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Pearl Thusi and AKA’s Twitter beef isn’t news! Or is it?

Cape Town – If you had gone to bed early on Friday night and woke up late on Saturday morning you would be none the wiser of the Twitter drama that went down.

While you were enjoying your sweet sleep a bitter battle of Twitter beef between Pearl Thusi and AKA was unfolding on the social media network.

Soon others started chiming in and quickly GIFs, memes and stories on websites started popping up like mushrooms.

Pearl herself early on Saturday morning on radio said: “These days if you sneeze, it is news”.

But this morning it was all gone. The tweets deleted, the apologies posted and the celebrity beef cemented.

But why do celebrity Twitter battles fascinate us so much and why does it make headlines these days?

To understand that we first have to look at what exactly happened last night.

What happened:

It started when AKA posted a photo of his new car on Instagram. Stating that even though he’s feeling a bit sick, the car sure did make him feel much better.

(A few weeks ago local hip-hop star and AKA-nemesis, Cassper Nyovest posted an Instagram photo of his new car that made headlines.)

Pearl, who has a history of beef with AKA, took to Twitter and wrote: “So cars are part of pissing contests now. How exciting.”

AKA figured the tweet was directed at him and hit back with a rude: “Shut up wena…We dealt with you eons ago.”

(AKA is now dating Bonang who also doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Pearl.)

Pearl replied: “We??? Kiernan. Grow up.”

She later added:  “Why are you so sure this tweet is about you? Touched much?”

But sometimes in the heat of the moment we tweet something we regret or get involved in an online battle we shouldn’t. So both local celebs quickly tried to clean up the mess that had by now become a trending conversation on Twitter.

Pearl said: “Urgh. I stooped to his level. Lord please forgive me. I’m actually sorry everyone. I’m stopping.”

While AKA tweeted: “I’m sorry to all the fans if I acted out on Twitter today. Sometimes people get the best of you and bring you down to their level.”

But why does it make headlines?

Pearl is right in pointing out that an exchange of words between her and AKA is hardly headline material.

But when two public figures take shots at each other on social media it starts a conversation. The conversation quickly spreads and soon everyone has something to add.

This is when the news sites pick up the buzz and rush to get a juicy (mind the pun) story up. Throw in a controversial headline and the clicks come rolling in.

Why are the clicks important? It brings in the money. The more clicks the higher your ranking. Without the clicks there will be no jobs. Without jobs the bills can’t get paid.

But is journalism all about money these days? Of course not! The crumbs of Twitter battle stories pave the way so more serious articles can have the opportunity to rise despite not bringing in the hits.

It’s a fine balance. We need the crumbs to make the bread. We need the TMZ style quickies to give you more meaningful pieces.

Should we really write about AKA and Pearls little Twitter exchange? The final answer is: Doomed if you do. Doomed if you don’t.

                         
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