Tech Tuesday: Is Facebook Just a Variation on the Chicken Soup Franchise? No, It Is Probably Worse, the Real Reason Trump Is Being Tarred This Week

In 2002 I attended what purported to be a three-hour success seminar by Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. His presentation, demeaning manner and arrogance were more than annoying. For example, he bragged about needing to make two million dollars a year to break even. The experience, which an auditorium of people forked over $75 to each to hear, was so odious to me that I ended up writing a story for The Reader Weekly, "Chicken Soup for the Ripped Off Person's Soul," which I re-published on my blog in 2008.

During his talk he affirmed that he and co-author Jack Canfield were in the Guinness Book of World Records for the speed at which they produced books. But what is the process for feeding this revenue machine? The Chicken Soup books are generated by OPC (Other Peoples' Content).

Most writers have probably seen at one time or another announcements about upcoming themes that Hansen & Canfield are looking for stories about. In 2002 they would pay $100 a story, which has grown to $200 a story today (I believe). In other words, everyone contributes and is rewarded a little while The Machine (Chicken Soup Franchise) rakes in a fortune.

This past week it dawned on me that to some extent that is what Facebook is doing. Except that their machine doesn't pay people to create the content. We all contribute content because our reward is... sharing our photos, our ideas, and connecting with friends. And in the case of FB there are two billion contributors.

How Facebook Differs from Chicken Soup

Now where Facebook differs from the Chicken Soup Franchise (CSF) is in this. Facebook acquires all your information, everything about yourself that you have willingly shared. They have massive quantities of data on each of us, and they sell it to Marketers so that marketers can get very very targeted in their online advertising.

Here's one article: The Price of Free. In fact, here is a whole page of links to articles about how FB uses the info it gathers about us.

So why does the Washington Post make such a big stink about Donald Trump using Facebook data in his campaign to get elected? As anyone in the business knows, the Dems and GOP machinery have maintained data on everybody for as long as it has been possible. Those targeted ads that we see on FB don't show up in our margins because they are guessing.

When Billy Graham died this past month I wrote a blog post (that I ultimately didn't post) about a time when one of his writers gave me a tour of the Billy Graham Association facility in Minneapolis. He brought me in to the Rev. Graham's office and showed me his roll-top desk. I proceeded to do a Google search for pictures of roll-top desks and downloaded a specific image that looked like the one I remembered. From that moment on I have been seeing ads for roll-top desks both on Facebook and elsewhere. This doesn't happen by accident.

Someone shared with me how two years ago Trump's team worked hand-in-glove with Facebook and Twitter to learn how to optimize their marketing efforts in those two channels. It's what all the big businesses are doing. If marketers don't attend those big FB and Google sessions themselves, then they hire consultants who have been in California at the events, building ties to the smartest guys in the room.

The title of this post is my longest ever, and probably could have been shortened to "Much Ado About Nothing." But I'd done that, you might think I'm talking about Shakespeare, and when we talk about Old Bill we immediately go to thoughts about Bob Dylan, and that controversy as to whether he should received a Nobel Prize. So let's not go there.

Enjoy the day.


Related Link
FACEBOOK ALGORITHM UPDATE 
JAN 12—Zuckerburg says FB focus is the user's well-being.

The One Minute Millionaire

Yesterday, I posted an article I had written about Mark Victor Hansen called Chicken Soup for the Ripped Off Person's Soul. There are some who might say my comments are mean spirited. I would like to believe the piece was written to promote understanding. One of the reasons scam artists are successful is that we are naive about their techniques, they smile a lot and we by nature desire to be trusting rather than perpetually wary.

By another name, wariness is a gift. It's called discernment. Let's not be gullible. Jesus said be wise as serpents but innocent as doves.

In an effort to substantiate my take on Hansen, and the book he was promoting/hawking that day in 2002, I have copied a review from Amazon.com about The One Minute Millionaire.

