Some years ago, social media was just for fun. People use it to post pictures, chat with friends, share jokes, keep in touch, and also used it to find a long-time friend, I remember a time when I used Facebook to search for one of my friends we attended the same primary school together, she left when we were little because the parents got transferred from our city so they had to relocate and it was not a social media era. That was it. But now, it’s no longer just for fun. These days, social media is like a business. People are making real money from the things they post online.
Everything that has a good side must surely have a bad side, I would love to share my opinion about the two sides
The Good Side of monetizing social media
There’s nothing wrong with making money from something you enjoy doing. Some people post videos, write blogs, dance, cook, or teach things online and they get paid for it. That’s not a bad thing at all.
One of my mentors on Hive once advised me to share my cooking videos on YouTube so that it would generate money for me, I love to cook, and people who know me on Hive can testify to that, having something that could generate extra income online is never a bad idea, after all, we all use the internet for fun without gaining anything from it.
Also, many people are now using social media as their full-time job. They don’t need to wear office clothes or work 9 to 5. Just their phone and internet are enough. For some, it’s the only way they can feed their families. There are also people using social media to help others. Some teach business tips, mental health advice, or give motivation. Some help raise money for sick people or support small businesses. So yes, social media has helped a lot of people live better lives.
Monetizing social media has created jobs that didn’t exist before. Think about content creators, influencers, digital marketers, brand ambassadors, skit makers, vloggers, YouTubers, and the like. Many of these people would be unemployed if not for the opportunities they found online.
The Bad Side of Monetizing Social Media
As more people realized that views, likes, and shares could bring in money, things started to change. The internet became noisy, competitive, and honestly, very fake. The hunger for money has pushed many people and they have started doing anything just to go viral.
I have seen videos where content creators pranked other innocent people just to get views and also some people are online to criticize others all in the name of making money online, I watched a video where a guy pranked some old women, they were sitting in front of their house chatting and this young guy came pretended to be a ritualist and fake a call, those women were trying to run for their dear lives and one of the women fell heavily, I felt the pain within me, all in the name of making money online.
These attitudes are too much online, so many people are living their lives privately but all these pranksters brought their faces online through pranks and the rest, people are now committing atrocities and hiding under the umbrella of being a prankster, children who should be in school are online making videos and making mockery of their teachers.
Monetizing social media is never a bad thing. The real problem is how far people are willing to go just to make money. Some people now act like if they don’t trend or make money online, they’ve failed in life. That thinking is very shallow. Not everyone is meant to be a content creator. Not everyone will go viral.
I think monetizing social media is a good thing but only when it’s done the right way. It has helped a lot of people, especially in my country where jobs are hard to find. It gives people hope and income. Let’s create content that is real and helpful and stop doing crazy things just to trend.
This is my response to this episode of the hive learners community prompt of #hl-w160e1 which the topic is tagged MONETIZING SOCIAL MEDIA
