Monetisation mindset seems to have turned social media platforms red-hot as the business of content creation is fast becoming the new gold mine of this era, with many people, young and elderly, turning content creators and social media entrepreneurs overnight.
This booming new business has bamboozled its way into the society, opening many doors, creating many opportunities; and without scruples, unplugging ethics, breaking boundaries of morality, decency, and decorum; flaunting mindset-shift that is revolutionising the populace, creating new understanding of terms like: “monetise”, “convert” “leverage” among others. These old words, placed in brand new perspectives, are fast becoming household terminologies, so much so that many are beginning to “convert”, and “monetise” everything around them into fast cash, by “leveraging” every opportunity around them, including converting their social media friends and groups into clients to make money out of them; “monetising” various aspects of relationship and work, including annual and maternity leave, “converting” relationships with children, spouses and others into “business” by “leveraging” the opportunities of the youth’s new perspectives and bold ideas deriving from their knowledge of technology.
In an attempt to become a sought after content creator, to gain more followers, likes and clicks, and to meet up with the expected weekly content for conversion into cash, some content creators have been stepping on people’s toes, exposing secrets, shared in secluded places, and faking content in the name of skit to earn clicks and money. Many content creators have incurred more enemies than clients or followers, and they are often unperturbed because their income does not come directly from clients in some cases, but from clicks which eventually translate into cash for them through service providers/social media platforms/hosts.
These monetisation enthusiasts by way of content creation often arrogate themselves the titles of “entrepreneurs”, or “business owners”; they speak passionately about their “business” but a big gap can be noticed between the “traditional entrepreneur” and the “digital content creator”, “content-preneus”, or “contempt-creators”.
An entrepreneur creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards and proceeds. He/she plays a key role in any economy, using skills and initiative to anticipate needs and bring new ideas into the market. He/she cares about the quality and value of the product he/she is bringing to people because that is his/her signature and stands him/her out from the crowd.
Content creation is the process of identifying a new topic (organic) that you want to write and talk about, therefore a content creator obviously, is one who creates entertaining or educational materials to be published or aired on any medium or channel. So, work needs to be done, research has to be employed. In the publishing, communication and art industries, content is defined as all the information and experiences such as writing, speech, or other various arts, expressed through a medium to communicate value to the end user.
Razzmatazz on the other hand typifies noise-making in seemingly corporate ways, showy and exciting activities designed to attract and impress.
Whatever their job description be it entrepreneurship, content creation, or sheer razzmatazz, strong work ethics is a driving force for the traditional entrepreneur to be credible, aspire to the top, propelled by professionalism, respectfulness, dependability, dedication, determination, accountability, and humility. These are attributes of an entrepreneur.
Monetisation mindset seems to be pointing out some factors that we may have ignored or omitted. Today’s “content-preneur” needs to understand that skills have to be acquired, work needs to be done and all contents scrutinised before they get to the end user, to ensure communicating value to the end user.
Monetising relationships and the environment strips people of organic, social connections, genuine feelings, values, humanity and trust. People hew down trees to build houses and skyscrapers for commercial purposes, and turn around to cry over climate change; fill up rivers and oceans to create new towns and cities, and cry over global warming and cities submerged in water, collapse of houses, bridges, and homes. We cannot eat our cakes and have them; converting relationships and things around us that matter into money-making opportunities can have significant impacts, both positive and negative, on mental health, and overall well-being.
Monetisation in itself is not a bad concept, but there are pros and cons of applying it in this new mindset. Some of the pros of money-making efforts are financial gains, increased income and financial stability, expanded professional networks leading to more opportunities and collaborations while developing skills such as negotiation, communication and entrepreneurship, and can become motivation for maintaining and strengthening relationships.
On the contrary, money-making craze comes with its baggage of cons, as family and friends constantly seek financial gains from relationships, the joy of companionship dries up because everyone becomes an object of money-making and this can lead to loss of authenticity as relationships become transactional, losing genuine emotional connections. Trust may be eroded as friends and family feel exploited or used, leading to breakdown of organic love, burnouts, stress, exhaustion, reduced personal fulfilment because every interaction is seen through a financial lens.
Monetisation mindset in relationships and natural environments has an impact on many aspects of life and society. It can increase stress, fear of losing relationships or not achieving financial goals can worsen anxiety and depression thereby increasing the rate of social isolation cases, deflate family bonds, reduce happiness due to deterioration in relationships, lack of genuine connections and overall life satisfaction.
It is important that people respect the value of relationships; observe their rest and leisure instead of monetising them, as lack of recreational activities lead to decreased productivity. Workers’ annual leave/vacation should be channelled to its rightful use for rejuvenation, family bonding, improved efficiency and productivity. The time-worn “Working Leave” common in some workplaces can be fatal. Striking a balance in our relationships with people and our natural environment is crucial to our overall well-being as money cannot buy everything.
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