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THE arrival of social media platforms has created a new breed of celebrities all over the world.
It has brought opportunities and, in some cases, opened avenues for the stars to become not only famous, around the globe, but also very rich.
Take, for instance, Ngwana Sesi.
He is popularly known as Skomota and, from being a virtually unknown fellow last year, he is one of the biggest stars in South Africa today.
Today, social media platforms are flooded with pictures and videos of him partying and rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names on South Africa’s social scene.
Until August last year, Skomota was largely unknown outside his home town.
Then, he won R3 million after gambling on Betway and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Skomota of today wears designer clothes and lives the life of the rich and famous, thanks to the power and opportunities provided by social media.
Skomota is not the only one who has struck it rich when it comes to social media.
Mihlali Ndamase, a social media influencer, even found a spot on the global Instagram rich list.
The list, which was released by UK-based media company Hopper HQ, showed that Ndamase took the 135th spot in the world, charging about R25 000 for every Instagram post.
We have seen that social media also changes the lives of our own social media celebrities like Mai TT and Madam Boss.
However, what concerns us is the way that a number of our stars, who should be benefiting a lot on social media, appear to have lost their way before they have struck it rich like their colleagues in South Africa.
It appears our social media stars quickly let the fame get into their heads and, in the process, they forget that this is now an industry and respect from the fans is very important, just like in any other entertainment genre.
Maybe, this is what explains why the majority of our social media stars have not struck it as rich as we expected.
We only need to look at the madness surrounding Facebook celebrity, Evangelica Sandie, last weekend to see why many of our social media stars have lost their way.
At the weekend, Sandie stripped naked at Harare Central Police Station after she was arrested for harassing her ex-lover online.
Sandie, whose real name is Raviro Munodawafa, trended last week after she posted explicit content of pictures and chats between her and her married lover, known as Sasha.
This forced Sasha to file a police report for cyber bullying.
Sandie was arrested and, somehow, decided to take her drama to Harare Central Police Station.
As Sandie’s detention forms were being processed, she removed her skirt, tights and underwear and slept on her back as she exposed herself to the police and members of the public.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter
