You were involved in a messy drama that trended for several days, you were not even the party that came out looking better. In fact you did not look good at all. Instead of you to take a step back and admit your fuck up, you make posts after posts bragging about how you have just added 1000 new followers to your already tens of thousands. You are literally bragging that 1000 people followed you to see more of whatever mess you plan to involve yourself in future. And you think that is something that someone in their right senses would do? And the funny thing is that these people who follow you for the sake of getting entertained will never contribute anything valuable to your brand. NEVER.
We all remember what happened in a notorious group on Facebook. The owner spent over a year building a group where all manners of disgusting opinions were put on display. Misogyny, homophobia, bigotry; you name it. She amassed a huge number of members within a short period of time. In her mind, the figures were all that mattered. Then those figures came back to haunt her. She woke up one day and realized that her group was filled with many senseless people. She singled out one ethnic group, but the reality was quite different: most of her members, irrespective of their ethnicity were senseless. Tell me, what type of human being believes that it's right to treat another human being like an inferior or a waste to be discarded based on that person's sex, gender, sexual orientation or religion?
We are all capable of amassing followers. The formula is very simple: controversy + a free space. People love controversy. Give them something shocking to talk about, and they will follow you. People also love spaces where they can be the vilest and the most horrible as they can be. That's why you can find the worst type of person listed as a public figure.
Over the years, I have seen people lose the very purpose that drove them to start posting on Facebook to embrace the temporality of internet fame. There was a time when they truly wanted to educate, create awareness, and create a safe place for their friends and followers. Today, they have thrown it all away for the almighty number that appears when you search for their names.
1. They use private inbox conversations to create posts. When the conversation is not "sweet" enough, they twist it, or just lie about crucial parts. Which is practically forgery;
2. They deliberately choose to stick to an erroneous and unpopular opinion just to trend and get people talking and making posts to counter it;
3. They wear a garment of false humility, lie to people that they are like them, when they know that they are not. They know that the people who look up to them will follow them based on the false idea that they can understand what the followers are going through and that one day the followers can be like them just because once in a while, these public figures post relatable content;
4. They insert themselves into every trending topic, even when they have nothing meaningful or impactful to contribute. They just want their name to be mentioned;
5. They are proudly inconsistent. What they stand for today contradicts what they stood for yesterday. But who cares? It will get people talking.
I have about 4,800 followers. I could have more, but guess what? Those more are probably in my block list. The people that follow you do not necessarily like you. Even people who add you as friends do not necessarily like you. Many times they just want to be the first to witness the drama. They don't want to miss out on anything. They want to be able to say, "I was there when it happened".
If you know that you are a public figure, as I refuse to call you a Facebook celebrity, and that you are guilty of any of these offences, please sit down and ask yourself these questions:
1. Am I OK with being notorious?
2. Can I build and sustain a long lasting brand with my kind of reputation?
3. Can I read through my comment section without feeling sick?
Respect trumps everything to me. The times my blogger friend shares my posts on her wall and her followers come out to attack me, it's never about the content of my posts. They cannot contest it. I do my due diligence. I write to be as objective as possible. That is where my respectability lies. In spite of what those people say, nobody is going to deny me the appellative of an intelligent woman. I will still be favoured when it comes down to selecting representation.
Tell me, when it's time to represent, what will you be called to represent? This is the question.
If you believe that what you represent is respectable, then by all means carry on. Otherwise, you need to do a detour and start purging that list of those who only want you for your bad reputation.
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