98 of 111 people found the following review helpful:
Worst Get Rich Book Ever, May 6, 2005
By
D. Logan

Let me summarize their get super-easy get rich "ideas"

1. Just invent something that everyone will buy!

2. Just write a best selling book!

3. Just spam a hundred thousand people selling a product, like an e-book that cost you nothing to make, but your time, and sell it for $1,000, and you'll get your million! They repeatedly use 1% spam response rates, though it's more like .0037% spam rates, I already know their solution, SPAM MORE! If you haven't got any spam from "Richard G Allen &/Or the one minute millionaire, you will!!!

4. Just look through the newspaper and find foreclosures on some unsuspecting little old lady, and be nice to her and help her get kicked out of her house, and you swoop in and take it, and all it's equity, paint it and sell it for twice as much!

5. Invent a toy that every kid wants, like Tickle-Me-Elmo!

6. Look for run-down houses that are worth millions and millions of dollars and haven't sold for a long long time, and ask obscenely low prices, and they'll take it, because agents have to, and since the owners are rich and don't care about money....

These are just some of the ideas that I remember from this awful book. The spam one makes me furious, they are ENCOURAGING SPAMMING!!! The other ideas are so stupid, write a best seller, invent something that every American home needs, well FREAKIN DUH! It VERY soon becomes apparent that the authors are just looking to make THEMSELVES RICH, with a catchy title, and some VERY OLD, VERY TIRED, VERY WORN OUT - OVERDONE Ideas. Like that foreclosure thing. That's older than I am. sheesh. This book has nothing creative, attempts to teach unethical and unrealistic ways of "getting rich" which they focus on spam as the way to get rich in the "one minute" time frame. Like any idiot is going to drop a grand from a spam they got 10 seconds ago. I did read this whole book, just looking for any kind of redeeming factor. None. This book is great for a laugh, and to inspire fury against the authors. I don't usually every write reviews, but this one... inspired me with disgust! This book is an entire waste of time, and I can't believe they must have had good marketers that this book is in the library, etc. I think this is the worst "get rich" book I have ever read.

All the real self help/get rich type books ALL go back to Napoleon Hill. Think and Grow Rich is his best seller. If you are looking for the "secret", start there. Read everything he has, and then read everything his disciples have written (Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, Earl Nightengale, & Other stuff by Robert Kiyosaki & Thomas J. Stanley PhD, William D. Danko, and you will then have the correct foundation for success. Hey if you've read these and agree with me, yet feel I am missing a few good gems, please email me! I'm always looking for some more good stuff.

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Mark Victor Hansen: the Flim Flam Man

He blew into town with the media winds at his back, a big smile on his face and the promise of riches for all. His name was Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the highly successful Chicken Soup series of books. Though it was purportedly a leadership seminar, he was actually promoting his newest book, The One Minute Millionaire. Yes, you can have it all.

The following article first appeared in Duluth's Reader Weekly, November 7, 2002. It was my take on a motivational speaker who I would tar a scam artist. But what is motivating me to reprint it here is a statement he made while flapping his gums about the greatness of mankind and what we can achieve if we pull together and put our minds to it. He said one project he was organizing, that would amaze the world, would be painting the Great Wall of China by 2008. He pointed out that the Great Wall was the only man made structure on earth visible from outer space. It would be a huge undertaking to paint this but it would be accomplished because, golly gee whiz, we're so great we can do anything.

Well, I've been waiting. So far, gathering an army of people to paint the Great Wall of China has not yet made the news, and I have a feeling that if Hansen is talking about it at all, it will be something he tells his audiences will happen in 2015. He would likely be surprised that someone in his Duluth audience actually took notes to hold him accountable for what he says.

I realize that some people will feel I'm being harsh when I say these things. Hansen's books have encouraged and entertained a lot of people. Frankly, it could be argued that the money-changers in the Temple in New Testament times were helping people, too.

