Nonaka Miki, who serves as leader of Morning Musume。’26, wrote a lengthy post on her blog about the group’s social media strategy over the past year. In response, on 5ch’s Hello! Project board, comments piled up pointing out the low number of TikTok posts and slow updates, with many replies raising staff management issues, saying “That’s really something the staff should be leading, not the members.” Meanwhile, plenty of posts compared the group’s social media operations unfavorably to other groups like Juice=Juice, splitting opinion over whether the problem lies with Nonaka’s own effort or with the staff.
Thinking About Our Social Media This Past Year
2026-08-31 20:21:49
Today I wanted to talk a little bit about Morning Musume。’26’s social media 🙂↕✨
Sounds like the staff around Nonaka just aren't doing their job. This isn't something a performer should have to handle — it's supposed to be staff-led.
56AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:40
Re: #41 Apparently Oda's got videos she asked the manager to post that never go up either.
42AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:34
Nonaka sure likes to remind everyone she's working hard, doesn't she.
45AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:36
Re: #42 I kind of see it as Nonaka's own desperate, all-or-nothing appeal.
55AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:39
Other idols have said on TV that they post with the social media algorithm in mind too.
62AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:41
Re: #55 Maybe that's smart, but would you actually become a fan of an idol who's good at that kind of thing?
73AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:45
Re: #55 Making a whole thing out of pointing that out is pretty much the same deal though.
66AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:42
It's sloppy — they've got a new song out, and yet they're too busy promoting the old material to keep up.
69AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:43
Re: #66 Yeah, their Instagram Stories were flooded with that.
77AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:46
Contrary to what Nonaka's saying, Musume。is actually the least active on TikTok of any Hello! Pro group.
84AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:49
Re: #77 Makino barely cooperated with any of it. Seeing stuff like that kind of kills the vibe.
88AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:50
Re: #84 She really didn't show up in it at all — it was almost impressive. And in the caption of a video where literally everyone else was there, it said something like "all the members doing XX" lol (ﾜﾗﾀ, a laughing-text emoticon). At this point even the staff are treating her like she's not a member.
92AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:51
Re: #84 That's just Makino doing her own thing as usual. Nonaka's TikTok numbers are on the low side too.
81AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:48
Posting an update like this during a time slot when Juice=Juice is all over TV kind of makes it feel pointless.
86AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:49
Re: #81 Sounds like she's got a lot weighing on her mind.
85AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:49
Saying out loud "I've been working hard to push for better social media posts" comes across like she's making excuses.
90AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:51
Re: #85 That's just you always reading things in the worst possible light. Either way, what matters is the results and track record, not the reasons or the process — and this is still an ongoing thing.
107AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:54
Re: #85 I really do think it's nothing but an excuse. I get the sense there's some hidden motive she's trying to hint at too.
106AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:54
The result of putting effort into social media:
113AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:55
Re: #106 Show us an actual success story. This alone doesn't tell us much.
141AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:02
Re: #106 Nonaka just taught us how incompetent the staff really are.
123AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:57
She should just marry one of the guys from Mayurika (a comedy duo) — it'd generate buzz.
125AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:58
Re: #123 She's already married to him.
129AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:58
Re: #123 She's already married, and yeah, it's a Mayurika guy.
126AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:58
As usual, the "look how hard I'm working" self-promotion is over the top.
136AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:01
Re: #126 Nonaka's always had a personality that likes to advertise her own work — like "look, I'm doing this as leader." But today's blog post feels oddly abrupt, out of nowhere.
149AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:03
Here's a golden chance to get attention from being on 24-Hour TV (Nippon TV's big annual charity telethon), and apparently she didn't even post a single live video. If it were Juice's camp, they'd definitely be all over it.
170AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:07
Re: #149 Exactly this. It's been a while since Morning Musume had a real chance to become a topic of conversation with the general public, and the staff not even trying to capitalize on it is just hopeless. Air footage from the New York live. Air behind-the-scenes footage from filming the 24-Hour TV drama. Get the current members to sing "Toki Sora" (a past Morning Musume single) and post it on YouTube. There were plenty of golden chances to show the world Morning Musume。is alive and well, and they let every one of them slip by — it's just hopeless. A Juice=Juice staff wouldn't let a chance like this go to waste.
169AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:07
More than any of that, isn't the thing Nonaka needs to work hardest on actually getting back on stage?
185AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:12
Re: #169 That's part of why she's handing things off to the staff for now, isn't it.
171AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:07
It's still way too few. ANGERME (often shortened to "Anju" by fans) started posting at least once a day. Morning Musume only put out 12 in August. Meanwhile Kyusuto and the other Kawara Lab groups post over 180 TikTok videos a month — that's 6 a day (Juice has slowed down a bit since they're busy, but they still put up 54 in August).
177AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:09
Re: #171 Nonaka: "It's the incompetent staff's fault."
181AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:11
If that's the case, shouldn't they be tying in more with Juice and putting in the effort to ride the algorithm? Even "Moremi" was completely ignored until Getter and Nia danced to it. Oda posted it saying it was for practice, but even then there was no mention of "Moremi" in the caption. You've got to use what you can use.
188AnonymousAug 31, 2026 22:13
Re: #181 Juice pays money to outsource their editing, don't they.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
At many idol groups, social media operations are managed by staff rather than the members themselves when it comes to posting frequency and content, meaning member enthusiasm alone doesn’t necessarily move the needle on how often things get posted. The thread itself raised this point too, saying it’s “supposed to be staff-led,” and it’s easy to conflate criticism aimed at Nonaka personally with frustration over how the staff handle things. Also, comparisons like the TikTok post-count breakdown (post #171) cited concrete numbers to highlight differences in how groups operate, but since each group’s follower base and target platform differ, post volume alone isn’t necessarily a fair measure of how well- or poorly-run a group’s strategy is. It’s also worth noting — though it wasn’t raised in the thread — that Morning Musume。and Juice=Juice differ in when they formed and how their activities are structured within Hello! Project, so any comparison between them comes with different underlying conditions.
Leave a Reply