How have you been able to grow your followership on line?
There is no real template or reason for why people follow you. I think people just follow what they want to see, either you are inspiring them, or they are following you because you crack them up. In my own case, I am not a comedian.
Do I? People don’t know that I love to laugh a lot. I want to believe it is because people find my page inspiring. I don’t believe that with social media you should give out so much. I don’t think I over expose my personal life. I just try to do more about my work really. Before social media, a lot of people had this major disconnect with a lot of us, especially me, because I don’t really go out much. So people often misinterpret that as meaning I am snobbish or I don’t like to mix with people. Social Media has helped me bridge that gap. Now I can talk with people, I can communicate with people, even though I am not good at it yet.
With the few times that I come online, I try to make it very impactful. So, I might just be there maybe once a month, but I like to make them feel my impact, like look I am here! Stay like 1 hour or 2 hours and spend time with my people. I think that is one of the reasons people follow me. May be because they trust what I put up there.
Are there aspects of social media you don’t like?
Yes, I don’t promote negativity. To what end? That is not what I promote. That is not what I am about. That is why I don’t join other people to attack my colleagues. If I see that you attack a colleague of mine, I silently block you.
You don’t even have to attack me, because I don’t even want such a person following me. Seriously I am like that. I haven’t said this before. This is the first time I am saying it and I think it is important that I say it, I silently block people who attack my colleagues. I have blocked a lot of people. If you don’t attack Omotola but you attack a colleague of mine, I will block you, because I don’t think it is right. I can take criticisms. You can criticize people but don’t be demeaning, insultive, because you really cannot insult me if you see me one on one anyway. So, why do it on the internet. It is not fair.
So if you come on my instagram page and you say something I don’t like, if it is not demeaning, or out rightly insultive, I will ignore it. But if it is insultive, I will block you.
It is as simple as that. And my kids are a no go area. You cannot say anything stupid about my kids because I am a mother and my 1st job is to protect my kids. If you say anything nasty about my kids. You are blocked. Its just as simple as that. Don’t bring negativity around me.
Do you also get to reward your fans?
I am sure you must have heard about the group Sexy Nation. So my fan movement is very large and I think it is one of the most intense fan movement actually in Nigeria and the world now because there are some countries I go to and they will say I am part of O Sexy Nation, I am an O Sexy nationale. I have very intense and very passionate fan base and I had met a lot of them one-on-one. Like most times when I am doing events, most of them come. They often get themselves together.
They have a group on WhatsApp. They all meet and talk about things. They are called O Sexy Nation and they are Osexy nationales. I love that. They are a support group for me. They will naturally tell me the truth. Even though they support you most times, and they are your first support group, sometimes when you go out of line, they find out that they have a responsibility to let you know first. They will not say it in such a way that it will hurt your feelings.
They will say it to you as genuinely as possible. So you find out that this is your first landing pad, when it comes to just hearing things from the outside world, which is not your personal friend or family, which is still fan but in a nice way, in a more positive way, so you bounce things off them. And they will tell you what to do. We are all not perfect. We are learning everyday.
So do I reward them? I don’t like to demean people. That is why I say in interviews that I am more of an activist then a humanitarian. People don’t get it. I feel like humanitarianism actually teaches you to beg, to wait on somebody. Your hands are always up, waiting for somebody to always give to you. And I believe more in empowering people I believe in people understanding what their strength is, what their power is, what their rights are because at the end of the day everybody can survive if there is a conducive environment for them to thrive. The reason why Africa is always at the bottom and we always seem to always need aid and we are always begging is because our leaders really are repressing us and you do not create a conducive environment for people to dignify themselves to thrive and survive. I am determined to fight this injustice and give people the dignity to work for themselves and earn something.
I don’t want to give my fans the impression that I am the big one that always has to give to you. Noo! I try to encourage them and make them understand that look, you can be anything you want to be. I want to see you as an equal, no like someone I am dropping things down at.
On face book, you have over 2.6 million followership. How do you keep up. Do you manage you online platform yourself, or do you have people who monitor your profile for you? Do you have plans to do more like to become a motivational speaker?
Absolutely. I am a speaker, I am a Motivational Speaker. I speak a lot. Infact that is how I have made my money in the last 3 years, I have not been acting you know. I have been speaking around the whole world, at very impressive places you know, at places I never dreamt that I will go.
Like where and where?
At the World Economic Forum, I have also spoken at the World Innovative Summit on Education (WISE). In Nigeria here I have spoken at so many events. Whao! I have spoken at Lusaka, Zambia with the President . Like you asked me. Am I the one who writes those posts ? I write all those things myself. That is why I won’t lie. I don’t go on social media, all the time, apart from the fact that my schedule is very busy. I don’t also want to get to the point where I will feel like I am not giving myself. And I can’t give myself everyday. I will be unrealistic if I say I could. That is why I make it obvious to my fans that I can’t do this everyday but when I do, I want to do it and be sure that is me, and be rest assured that I am giving you my heart.
So, when I come there and give something you will know its definitely from me. Nobody has any pass word to my social media. I am very, very, paranoid about being misrepresented. Its one of the biggest paranoia I have in my life.
From the beginning of my career that is one of the things I have always said to the press. If you hear any rumour about me, please call me, or do your homework well. If you write something about me that is not true, I will come after you with everything that I have.
I think the most painful part in life is if you have a path in life you want to follow and you sacrifice so much to go on that path and then it just keeps falling apart because people just keep putting different things on you. Its a futile journey. I always say to the press. If I do it please over exagerate. But if I don’t do it, please, do not even say I did anything close to that.
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