Content is King:Long live Gossip the Colourful Content of our life!

These days any business discussion or debate on any platform just centers around one topic and that is “Content is King”. So what is this content which everybody is talking about? Well, any data which we consume whether it is information(news) or entertainment (television soaps) are all content in some form or the other. We are surrounded by platforms serving different kinds of content – Newspapers for news, TV for entertainment, WhatsApp for gossips and so on.

OTT players have proved that Content is King

One of the major changes in television viewing happened in India when Netflix came on the Indian horizon. Tired of the saas-bahu soaps on television Indians were quick to switch to this vast library of historical, infotainment, spiritual and last but not least the entertainment serials from across the globe. The key to success behind Netflix is that content is available on “Wherever” (Watch it at any place with Wi-Fi access), “Whenever” (Watch it at any time of the day) and “Whatever” (Watch the content of your choice).

Netflix is not the only player though now. There are several players each vying for your attention – Hotstar, Amazon Prime, SonyLIV, ZEE5, Voot and many more. All these players have now been branded as OTT players – Over the Top.

Anyway, this story is not about content that we consume but about the content that we create. Yes, I am talking about the Gossips which we create and which is one that keeps us alive and makes our life so colourful. Content is King especially if it is the Gossip that we create in our daily life. So how do we create gossip?

The Origin of Gossip

Nobody knows how gossip originated but it has a similarity to the Big Bang theory.  As per Physicists, the big bang theory is the leading explanation of how the universe was formed. The Universe started with a small singularity, and then inflated over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos that we know today.

Gossip originates with a Big mouth within a social circle. There are times when this gossip sets a chain reaction and blows up like Big Bang leading to an ever-expanding cosmos of rumor-mongering. Social Media platforms like WhatsApp or Instagram act as catalyst adding fuel to the fire.

The 3 M’s of Ladies Gossip proving that Content is King

The Lady of the house creates genuine gossip which at times is alive for a couple of days or even for months. The three pillars on which the gossips originate are the 3M’s – Mom, Maids, and Mother-in-law.

Mother-in-law

Ever since the universe started, the gossip stories of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law started. The two personalities are like two hanging swords on a man’s head. He needs to tread carefully maintaining a balance between both. But the day the balance is lost, the day a lot of content gets created. It is based on this content that Ekta Kapoor started Balaji telefilms that changed the face of Indian soap television. I am talking about the Saas-Bahu serials.

Mom

The Indian telecom sector has greatly improved the services of staying in touch with mom daily. Calling mom 4-5 times a week with each call lasting for 10-15 minutes is a sure shot recipe for creating gossip. Daily update on family happenings is like your daily bread. The cream or the topping (read gossip)comes when the discussions get diverted to family relatives or neighborhood.

Maid

This is the Achilles heel of any lady of the house. The maid and maid-related problems are never-ending. One day the maid is on an unannounced leave while the next day she doesn’t rinse the utensils properly after cleaning them. Gossip around maids is not so much interesting but maids are the carrier virus for gossip. They carry the gossip of one house to the other and soon the entire neighbourhood comes to know why a wife has walked out on her husband just 3 blocks away. The Lady of the house just has to press the refresh button every day and voila she comes to know the minutest of the details of her neighbors. Late night parties in the colony, Who fought with whom and Who is seeing who are the content you can’t ignore.

Creating interesting gossip around the 3 F’s are the daughters

Daughters tend to create content that is a real King when it comes to authentic gossip. Their gossip world is based on the 3 F’s – Fashion, Friends, and Fiancee.

Friends

Remember the famous tagline of the Airtel ad “Kyunki har ek friend zuroori hota hai”. In the world of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, the more friends you have the more likes you get. The more friends you have the more fuel you get for gossip. The meat for gossip comes from topics like how a friend dresses, who is going around with whom, comments from envious friends, who all have liked and who all have ignored the latest Instagram picture.

Fashion

Instagram has suddenly created a fashion diva in every family. Pictures are updated daily. If one has got a new dress, refreshed cosmetic supply, attended a party or a wedding, a school or a college reunion then the Instagram servers have to work double hard. The more compliments a picture gets, the more it becomes the target of envious friends leading to more gossips.

Fiancee

Once a fiancee enters a girl’s life, the time spent on phone calls increases. The more the round of phone calls the more updated is the fiancee on every family member.  Every round of update also comes with an additional round of gossip.

The Men’s gossip centered around 3 B’s makes interesting Content which is King

The three pillars of Men’s gossip centers around the 3 B’s – Boss, Business and Beauty.

Boss

Just like the center of the earth creates a gravitational pull and attracts everything towards it, similarly a Boss in an office attracts everything towards himself. The magnetic field around the boss has a positive and a negative side. If you carry the same aspirations as Boss you develop a positive field and will get repulsed by the Boss. But if you have not such great aspirations and are ready to become a “Yes” man then you have a negative field. The Boss, in that case, will get attracted to you and you will enjoy all the privileges in life, like better increments, timely promotions, etc.

The people with positive fields are the ones who create gossip about Boss which is very colourful and which spreads like fire amongst the entire office. Gossips are centered on nepotism, favoritism, weird behavior, unpredictable nature, mood swings, etc.

Business

Business is the place of work where a man works. It’s a place where a person spends more time than his home. He is surrounded by faithful friends on one hand and selfish peers on the other hand. In the organisational hierarchy, he has a boss at the top and a team below.

When he acts as a mean boss the gossips as mentioned above get circulated on him. When he gets promoted with a fat increment, he becomes the center of attraction of office gossip amongst colleagues. On the other hand when instead of him, his peer gets promoted then he is a lead person creating office gossip. Gossips are centered on an undeserving candidate, Boss’s yes man, opportunist, etc.

Beauty

This is the non-working aspect of a man around which he creates as well as love to hear gossips. Often a beauty in the office is the center of attraction of most men on the floor. If by any chance she just focuses or speaks to a handful of male colleagues, then these colleagues become the center of gossip.

WhatsApp groups are created amongst friends with similar tastes. The names of such WhatsApp group are inspired by James Bond movies like – “The Spy who loved me”, “For Your eyes only”, “From Russia with love”. Such WhatsApp groups are the center of adult gossip which needs no explanation.

Gossip is something that runs like blood in every human body and is vital for a colourful life. The problem comes when the blood gets infected by a foreign body. The only remedy is to detoxify. Cheers and Goodbye! My wife is calling. She has just heard some new gossip.

Read more such interesting stories on my blog by clicking on the link below:

Car-o-bar: The unofficial way of creating a bond with people

The Blame Game – Who wins: Kids or Parents

WhatsApp social media site: What’s life without WhatsApp