A field that has grown exponentially within the culture section of journalism is the one that exclusively refers to subjects of “Geek” and “Pop” cultures, disseminated by the public through games, cinema, television and literature. Super Heroes, Science Fiction, Fantasy and other themes make up this area.
According to Marcelo Augusto, owner of the Instagram page @geekansado, this field is very disputed: “For people who just started, it’s difficult to get credibility and an audience”. That is because there are lots of people on the internet, talking about everything in the geek universe.
Growing audience
As it is considered by many to be something exclusively for the young audience, with very little intellectual margin to be appreciated by a more adult public, articles on any subject of this type do not go viral outside the specific niches on social networks.
To find a place among all these people, Marcelo says that you need to stand out, and prove that you’re not just another content creator. “You need to build loyalty with your followers, make them stay with you every day, which is easy”, adds.
However, like many things in our society, geek culture has a very restricted access, especially for women. But that’s changing more and more, with female content creators, streamers and game contestants.
Marcelo created his account to talk about books and enter the “bookstagram” world. Most of his followers are women of all ages, but essentially young adults. “I think this belief that the geek audience is made up of anti-social kids, raised in their parents’ basements, is in the past. Nowadays, it’s ‘cool’ to be a geek”, says the influencer.
Need for investment and acceptance
Even with these changes, there is still prejudice by large companies, which is contradictory since they could earn lots of money with this industry. Marcelo argues that they need to start valuing the geek public more, because the amount of money spent by them everyday in books, magazines and other products is huge. If money was invested in it, companies could have a great profit.
Whoever likes something, defends it in tooth and nail. With the fans of a celebrity, movie, game or anything else, it couldn’t be different. But you always have to take it easy, because if internet users’ common sense doesn’t prevail (and that happens most of the time), an avalanche of cursing comes left and right. For Marcelo, “people have too much freedom today to be mean to each other, which is worrying”.
As we need the world to change, we cannot be prejudiced or contemptuous of any kind of culture or taste. Everyone wants to have their own corner on television, radio or the internet to enjoy the type of content they want. This diffusion has to remain and continue to grow.
Space in TV and other problems
In the last few years, everyone has been getting a little bit involved in this universe. Whether it’s with a series you like, an anime or a book. The bubbles are mixing and the big media needs to pay attention to this, otherwise they will be left behind. Television broadcasters, for example, had to hurry and adapt themselves to the streaming platforms era.
In the early 2000s, a cable TV channel called “Animax” came along, which unfortunately did not last long due to contract problems and ended up closing in a year. Television as it was twenty years ago is a very outdated idea. Now, people like to have control over the content they consume and don’t want to depend on a schedule to be able to see what they want.
Another big problem that every content creator faces (including journalists) is the dreaded “Copyright”. Several cases on the Internet have already proven that if you don’t follow these rules, the headache and damage you can have is quite big. “There are rules and limits that we need to follow, otherwise we get “strike” in the videos, photos, etc”, concludes Marcelo.
Despite all these restrictions, judgements and lack of investments, there is still a lot of freedom to produce content in any way you want.
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The article above was edited by Milena Casaca.
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