ran a charity for Children With Incurable Diseases and the FB page was a great help in promotion. Please help us out and "Like" our page! Please! https://www.facebook.com/WhattheFriday

We ran a promotion to help the "Children With Incurable Diseases" Charity and was rewarded with a huge write up in the Asahi Newspaper earlier this month. The Asahi morning news has over 8 million newspapers delivered everyday... Not bad promotion, I'd say!

Folks! Your precious photos on Facebook are not safe! Social Media is a Loser for Storing Online Photos. Can't Beat Grandma's old-fashioned Photo Album.

Yep. Social Media platforms such as Myspace, Facebook, etc. are losers for storing your photos and precious memories. If you think those precious photos of your child's graduation or your vacation, or the party or the wedding are safe on a Social Media platform's photo album space are safe, well then, guess again!

Thank god I did move many photos to "Photo Dump of Rock Stars I've Met"... But still, there are a hundred more (at least) gone forever.... I'm kicking myself. Folks! Your precious photos on Facebook are not safe! (If the link above doesn't work: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2012/04/photo-dump-of-rock-stars-ive-met-in.html)

I produced a very popular FM radio show in Tokyo called "Good Morning Garage" on 76.1 InterFM and we had many famous guests on the show over the years. The list is quite long. I had put p the photos of us and those guests on Myspace so that the fans could enjoy them too. Guess what? They're gone!

Myspace went and deleted all the photos we had on our Myspace Good Morning Garage Fanpage (photos since 2006).... Hundreds of photos of us and artists and fans etc.... All gone. They didn't even send us a notice warning us they were going to do that. 

I hate Myspace.

Check it out. Poof! And like the South Park episode at the bank, "...and it's gone!" 

Don't believe me. Check it yourself: https://myspace.com/goodmorninggarage/photos... 

We had hundreds of photos there. Many, now, are lost forever. 

The photo with Jean Jacques of the Stranglers (by the way), Jimmy Page, Joey Ramone are some of the many that are lost forever.... Seriously, hundreds of photos.... 

It's my fault though, I guess it'll be the same on Facebook later on when that crappy service goes bankrupt too. 

We need a better way to take care of our old photos. 

In a way, this kind of reminds me of owning paper gold versus physical gold; if it's not in your hands, then you don't own it....

I guess it's pretty darn hard to beat the old fashioned photo album (that grandma likes so much) for not losing photos. 

Get a Top-Quality Professional Logo for Yourself or Your Company for $200 (USD)

People who read this blog often (thank you) will know that I am a member of many online communities. I do that because it is a good place to see what people are writing about SNS, Social Media, and Social Media Marketing (SMM). It is also a good place to see what the old school people are doing to try to make themselves look as if they are up on the Internet and the new media.

Guess how much this logo cost? A total of $200 (USD) Incredible? Read on.

It is pretty easy to pick the people out who are still stuck in the old ways at these "Marketing Online Professionals" communities. They write things like,

For this reason , I am convinced that SM works ONLY when being integrated inside a marketing plan, together with media placement, PR, promo, direct marketing and CRM. 

It is painfully obvious that the guy who wrote this is an old-school advertising guy posing as an "Internet and Social Media" expert. He laments the fact that his Social Media Marketing (SMM) plans fail consistently. He is trying to convince us - but more likely he is trying to convince himself - that the old way is vital.

In some ways he's right. The old media is vital if my product is targeted to to the 45 ~ 70-year-old crowd or if my product or service is for everyone in the family from the smallest kids to grandpa and grandma (think Disneyland, etc.) But when your product /service is for the under 40 crowd, I think you'd have to consider long and hard about spending a cent on old media... In many cases you would not be doing your client any favors to recommend spending huge budgets on TV or radio. I wrote about that in detail here and here.

Earlier today, I went to a different online professionals community and was so surprised to find people saying things like "First things, first! You must hire a professional to do your company logo!"

Of course a good logo is a must... But coughing up a few thousand dollars to hire a professional? And this advice coming from a community that calls itself, "Online Professionals"? Hmmm... Why would the people who are supposedly sold on online business be pushing the old-school ways?

Perhaps hiring a big-bucks professional will be necessary down the line, but I think us Internet types should try to use our creativity and brains before we just throw money at the problem like people used to do....

As I suspected many times, these online communities are often places where old-school advertising agents try to gain credibility as "Internet" and "online experts"... But they actually don't really do either (always ask any self-proclaimed "Internet" and "Social Media Marketer" for a list of their blog URL's and Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, U-Stream, Mixi (in Japan), etc, accounts. That's an easy way to pick out the frauds).

Click here and read at bottom for tips on how to pick out the poseurs.

