Online Reporter
Mathew Masinge
THE IShowSpeed whirlwind tour to this country provided us with a rare taste of the Champions League of social media stars.
It was chaotic, it was beautiful and it had all the ingredients of what really social media stardom is all about. When word spread that IShowSpeed, the American YouTuber, was bringing his Speed Does Africa Tour to Zimbabwe, our content creators panicked—they didn’t plan.
In Harare, content creators folded their hands with no clue as to how to handle the 20-year-old internet sensation and, instead of summoning their creative DNA.
Thumps up for Mudiwa B Jani and Chillspot Records for becoming the only studio to record IShowSpeed outside his native country.
Mudiwa B Jani, a Speed lookalike whose following is now growing across all his social media platforms, seized the opportunity to match Speed’s energy and the two created magic in Harare.
Speed and Mudiwa are now live barking at the camera, racing tourists, challenging locals to random events in Ethiopia.
Many Zimbabwean creators reacted only after Speed had left the country.
A comedy skit or song by Frets Donzvo dropped parodying Speed’s reactions to local content creators and socialites who threw themselves in his way. The subtle humour song has been trending locally and all of a sudden other creators feel they missed an opportunity.
The Zimbabwean internet space learned something important – you don’t beat global fame with noise. You beat it with identity.
IShowSpeed likes football, plays the game and is a good fan and friend of the game’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Throughout his tour of Africa, he has performed wearing the jerseys of the countries’ national teams with Ronaldo’s number 7 at the back of the shirts. Which then makes it easy for us to use football to try and provide a rough ranking of where our social media stars stand in a league in which the likes of IShowSpeed represents Champions League material.
We have compiled a list of Zimbabwean content creators with the biggest following on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for ranking on that football pyramid.
Using our football pyramid, none of our content creators deserve a place in the Premier League.
None of them also deserve a place in Division One. Instead, we have a couple, Mr and Mrs Phoenix, which gets a place in our Division Two League. The couple, which is based in the UK, share humorous skits and playful moments with their children.
The couple has a staggering 12 914 764 followers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Their content showcases relatable love stories and parenting experiences.
Then, we have ten content creators in Division Three, a league where you find the likes of Mai TT and Madam Boss.
Madam Boss has an army of 4 064 922 followers while Mai TT has 3 306 337 followers.
This is the same Division Two League where you also find Victor Sibusiso Ndlovu, who has a combined army of 6 097 155 followers, Tytie with 5 442 397 followers and Tarie Martin, with 4 706 958 followers.
Kim and Tanaka, with 3 730 983 followers, Mama Vee, with 3 656 765 followers, The Musekaz, with 3 285 474 followers, Amen Easy with 3 138 586 followers and the Nyathi Family, with 2 388 891 followers, complete the Division Two League.
Then, you have rest – among our top 50 – finding themselves in the Area Zones and the Social Leagues.
This is where you find the likes of Dr Kokakora (2 317 417 followers), Comic Elder (2 298 315 followers), Superman Funny (2 258 520 followers), Natasha Nyemba (1 980 649 followers), Magic Wacho/Axecure weMagic (1 939 119 followers), Tobias WepaGutu (1 737 903 followers) and Regina ZW Comedy (1 706 642 followers).
Mathew Masinge