What I feel.

I'm not looking for a fight.

I decided to write this post because I realised I have so much to say about the whole saga happening right now. You can say that it's none of my business cause my name wasn't mentioned in xx's post this time (phew!) but I do know a few things that could probably clear your doubts or answer your questions. No, they're not insider secrets, I don't have any statistics whatsoever. This post is solely based on my opinion and how I feel about being a Gushcloud influencer after all that has happened. 

First of all, I woke yesterday afternoon with over a hundred notifications from the Gushcloud group chat. My friends who aren't affiliated to the social media industry in anyway also dropped me numerous text and links to xx's latest blog entry. That's the irritating bit, receiving news from people  outside of the industry (Not that my friends are irritating, the fact that even outsiders know about shit going on before I'm aware, that sucks). So apparently xx spent a year gathering information about Gushcloud, financial reports and influencer stats. At first, I was stunned. Then I got angry and after thinking for a while more, I started having doubts.

Before we get to that, I wanna comment on how hilarious it is to watch how onlookers are making this drama their personal problem. I have haters leaving rude comments on my posts, and when confronted, they get all defensive. It's odd because neither of the GC influencers are as angry as they are. We're just stunned, a little lost but totally chill.

Thank you to those who stood up for me, I truly appreciate that. I didn't want to entertaining any comments at first and yes, I deleted several that sounded out of point and totally stupid. But after a while, there were a couple of proper questions and I decided to answer them. While doing so, I finally figured out my thoughts and probably cleared my own doubts.



Inflation of influencer's statistics

Let me just start of with what I think about the inflation of blogger's stats, brought followers, views etc okay? I don't know if you're aware but I dropped about 5k followers on Instagram a few days ago during the "Instagram Purge". Not a lot but still an amount hard to ignore. And no, I know what you're thinking. I didn't buy them.

Allow me to refresh your memory how what happened between SGgag and I. That happened because I wrongly accused them of buying followers on twitter. They really had fake accounts following them but I guess they weren't aware cause they probably didn't buy the followers. Someone else did. Perhaps that happened to me and a couple of other bloggers too. We don't know who so kindly spend their cash on fake followers for us and we will never know their intentions but that's about it.

I don't really care that much about bloggers increasing their stats by buying followers as much as xx does. But when it comes into the context of Gushcloud lying about their bloggers stats, that becomes a little tricky. I have mix feelings about that.

We'll never know if the reports xx presented were real or not (okay, maybe they are lah.) but until GC speaks up, we shouldn't just choose to believe blindly. But if GC really did that, I'll be utterly disappointed. If this is true as with all the other allegations, I will not want any affiliations to such a company. But of course, nothing is for sure yet.



About Gushcloud finding sponsors for the new office

Yes, we were asked if we could do a shoutout for the sponsors which I wasn't too happy about at first. It's true, we don't get to keep the goodies so I thought it wasn't really worth it to post a shoutout for free? But then again, it's not as if the office isn't open for any influencers to hang out at, do work at or even take a nap at. I'm at the office almost everyday doing my work or just chilling at with other influencers while waiting for Fai to knock off from work. (Yes, he works at Gushcloud! I can't believe people aren't aware of that.)

So maybe a blog post for the sponsors is too much but ONE Instagram post/shoutout wouldn't hurt right? Without Gushcloud, I wouldn't be able to attain all the deals I've gotten so far, a simple gesture like that isn't too much to ask. Also, they didn't force us to post what. Everyone always have a choice to post or not.



Forced contract? What? What is going on?

I totally don't get this point and I couldn't care less. What's this forcing influencers to sign contract thing? All I know is everyone signed to GC have already or are going through contract reviews. I have yet to sign my new contract with GC so I don't know what the new terms are. But apparently, those who've already signed seems pleased with how transparent the terms are. So that's good right? I can't comment much on this.



What I feel about Xiaxue.

I used to be a frequent viewer of her Guide To Life series (I still watch clicknetwork shows -especially tried and tested. Shu An's reactions are hilarious and she's so so so sweet in real life). Anyway, I used to like how bold xx is, I respect her strong command of English, but I hate it when she uses her influence to bring harm to others. Once again, I do not hate xx. I just don't agree with some of her actions and choices.

I think if you have such a strong presence on social media or any industry for that matter of fact, shouldn't you put it to better use? Perhaps encourage the nation to help the poor and those in need? Or motivate young girls to chase their dreams etc? But there she is constantly bringing others down. And for what purpose? Seriously, does seeing others hurt make you feel anymore satisfied about yourself? Does it bring you more exposure? More fame? More views or hits for your blog?

Everyone in this industry loves attention, when shit like that happens, people jump on the bandwagon and contribute more shit (Sorry, I'll be using that word a lot in this post) cause they just want to be a part of it. This is proven time and time again by some radio DJs (notice how I mentioned DJs instead of just DJ?) and Youtube personalities. How is the issue any business of yours? Why are you always poking your nose into it?

