Social media is a numbers game of followers, likes, engagement and duration, but for journalist Uptin Saiidi, content creation in that space is more of a thinking person’s game.
“It’s very easy to fall into this trap — an addiction of views, virality, revenue and money. It can really drive you crazy,” says Saiidi, a former CNBC.com journalist who covered tech in Asia.
“I try to have less than 10% of my energy think about that and 90% of my energy just having fun telling the story I want to tell, producing, crafting, writing, scripting, interviewing and things like that.”
That amount of energy has helped Saiidi connect with viewers. His recent TikTok video about honesty in Singapore is notching 29.3 million views and counting. It shows Uptin leave his Macbook Pro at a Starbucks and then walk out of the coffee shop for an hour. Watch the video to see if his laptop gets stolen.
Two years ago, Saiidi left CNBC to start his own digital content creation company and establish himself as a hybrid journalist-entrepreneur. He started with zero followers that has now grown to two million across YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Saiidi says most of his followers are young millennials and Gen Zers with his largest regions being the U.S., U.K. and Middle East. He crisscrosses the world with a selfie stick and iPhone asking questions like, “Why does a Big Mac in Lebanon cost