Being a creator of digital content can be such a challenge, I’ve found. We are definitely living in a digital world, and Digital Immigrants sometimes lack the self assuredness that Digital Natives possess in content creation. (Digital Immigrants…persons from the stone age…like me….Digital Natives…our kids born with tech. (gold) spoons in their mouths). There are folks I know who still exist in that home phone world: they don’t do social media, and if they do, it is very limited and private, and they will be the quickest to reprimand you if they see something coming from you looking remotely off the beaten path. Television for me is almost obsolete these days, since I’ve delved deeper into the digital world, mind you, if you are not careful you become this consumer of content to the point of obesity. I read somewhere that all things should be done in moderation, and this is no different. There are some wild things being posted daily on YouTube or Facebook live, and individuals now have the ability to create their own stardom with something as simple as a smartphone and good internet connection. We live vicariously through the folks that have very candid discussions about all kinds of things, did I say very candid? What is important to note however, is that these same very candid folks, have the ability to command income in their sleep, based largely on the level of candidness they deliver to their audience. I have the uncanny ability to spot the money makers within seconds; because who has time to give more than seconds when browsing content these days anyway? I have seen ones that try really hard and I feel sorry for them, because you know that they won’t survive. It is really a job, though some take it for a hobby; a job in acting, writing, speaking, creating and producing consumable content. One thing you definitely cannot be is shy, and worse, camera shy. I know that unless you break out of your shell and decide to “shell dung di place” (I am Jamaican can you tell), the interest even from your most loyal followers soon wither away like yesterdays unattended roses. When putting out content, it is of utmost importance that one weighs the consequences of posts, as online content can be detrimental to your professional relationships depending on who your clients are. It is a very rare thing to find industries without professional standards governing them, and even if you become wildly famous in the entertainment industry, content that you have created, can come back to haunt you, if not now, later, and can be a deterrent to possibilities when you are researched. It is only a stroke of luck for someone to align themselves with you and/or your brand professionally without thoroughly running your background; it’s really like embarking on a marriage, the two become one. So as exciting as it may be to put out content with a title like “ONLY THREE FOR ME” I would think THRICE, and don’t watch the fact that others do it so why not me, because as my grandparents (God bless the Digital Immigrants that they were) used to tell us kids all the time growing up in that picturesque countryside in St. Mary Parish Jamaica, W.I., “puss and dogs don’t have the same luck.” I am cognizant however that Digital Natives especially are breaking all the rules and rewriting the script, so this school of thought, might very well be coming from a stuffy old Digital Immigrant. Nuff love, NAW
