Exclusive: SA Couple in Funny Viral Dance Video Somizi Shared School Peeps on Social Media Etiquette

• Somizi Mhlongo shared a clip that had the creators feeling some type of way, so Briefly News got the down-low
• The South African couple, who go by ‘Candy and the King’, left a strong comment on the post, protecting themselves as content creators and even got the post taken down
• Speaking to the couple, Briefly News got to understand the deeper reasoning behind their response and shared their story

Somizi Mhlongo recently shared a clip of a spunky young South African couple, who go by ‘Candy and the King’, busting some intentionally hilarious moves on their social media platforms. After seeing their reaction, Briefly News decided to get in contact with the pair.

Candy and the King left a comment on Somizi’s post that most were not expecting. Expressing their feels, the couple made it clear that not tagging them was just not cool.

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“We’re stoked you find our content funny. Loads of our East African fans enjoyed the video too. It would have been great to collab and get you into other countries like Tanzania, Kenya and Southeast Asia. A tag would have been nice and actually necessary, since tagging original creators is all part of creators’ code,” @candy_and_the_king commented.

Speaking to the social media power couple, Briefly News dove into what evoked this kind of response. Knowing the ins and outs of social media etiquette, Candy and the King schooled us:

“It's not about recognition. It's about using someone else's content for personal gain. Brands do this all the time—take content that would usually cost them 1 000s of dollars to produce and use it to promote themselves or help them 'go viral'. There is an industry standard that needs to be set.

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"Creators, just like photographers/videographers, need to be paid for their work. For far too long businesses have been taking advantage of creators and influencers. Businesses have made far too much money off of creators and feel that it is okay not to pay.

"We want influencers and creators to understand their worth and value. No one should work for free. Now, when it comes to re-sharing content, it's polite to ask and always tag/@ mention them. It's about giving credit where credit is due.”

It was after one of their loyal followers tagged them in the post that Candy and the King saw Somizi had used their clip and that is when they laid down the law. They also reported the post to Instagram and got it taken down swiftly.

A little bit about the social media power couple

Candy and the King are a South African couple who got bitten by the travel bug and use social media to share their journey.

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“We are Candy and Jonty King, a young married South African couple who travel and laugh a lot," as they put it.

Aside from travelling, laughing and creating awesome content, they also run a creative agency called King Code (@kingcodestudio), "where we offer social media management, website development, photography and videography, but we teach other creators (and/or people who would like to become creators/influencers) how to go about it”.

Spreading the power of social media, the lit couple “host social media retreats in Kenya”. They are also planning on launching an ebook on social media soon, and will not stop there.

Where it all started for Candy and the King

It all started with one clip of the King eating noodles, told Candy. “I think the first TikTok video we made was in Laos. Jonty was eating noodles and we wanted to show off the other side of travel. That's what our TikTok is all about. Instagram is for those perfect shots and our TikTok is to showcase food, culture, language and trends from unique places.”

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Dealing with the haters

According to this pair, haters are the ‘ish, actually. Candy claims that their “first hate comment” had them buzzing. “We realise that we had 'made it'. So, don't be afraid of that 1 nasty comment, because not everyone gets hated on—only the people that are actually making an impact.”

Looking up to other social media influencers and content creators motivated them to go big. One account Candy and the King admire is Marie and Jake (@mariefeandjakesnow). "I (Candy) met them in Bali and they were so incredibly encouraging. Marie actually told me that I had the perfect personality for TikTok and should start. So I did.”

Social media is a powerful tool, but like anything that holds a great deal of power, it needs to be respected.

Source: Briefly News