It’s a common but unfortunate phenomenon nowadays to
see the strife that now characterizes the relationship between ‘bloggers’, ‘celebrities’
and or other urban culture actors. This uneasy atmosphere that seems to now
parade all social media networks over the world is an unfortunate situation
because, these social influencers seem to have fallen in the misguided
conception of being able to sail through the rough seas of fame, power,
influence and money all alone. It is not uncommon therefore to witness this
same kind of a strained relationship between Cameroonian social media influencers,
from bloggers, celebrities of all categories like musicians, models, designers,
actors, producers and directors. Most recently, there has been a lot of hype revolving
around ‘celebrities’ and some ‘bloggers’ as well as other social media
influencers in Cameroon especially within the Anglophone community. I have
witnessed with awe and bewilderment the accusations, counter accusations and
insults that have been raining hail stones against the persons of some ‘bloggers’,
‘celebrities’ and social media actors. I must say I am so uneasy with such an
atmosphere. I ask myself how and why should insults keep pouring back and forth
when we yet to experience the boom other African countries are already enjoying
within their urban culture industry and community. Is this because some of us
think that we have already made it? Is it because we believe that we owe no respect
to each other? Or is it because we believe we are already on a certain pedestal
and should look down on others? These and more are the questions that keep
lingering and hovering across my mind and I don’t seem to be able to find
answers to yet.
Any curious brain must have asked why from the very
introduction of this write up I have continuously placed the words celebrity
and blogger in inverted commas. Of course, the reason for this is simple. I hold
as an opinion and or believe that we in 237 and especially the Anglophone
social media community is yet to comprehend the full extent and meaning of
these terms. To this regard, we all have fallen for the cheap conception that
one is better and above the other. On the contrary, we must go back to the
basics and muster the courage to accept that we are still at the budding stages
of making an influence in the sphere of entertainment, fame, power, money that
can create a remarkable impact on the Cameroon internet user and those of
Africa. To this, I add without any fear of contradiction that we are still so
far behind to even aspire to bring any recognizable impact in the world at
large with regards to this domain.
According to https://en.oxforddictionaries.com
, a blogger is “a person who regularly writes material for a blog.” As
simple as this definition may sound, there is a lot of underlying meaning
couched in the few words that make of the definition of the term. To regularly provide content on a blog does
not simple mean just writing anything you sure will agree with me yeah! Of course,
any material provided on any social media platform under the guise of being a
blogger must be well researched, written in simple and clear language. With this,
I ask myself if we all do take out the time to research our write ups before
posting anywhere. I also ask if those who think they are bloggers have a weblog
where they share content on a regular basis. The answers to these questions are
sweeping and a great disappointment for
me.
The
answers I get after asking these questions are so disappointing because I have
come to the realization that most people claiming to be content developers can’t
tell exactly on which weblog of Social Media Page one can find their articles. Unfortunately,
even celebrities, musicians, actors and others think they can both be celebrities
and weblog content developers as the same time. Amalgamating these two at the
same time to me becomes an attempt to spread your eggs in many baskets
forgetting that you might lose grip all those baskets at a go. This is my
humble opinion though and anyone is welcomed to challenge it as they may
please.
After seeing what a blogger is
and what he or she does, it’s but obvious that we grapple a bit with what or
who celebrities are. Both https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/celebrity
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity
agree and converge on the common ground that a celebrity is someone associated
with fame and fortune in occupations like sport and entertainment for which
they receive recognition from the public and especially social media. More interstingly,
Wikipedia goes deeper into the definition of who and what a celebrity is by
stating succinctly that: “Celebrity refers
to the fame and public attention accorded by the mass media to
individuals or groups or animals, but is usually applied to the persons or groups
of people…themselves who receive such a status of fame and attention. Celebrity
status is often associated with wealth (commonly
referred to as fame and fortune), while fame often provides
opportunities to earn revenue. Successful careers in sports and entertainment are
commonly associated with celebrity status,[1][2] while political
leaders often become celebrities. People may also become
celebrities due to media attention on their lifestyle, wealth, or controversial
actions, or for their connection to a famous person.”
