I put a joke in Twitter once, the joke was not even mine. I saw it previously on Facebook and it got almost 300 retweets. After that time, it was not uncommon for me to average 30 retweets on jokes or even some serious stuff. Sometimes there are zero retweets but it does not matter; I am not on Twitter to make money or build image. I am there for fun.
I am basically ambivalent when people retweet or share anything I put in social media anymore because somehow it has achieved its the desired purpose. I shared some thing I found interesting or my thoughts to spur conversation and some great conversations we have had.
Some folks recently started a conversation about self censorship on social media and my position was simple; I am there for fun and you only self censor if there is another purpose. The truth is that not everyone is on social media for the same purpose. While social media may be perfect for gathering attention and great for advertisers; the whole attention business may be based on other more sinister or ulterior motives. The advertisers wittingly or unwittingly pay for it all to happen
There is usually asymmetry of purpose and information between those who put out certain content and followers who either consume or propagate it. There is usually information asymmetry observed in ALL of social media but no greater asymmetry observed than in the case of celebrities.
Someone made fun of Nicki Minaj’s upcoming ANACONDA album cover then she retweeted it and got millions of retweets and shares. The original person who created the Marge Simpson parody also became an instant celebrity. Other memes followed and she shared them all on Instagram. MTV and others propagated those memes and further helped her advertise her upcoming album. Celebrities create other celebrities and sometimes it is by accident. Most other times it is not.
I started looking at the phenomenon of celebrity and I realized at the foundation of it is storytelling. You need to have a story and you need to be authentic or controversial and you need to have an audience that wants to hear that story. Nicki Minaj has her story and she milks it with the controversy it continues to generate. The greatest stories are those that prompt human curiosity and they usually bring celebrity status to the subject of those stories.
Some celebrities are discovered then farmed and grown deliberately by their handlers. In the process of trying to grow their fame and fortune they tap into subconscuious aspirations and the forbidden fruit fantasies. The audience is also being farmed and grown as well but they are blissfully unaware. They become part of an elaborate game they don’t fully understand or know. One side has more information than the others as it gathers details from likes, retweets, faves and conversation.
Nicki Minaj is releasing an album tomorrow 4th August and I can bet my left nut that it will be sold out because she has milked all our attention with one racy picture of her butt cheeks. It was amplified by more memes and parodies from which she continued her narrative by making fun of herself on Instagram. Making fun of oneself has become not only a defense mechanism by celebrities, it helps keep them popular and in peoples minds.
There is Information Asymmetry in in all media but it is a special case in social media as everything happens at the speed of thought. People can also be misunderstood and maligned. Governments can be toppled and monsters like ISIS can be created. The Moral hazard is that for people with malicious intent, even if the content they put out achieves or does not achieve their purpose, they bear no real cost or consequence. Sometimes a lot of things are put out there on purpose to misdirect and miseducate then harvest.
On every current topic, I have seen passionate arguments on either side for or against. Social media becomes the battle ground because it is surprisingly powerful because of its reach. I realized only recently that I have stopped listening to normal news because if anything is newsworthy, I will eventually find it on social media if I didn’t discover it there first. Most times news breaks out in social media first and it now drives traditional news outlets.
Social media is now VERY VERY powerful, much more than we can even imagine. We are all part of this beautiful innocent looking monster. We also do not realize that we are all in the driving seat as we are the host that helps propagate either healing or infection. Let’s drive this monster vehicle carefully so we don’t end up smashing all of civilization.
I wrote in a tweet recently that for the first time in history, Africans have hit the trifecta of democracy, freedom of speech and a truly global voice but we instead squander it all online on religious and ethnic bigotry or English Premier League rivalry.
We are miseducating ourselves and leaving NO legacy for future generations. This generation’s greatest achievement should not be retweets, likes or senseless arguments. It should be true collaboration for change using this powerful force.
The image from Reddit below says it all powerfully. It summarizes celebrity culture as well as current social media.
This post first appeared on my personal blog
