Content creators create controversy, not content: Mani

Pakistani actor and comedian Salman Shaikh, better known as Mani, thinks that ‘content creators’ today are more interested in creating ‘controversy’.

Taking to Instagram, Mani addressed a lengthy note to today’s content creators, calling them out for their lack of creativity and interest in creating good content, and instead, chasing controversy for “2 minute or 30-second fame”.

Recalling his own time as one of the OG content creators on private TV channels, Mani shared, “In early 2000 when I joined the budding private tv channel industry, writers and hosts could only survive if they had good content, which they had to produce week after week,” adding that if the content got stale, the anchor had to go.

He went on to compare that time to today, saying, “In this era of the 10-minute attention span, vlog, TikTok, Snack Attack, etc, content has disappeared and its ugly cousin *controversy* has taken over.”

The 45-year-old pioneer of roadshows on Pakistani TV then took punny digs at the word ‘content creator’, pointing out that “they don’t create content, they create controversy.”

He added how some online celebs are willing to even jeopardize their own careers for short-lived viral fame. “Should we now bury intelligence, intellect, writing skill, wit, pens, paper, keyboards, and laptops and load our typing index fingers with 30 seconds of crap and shoot it from our mouths?” he questioned.