I know many a small to medium business owner who has hired a professional and spent a few thousand dollars only to wind up with a handful of designs and they didn't like any of them. Foolish especially considering the fact that new businesses must watch out for every single penny and paper clip!

Well, now my friends, there is a solution! It is a company called Logomyway.

Logomyway is a new service that started in April 2009. At Logomyway you make a logo design contest and get 1,000's of artists to compete for your business... You pay nothing excepting to the winning submission. The cost can be as low as $200 (USD). You decide the winner's prize fee.

My company, "Universal Vision" logo... $200! Excellent!

Hiring a professional designer right off the bat is old school. It is also the easy way to do things for salaried employees who have no problem spending the company money... They wouldn't recommend this is it were out of their pocket. The people people who were so quick to recommend throwing away $1,000 ~ $2,000 were from an online professionals group! I'm surprised that anyone would suggest the old way without investigating the new and exciting things going on online. Try Logomyway.

http://www.logomyway.com/

I have no investment nor business relationship with Logomyway whatsoever but have used it twice  and recommended to three other people who have used it. Everyone has been more than thrilled with the results... One friend was so happy because the professional that he had hired before - and paid well - gave him designs that weren't that good... He was worried that he was going to be out another $1,000 when I introduced him to Logomyway... The result? He spent $200 and got a killer logo.

And, if you don't like any of the logos... You don't pay!

All hail the Internet!!!!

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Keywords:
Logo, Logomyway, SNS, Social Media, SMM, old media, Japan, Mixi, Internet, Facebook, Twitter, blog, online professionals, Marketing Online Professionals, YouTube, Online Marketing, Universal Vision, Mike Rogers, Marketing Japan, U-Stream, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, 

Banned On Facebook!!!!

For some reason, Facebook has banned me from sending out friend requests. Facebook claims that they have banned me because I "sent out friend requests to people who I don't know personally." Really?

WTF!? Hello Facebook. If it's friend I know personally out in the real world, I don't need to become their friend on Facebook. If I want to talk to my friends in the real world I have a cellphone and another "book" it's called a "Phonebook." 

Pretty amazing, eh? The Phonebook allows me to call friends over a virtual line and arrange what is called, a "Face to face meeting at a restaurant or coffee shop."

Facebook idiots!

Look, Facebook is for making friends in the virtual world. I don't need it for real world.

FB sucks, eh? They ban us from sending friend requests in the virtual world. Morons! In the real world, we don't need FB to make friends. Isn't the purpose of FB to make friends we normally can't meet? 

One of my real friends, Rick Barton wrote: "I fully concur! Especially since that dick Zuckerberg or whatever his name is started it to get laid bc he couldn't in the real world! Then he insults us by not believing we have the ability to tap "accept" or "decline."

I already wrote about Facebook's prying into our business. Please refer to: Fight Back Against Facebook Prying: You Know Everyone! 

So why have I been blocked? As I said, Facebook claims I've been sending out unsolicited friend requests. But I have only sent out requests to folks who operate in my circles and are heavy readers and followers of the publication that I have been a regular columnist now for nearly ten years. 

Always click "Yes" - It's none of Facebook's business

I also, in Japan, sometimes send out (but mostly receive) friend requests from many Japanese folks who are regular listeners to my radio show. I simply cannot say "No!" to them! (Why would anyone on radio alienate listeners?) So, I have sent out requests. Not a lot. But have done it. I get many more friend requests than I send out by a ten-fold. 

But now I realize why people can get blocked. It's because, recently, when you accept a new friend on Facebook, it has has been asking, "Do you know this person outside of Facebook?" Of course, I always answer, "Yes!" Why do I do this? It's NONE OF FACEBOOK'S DAMNED BUSINESS!

Did I say, Facebook sucks? I did. OK.

Alper Kul's "Only a Bomb to Nagasaki?"

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

I have found a wonderfully done musical piece that has been edited to video for you by an artist named Alper Kul. Alper Kul is from Turkey and he works with electronic musical instruments such as the piano.

Alper Kul uploaded a fine work that I am proud to introduce to you. It is called "Only a Bomb to Nagasaki?" and is simply beautiful and powerful a the same time.

It brought great emotions and tears to my eyes. Please watch this and enjoy!

ONLY A BOMB TO NAGAZAKI ? BY ALPER KUL from Alper KUL on Vimeo.

It is true that some of the scenes are Hiroshima and not Nagasaki but I think that doesn't detract one bit from the message and the beautiful music. I expect to be hearing more from Alper Kul in the future.

Alper Kul has a Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/alperkul1973?fref=ts

His Alper Kul Myspace is here.

If you write to him, tell him Mike in Tokyo Rogers sent you.

