Chapter 253 – Campus Belle and Goddess

However, Yang Yi’s proposal did not receive Fu Jun’s complete approval. He furrowed his brow, pondered for a moment, and said, “Selling records is not as simple as you think, Yang Yi. Basically, those big record companies have a firm grasp on the distribution channels. If we want to sell records, we cannot bypass their restrictions.”

“We are not going to do distribution. What we are doing is similar to bookstores and music stores. We don’t produce books or records, but we will act as sales agents,” Yang Yi explained. “It’s like how the online shop currently sell books that are not solely from Sahara Publishing House.”

“I understand now!” Fu Jun tapped his head and said to himself that he had overthought things.

However, Fu Jun didn’t overthink. Yang Yi’s next words revealed the true purpose of his proposal: “However, that’s just for now. In the initial stage, we can cooperate with these record distribution companies, but we need to learn from them, understand the rules and resources of record distribution. In the future, when the time is ripe, we can also establish our own distribution channels!”

“Our own distribution channels?” Fu Jun asked in surprise, his heart pounding.

“That’s right!” Yang Yi’s tone remained calm at the moment and there seemed to be no ripples in his voice over the phone. “We will take a different approach and create an internet-based distribution channel. Moreover, our main target won’t be the major entertainment companies. We won’t compete with the existing record companies for their piece of the cake. Instead, we’ll establish a record distribution channel for independent musicians, the ones looked down upon by those big record companies, allowing anyone who loves music to release their records.”

Fu Jun took a sharp breath and saw the deep ambition hidden within Yang Yi!

Of course, Fu Jun wasn’t entirely sure whether records from independent musicians would be welcomed by the market. It was difficult to estimate the benefits of this distribution channel, but Fu Jun was persuaded by Yang Yi.

This was a very interesting goal!

“Not only records, but also movies, videos, and books. We can create an internet-based channel for individual creators or small companies without a background, providing them a platform to showcase themselves,” Yang Yi said with a faint smile. “Just like what Qiyue did with online novels. Trust me, the creative abilities of billions of people will make Sahara soar completely!”

Although Yang Yi didn’t speak with much passion, Fu Jun himself was filled with excitement!

“Good, good! I’ll call for a meeting right away!” Fu Jun said excitedly.

Of course, the actual plan didn’t require Yang Yi to provide Fu Jun with all the details. Fu Jun wasn’t an ignorant boss; he would naturally organize his planning team to study the matter and wisely keep the ambitious plan mentioned by Yang Yi hidden for now. They only needed to establish a good relationship with the record companies and have them grant Sahara Online Shop the authority for internet sales.

“Don’t be in a hurry. I have a little something here that I recommend you and your staff try out. It’s quite fun!” Yang Yi smiled faintly. “It’s called ‘Weibo’. It’s something my team recently developed.”

……

Although Yang Yi had high expectation for Weibo, its development had been relatively slow, and it couldn’t even keep up with the promotional efforts of another product within the same project.

Facebook has become popular on the campus of Jiangcheng Media University.

The approach seemed to be similar to that of Facebook in that time and space, after all, it was a plan provided by Yang Yi. However, under Mao Peifu’s adjustments, it had some slight differences.

There was no practice of using hacking technology to steal registration photos of female students that could potentially cause resentment. Mao Peifu used her personal connections and Yang Yi’s financial support to organize a campus belle election in the College of Business and Media.

Mao Peifu sought the consent of all the beautiful female students from the College of Business and Media who were on the list, and they all signed contracts and received compensation. Of course, they also provided their most beautiful photos, which was by no means comparable to ID photos!

Although not an official staff member, after learning about Senior Sister Mao Peifu’s plan from Ding Xiang, Guo Ziyi volunteered to become an unofficial publicity personnel to evaluate campus belles and campus beauties. He liked it the most!

With Guo Ziyi energetically waving flags and cheering, couple with the activity of selecting the campus belle, it was enough to attract people. A large number of registered users flooded into Facebook. Most of them were male students, but there were also many female students who came to join in the fun. Moreover, it wasn’t just limited to the students from the College of Business and Media; students from other departments enthusiastically participated as well.

They quickly discovered the benefits of Facebook. Those beautiful female students were visibly real. By clicking on their photos, users could access their profiles and get to know them as individuals by viewing the photos they posted in their albums and reading their diary entries!

There were some male students, who were as “shameless” as Guo Ziyi, who proudly wrote on their own profiles, “Successfully added them, I think I’m in love!”

The first selection quickly came to an end. Everyone’s preferences were different, so the results of the selection would naturally be controversial. This controversy was a good thing because it would bring continuous popularity to Facebook.

Of course, after participating in the selection of the campus belle from the College of Business and Media, the male students couldn’t sit still. They all expressed their desire to hold a campus belle selection for their own department.

More voices said, “The College of Business and Media doesn’t have real beauties; the real beauties are in the Film Academy. If we’re going to hold a selection, how can we leave out the beauties from the Film Academy?”

The call for the beauties from the Film Academy to join grew louder, and Mao Peifu and her team would naturally not disappoint. This time, if they were going to do it, they would make it big!

Jiangcheng Media University Goddess Grand Selection!

Obviously, Mao Peifu couldn’t do it the same way as before – using her personal connections and monetary rewards to attract the participation of the beautiful female students from the College of Business and Media. Jiangcheng Media University was too large, with too many female students, and there were plenty of beauties among them. It would be impossible for Mao Peifu and her team to individually approach each and every one of them without exhausting themselves.

However, Mao Peifu had previously served as the Vice President of the Student Union, and even though she had resigned now, she had rich experience in student activities and a strong network.

Soon, Mao Peifu acted as a go-between and facilitated a major event between Facebook and the Student Union of Jiangcheng Media University, with Facebook sponsoring the event.

Of course, it was no longer the ordinary campus belle selection. Instead, they transformed it into a goddess selection that focused on talent and appearance.

The event was divided into two rounds. Firstly, an online voting was conducted on Facebook to select 20 goddesses who possessed both talent and beauty. Then, a large-scale live event called the Jiangchuang Goddess Selection Gala was held at the 10,000-person stadium of Jiangcheng Media University, where the finalists could showcase their talents. The judges’ scores and online voting (users could vote through the Facebook website on their mobile phones) were used to determine the top, second and third place goddesses!

Of course, Mao Peifu also provided a very large budget for this event. In addition to the prize pool of up to 100,000 yuan for the top, second and third place, there were also various lottery activities set up in the first round of selection to stimulate voting. For the evening party, a professional team was hired for planning, decoration, and directing. Finally, a large amount of sponsorship was given to the Student Union of Jiangcheng Media University. Mao Peifu spent no less than 500,000 yuan on this event!

Although the event was still ongoing, the generous rewards and the honor of being a goddess with both beauty and talent have stimulated many female students to sign up, and their participation has greatly stimulated more male students to register as Facebook users.

Not only students from Jiangcheng Media University but also students from other universities in Tingshan District’s university town, and even male students from other universities who learned about the event online, were drawn to it out of admiration. The number of registered users on Facebook was rapidly increasing every day.

Although they initially came to see beautiful women, they would eventually discover the difference between Facebook and other blogging websites.

This was not just a simple blogging website but a personal homepage with a certain level of privacy that allowed users to build their own personal networks. Users could share photos, publish their diaries, and even use it as a place to release their personal information.

With Facebook being so entertaining, how could it not become popular?