Wiki’s elaborate definition and
analysis if I may term it so leaves me wondering how many Anglophone Cameroonians
resident in the country outside the likes of Mr. Leo, Jovi, Stanley, Daphne etc
have actually attained the status of ‘celebrity’ as explored by Wiki. Well, this
article IS NOT AN ATTEMPT TO DOWNPLAY THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF ANYONE ESPECIALLY
THOSE WHO BELIEVE THEY HAVE MADE IT IN THE INDUSTRY. I know for a fact that
there are a couple of social influencers who have made it especially in the
fortune part of it and yet they are humble enough not to make a hell lot of
noise about it or go berserk with insults on bloggers because they have a
sweating bank account. All the same, everyone should act as they please. At the
same time we should recognize that we are still budding and need each other to
climb that ladder of success.
To surmise on the two categories of
social influencers as intimated in the title of this write up, I am confident
that if bloggers, I mean the real bloggers are bent on making it in the domain,
they must first start by actually providing captivating and nourishing well
researched content to their readers. This is so because by the time you
undertake writing well researched articles, I bet you won’t have time to connect
yourselves any such issues as word fights, beefs, and or inter-insult
challenges as is the case within the social media community nowadays. We as
bloggers must not confuse ourselves with social media enthusiasts who are out
there for the fun and gist. This category of social media goers will write
anything without being afraid of what comes next because they don’t care. Our focus
should be on the content we provide and its ability to sooth the expectations
of our readers.
Furthermore, to our ‘celebrities’, we
should understand our place within the social media atmosphere and the
entertainment industry. Contend yourselves with providing your audience and
fans with catchy entertainment: music, movies, stunning photos from sexy models,
better dress designs, and what have you in terms of talents to have to
showcase. You must or should be in mind that as you provide such entertainment,
it is the duty and job of social media content developers like bloggers to analyze
and do write ups in that regard. Bear in mind that whatever entertainment you
develop and release to the public is subject to diverse forms of criticism and
appreciation. Some of this criticism will bring forth positive responses and
vibes or negative responses and negative vibes. You MUST be ready for both when
your content goes live. (NB: WORKING ON
AN ARTICLE ON THE VARIOUS FORMS OF CRITICISM ‘COS IT WILL APPEAR MANY CONTENT
DEVELOPERS SEEM NOT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT SHOULD BE HANDLED)
To bring this seemingly long write up
to a close, I must make a few submissions accruing from the above substantiated
points. Firstly, as bloggers and celebrities or upcoming celebrities and
aspiring content developers, we should bear in mind that we must be humble
enough to accept that we both are all branches to the young tree of Anglophone
Cameroon Showbiz Industry that has just started to crawl and will soon take its
first steps as we all pray. This said, we therefore should accept that we need
each other whether or not we accept the fact. Bloggers need celebrities to
provide content for them to develop while celebrities need people to talk about
what they do. I do not certainly believe that pioneer African bloggers like
Linda Ikeji started off by inciting strife with artists and all. I also do not
think that the now very famous Naija celebrities in the film and music industry
began to succeed because they engineered beefs among themselves or between themselves
and online content developers.
I have just recently started blogging
because of the passion I have for it. I am a scholar, writer and researcher so
it’s but obvious for me to gravitate towards blogging. Just like me, I advise
that no one should fall in the misguided conception propagated by online
articles that preach how easy or simple blogging is for it is far deeper than
those articles actually make it appear. If
there is one advice I have for aspiring bloggers, it will be what I have
learned as a lesson and did so only when I had delved into the blogging full
swing. Here it goes, please become a blogger by passion and not for any other
reason except you want to quit after a few weeks: your priority should be
content and let the fortune and fame (I mean the money and recognition) come as
a surprise to you. To Be continue...
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