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Keywords: Alper Kul, Atomic bomb, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, World War II, Facebook, Myspace, Marketing Japan, Mike Rogers, Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Write Down Your Goals to Achieve Them!...

"Life is difficult as it is so let us be good to each other." - C.S. Lewis

Today, I'd like to take a moment to highly recommend a book that has helped me greatly since the first time I read it and that is Brian Tracy's Goals!

I write down my top 10 goals everyday! Inspired by the author of Goals! Brian Tracy (I also recommend another Tracy book, Focal Point)

In Goals! Tracy talks about how, if you are to succeed in life that you need to write down your goals in order to be able to achieve them. "Sure!" Everyone thinks this but I know few who actually do write them down. Trust that writing them down does help your sub-conscious to actually remember and activate your  brain to achieve the goals you set forth for yourself.

I write down my goals everyday in the morning when I wake up and, not only does doing so help me to achieve them, it also helps me to relax and stay much more focused. Who doesn't want to stay more focused in this day and age when our "in-box" includes, for most people, several e-mails accounts that are constantly filling up as the day goes by and consistently altering our priorities? Or an Internet world filled with Social Media like Facebook, Mixi (in Japan) and Linkedin accounts (among others) to attend? Twitter and Pick, are no longer for just sending messages to your friends, but they too, have been co-opted into the business world and your boss orders you to use them, or blogs and SNS, to get the company message out...

How in the world can anyone get ahead of the pile in the "in-box"?

The book promises that you will "Get everything you want, faster than you ever dreamed." Sounds like grandiose claims but let me point out that writing down your goals and purposes is like having a sort of road map to where you want to go. When you write them down, they enter your subconsciousness, they cause your inner brain to focus upon the Law of Attraction. If you do not write down where you want to go - if you do not have a map - then how will you know where you are going?

The publishers write:

Why do some people achieve all their goals while others simply dream of having a better life? Bestselling author Brian Tracy shows that the path from frustration to fulfillment has already been discovered. Hundreds of thousands--even millions--of men and women have started with nothing and achieved great success. Here Tracy presents the essential principles you need to know to make your dreams come true.

Tracy presents a simple, powerful, and effective system for setting and achieving goals--a method that has been used by more than one million people to achieve extraordinary things. In this revised and expanded second edition he has added three new chapters addressing areas in which goals can be most rewarding but also the toughest to set and keep: finances, family, and health.

Using the twenty-one strategies Tracy outlines, you'll be able to accomplish any goals you set for yourself--no matter how big. You'll discover how to determine your own strengths, what you truly value in life, and what you really want to accomplish in the years ahead. Tracy shows how to build your self-esteem and self-confidence, approach every problem or obstacle effectively, overcome difficulties, respond to challenges, and continue forward toward your goals, no matter what happens. Most importantly, you'll learn a system for achievement that you will use for the rest of your life.

One of my goals are to become a multi-millionaire. Laughable? Maybe. But at least I have a road map and I am consciously working on that everyday... 

And I really do have proof! I have evidence that Tracy's philosophy and ideas in Goals! work.  I have shown myself that actually writing down goals are critical to achieving them. And my proof stands in something that, for me, is much more important than the Rat Race and making money: it's being the best dad I can be. 

It used to be my #1 priority was, "To make $15,000 a month..." then, one day, when I got a flash of irritation at something my son did - then thought about that flash later on - I realized that the most important thing for me was not money. By far the most important thing for me was to be a great dad. 

Now my #1 priority goal that I write everyday is; "I am a kind, loving and patient father and husband today and everyday" (with today's date added).

Folks, trust me. This really works! Since starting this habit, I have caught myself several times with a flash of irritation at my son - that  before would have caused me to get angry or upset and maybe raise my voice - but since I started writing down everyday my goal of  being patient and kind, my mind recalls that goal immediately and has killed that flash of anger instantly its tracks. 

Why ruin what could be a good learning opportunity and great memory with an out burst of irritability? What for? Life is too short to be getting upset at the small stuff all the time. 

As the great writer C.S. Lewis wrote in Chronicles of Narnia, "Life is difficult as it is so let us be good to each other."

Try reading Brian Tracy's Goals! Write down your goals everyday. You'll be glad you did. 

(This article was inspired by a meeting I had with a most interesting fellow named Roger Marshall. Thank you, Roger!) 


Also read: 

Pocket Notebooks: The Secret of Millionaires and People Won't Listen! 


One Easy Step To Becoming a Better Parent and More Successful at Life 

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keywords: Pick, C.S. Lewis, Twitter, SNS, e-mail, Goals!, Blogs, blogging, Youtube, U-stream, Brian Tracy, Narnia, Facebook, Mixi, Linkedin, Japan, SNS, Internet, business, Japanese, priority, Social Media