SHOOT: Quick answer: Lance Armstrong (ja, the guy with a bike) has over 1 million people following him on Twitter. Let's check that...1,037,233. Now if you can claim to have a personal audience of that size I'm pretty sure you can attract quite a bit of advertising (aka make extra money, get the unconverted to listen to you). There are plenty of non-celebrities with audiences numbering in the thousands or tens-of thousands. Experts in their field for example. If you have as few as 10 000 unique users you can make a lot of money online. Social Media quickly provides an opportunity for beggars to become choosers. And if you snooze you lose.
As for me...I'm also living proof. It's entirely thanks to social media (and some talent, strategic thinking and common sense) that I have the job that I have, and that I have reached the point where I have an article due out in Men's Health in a few days. I'm not a trained journalist. The web empowered my writing.
Juliette Powell, author of recently published 33 Million People in the Room* certainly believes so, I'm not convinced.
Powell in her book makes you believe that it is easy to make money out of social media, she gives examples, such as Gary Vaynerchuk, who worked for his parents' small mom-and-pop wine shop in New Jersey. He decided he could attract more people to the shop by starting a wine club, when it got too big he started a vlog (http://winelibrary.com/) because he was playing to his strengths, reckons Powell. As Vaynerchuk put it: "I can't write... I know myself... I knew it was time for me because in the visual world, I could win!" His fans began watching his weekly recommendations online and purchased wine through his site.
I am yet to meet or hear of a South African who has used social media to make money, influence people or change their career. If you know of any Saffers who have, share your story below...
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