I get it, maybe you're supporting the "cause" and you've always been against bloggers and have been waiting for someone to speak up etc. but please keep in mind that you're an artiste, a personality, the public recognise you as a celebrity, watch what you say man.



What I feel about Gushcloud.

Every company makes mistakes. Gushcloud is barely even three years old, they're a new startup hence there are bound to be mistakes made. So much has happened over the last three years for GC. They moved office a total of three times, a lot of accounting had to be made for that. The face of their employees kept changing as well. I remember a time when there were so many new faces, it didn't feel like "home" anymore. With that said, accounts have been passed on from one person to another person. Without a doubt that led to miscommunications etc.

But through it all, they have always strived to do what's best for everyone. The goal wasn't to "beat" NN, it was very clear from the start that Gushcloud wanted to be different from NN. They strongly emphasised time and time again that they want to be a network consisting of directors, scriptwriters etc. Anything to do with media online basically. But NN (or rather, Xiaxue) thinks that GC's competing with them solely based on blogging.

So if you think about it carefully, GC is a completely different type of company altogether. It was never to be a better company but a different one.



Thoughts on masked ads.

This point that Xiaxue pointed out is something that I've been thinking about for quite some time too. When I first started out, I did a couple of "masked ads" thinking that it's alright. But after a while I felt unhappy because I had to constantly lie my way through the post just to get paid. That was a time blogging suddenly became more like a job because it's tiring to rave about a product you feel nothing for. So I made it clear to the GC team that from then on, I'll only take on deals that I truly feel for.

Like Sunsilk, I enjoy their products and I share the same vision as the brand. Or like Nivea, I'm still using the Mud facial cleanser up till today (Yes, I buy them with my own money). Or like Vaseline, I've been using their moisturisers since secondary school. I just hate writing reviews for products I don't care about.

And yes, I frown upon other bloggers in GC who does that. It's just wrong and against my moral. But then again, you can't blame them because who doesn't like to earn easy money?

I just want to make it clear that when an ad is masked, it's always upon client's request. GC has almost no say in that, the blogger has the final call to accept the deal or not.

Since we're on this topic, I want to point out that I am not against ANY fellow gushcloud bloggers even if they choose to mask their ads. I may be unhappy with their choice but who am I to say anything and it's their choice anyway.

With that said, I want you all to know that Yilin is an amazing girl. She's the sweetest, most genuine person I've ever met and she's definitely not in this for fame. Joanna, Yilin and I planned to volunteer at Willing Hearts on Giving Tuesday but Joanna and I couldn't make it in end but that didn't stop Yilin from going down all by herself. She was driven by the passion to just help the needy and that's something hard to find in people these days. Please stop hating on her when all you know about her is her name.

Likewise with the rest of the influencers mentioned in xx's post. If you don't know them personally, don't be too quick to judge. You wouldn't want others to do that to you, so don't do it to others.



In conclusion...

- I don't agree with some choices GC make but ultimately they made me who I am today. They believe in me when I first started out. I only had 2k followers on Instagram then but they pushed me and made me one of the Maybelline ambassadors.

- I support GC on this case because I am against cyber bullying. But that doesn't mean I am brushing away allegations made by Xiaxue. I am giving GC the support they need because I genuinely care for several of their employees which are relatively newbies in the company.

- Everyone's telling me that supporting GC will affect my credibility as a blogger. Hmm.. I've already said whatever I needed to say in this post. I've mentioned how I choose my deals wisely, whether you choose to believe me or not is up to you.

- I can't say much about the statistics Xiaxue pulled out. I hate numbers anyway. At the moment, there isn't any news from GC's end so we'll have to wait.

- The GC influencers are just as stunned as you are. Please stop spamming us with hate comments. We don't know anything about the inflation of stats or financial reports. Influencers have no say in the way the company operates. We don't have any shares.

- Repost, retweet or like xx's posts only because you truly hate Guchcloud (which is quite impossible. I mean what have GC done to you? Do you even know how the industry works?). Basically, don't hate on GC just because you're a loyal fan of xx.

- I'm not supporting xx, neither am I blindly supporting GC. Like I said, I support GC only for the people in it. I'm not being passive aggressive either. I'm just confused until GC speaks up.

- So who am I defending then? The influencers, you can myself also uh. Please understand that we are in a very difficult position. Put yourself in this scenario-- You heard rumours about your friend from his/her rival, but because he/she is your friend, you choose to stay a while more and wait for answers. I can tell you honestly, the influencers (not all) have doubts in GC, but at the same time, we can't fully trust xx because she's been trying to bring us all down time and time again. 



Lastly, I wanna say, if you're Gushcloud influencer, and if you're not happy with the company, don't use this as an opportunity to vent your frustrations. Whatever happened, should be solved internally. Don't take it out in public ya!:)



Signing off with a quote from Mockingjay
"Don't forget who the real enemy is.."

(It's just a quote ah! Don't find fault with this also.)