Anyways, here's my story.... a bit long for blogging, I know. I'll try not to make a habit of it.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE RIPPED OFF PERSON’S SOUL

By Ed Newman

In October 2002 I had the privilege of witnessing the most audacious display of shameless hucksterism. In case you missed it, Mark Victor Hansen was in town, guest lecturer for the Leadership Series of The College of St. Scholastica. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Hansen, he is co-author of the spectacularly successful Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

The three hour talk purported to be a success seminar for entrepreneurs and leaders. In actuality, it was little more than a three hour sales pitch a la Simon Sez. Half the audience seemed happily under his spell.

Affable and boisterous, he laughed almost continuously. Peppered throughout he shared fragments of actual and real content, though seldom citing sources and not concerned about whether any of the pieces hung together.

From one perspective, the talk was a fast paced jabber of name dropping, and braggadocio. If being rich is good because you can help others, being super-rich is even better because you can brag about it. His lifestyle requires him to earn two million dollars a year, he told us. He also let us know how he and his partner Jack Canfield are in the Guinness Book of World Records for the speed at which they produce and sell books.

The guy’s technique was typical of the standard flim flam con artist. How many times did he “almost” tell the price of these books that were supposedly worth $167 dollars? But hold on a second! He told us his signature will be worth more than the price we pay for the books because his good buddy Red Skelton said his autograph is worth eight hundred dollars, and “I’m going to be more famous than Red,” he implied. Do the math. Pay one hundred today, get the guy’s signature because he’s in town, and we walk away more than seven hundred dollars ahead. Plus we get to keep the books!

In twenty years of attending professional seminars, I can’t think of a single one where you pay nearly seventy dollars to attend and get no written materials, no notebook, nothing. That’s because this guy was not interested in giving anything. That would be an expense. The lesson is that to get rich you eliminate expenses and just take the money.

Wait, he did give us something. It was a thirty day tattoo which we could wear to promote his books. Hmmm. (Tap someone on the arm and say, “Got it?”)

Hansen’s fast talking style was straight from the carnival. He made outrageous statements with such rapidity that your mind couldn’t keep up to analyze them. At one point he said that for every one hundred dollars that we sent to his amazing money machine (in the form of buying his books) his organization would send $250 to eliminate third world hunger.

Someone asked why they don’t end poverty here in America first and he mocked her. That’s right. He made a face and belittled her. It was embarrassing.

He could do that because the crowd was on his side, the side of truth and illumination. But wait, not only was the crowd on his side, God was on his side, too. God wants us all to be shamelessly rich. The Bible says so, Hansen said. Look at Jesus. Why would the first disciple he converted be a tax collector if Jesus didn’t have money? Jesus was rich like Mr. Hansen, right? Jesus needed an accountant.

BOTTOM LINE

In other words, this whole Leadership event was a big scam. What’s unfortunate is that a lot of innocent believing people are left in the wake of jokers like this, still hurting, confused by what they experienced because much of what he said was good. But how do you apply it? The message doesn’t hold up to critical analysis.

In the past I have written about the gullibility of our times and American superficiality. This guy plays it like a master. The more I thought about it, the more stewed I got because a lot of earnest, trusting people paid hard earned cash to be there. 225 paid attendees times $69.... That’s over fifteen thousand dollars for three hours work. No wonder he was laughing continuously.

The next day I was curious how the sponsors of the event felt. Did Marcia Doty feel used because he took some personal information about her and stroked her in front of the whole crowd as part of the pitch he was putting on? Did the other media people feel they had been taken?

That’s how good this guy was. He completely sold out of his books. And everyone seemed happy. That just never happened before, I was told. He’s turning the whole world into One Minute Millionaires. Hallelujah.

In the old days these snake oil salesmen were tarred and feathered.

Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The writer who laughs all the way to the bank is crying inside.” This guy is laughing all the way to the bank, for sure. And it appears he’s not crying inside, which means he is either (a) not a writer, or (b) absolutely devoid of conscience.

Somehow, I can’t escape the feeling that we were witnesses to a tragedy and we didn’t even know it.

POSTSCRIPT

If your thoughts and feelings were similar to those expressed in this article, please email them to ennyman@northlc.com. If we gather 101 stories, we will publish a book. The profits will be shared with the authors.