There has been a lot of buzz around Japan-based Tokyo Otaku Mode recently. The startup aims to curate content (mostly photos so far) focusing on the ‘Otaku’ community surrounding Japanese anime, manga, and cosplay. Founded in March of 2011, it has already raised a round of angel funding from investors. I recently spoke with its co-founder, Nao Kodaka to find out more about TOM and their plans for the future.
Interestingly, much of the buzz surrounding Tokyo Otaku Mode so far is a mixed reaction of surprise and confusion regarding its massive Facebook footprint. To date, it has 6.8 million Facebook fans. Let’s put that in perspective for a moment, and compare it to some other Facebook pages out there:
| Entity | Fan count |
|---|---|
| Tokyo Otaku Mode | 6,800,000 |
| Danny Choo [1] | 241,000 |
| Hatsune Miku, by Crypton | 662,796 |
| Nintendo | 1,904,820 |
| 9GAG | 4,024,478 |
| I f*cking love science | 1,200,000 |
| George Takei | 2,700,000 |
I couldn’t help but ask Nao about this right off the bat. Their Facebook page is certainly well managed, with lots of attractive photo content that’s sure to win over tens of thousands of fans. But millions? Considering the figures above, I asked Nao how much of this was organic and how much was due to advertising. He explains:
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
