Shawn McKenzie, the founder of the popular social media blogs Spiritual Word and InstaGod Ministries, has made an imprint on the Black community by pairing culture and Christianity. What started as a small platform years ago has led to a substantial following of people looking for the latest celebrity news, relationship questions, inspirational quotes, and entertaining memes.
McKenzie shares how his platform maintains the balance of information and entertainment.
How is Spiritual Word contributing to Black culture?
We are adding so much when it comes to Black culture. … Our platform is around 60 percent Black women. Of course, it doesn’t tell you it’s Black women, but if you look at the comments all you see are Black women. We highlight the hashtag Black Girl magic, we highlight Black excellence, we highlight a lot of Black women and men [business owners] every single day. Some of them are promotional, some of them we find organically … trending on Facebook and Twitter, or we may come across it on the explore page. Some of their businesses have grown since we have highlighted them. We have shown them, love, we have shown them appreciation especially when it comes to the [music or entertainment] industry. You don’t see a lot of platforms highlighting the women, Black women specifically, behind the scenes.
Is there anything you want to see change when it comes to blog culture?
What I can say from experience and meeting people personally, is when they come to my platform they say, “Wow, I love your platform it’s unique and different, and a lot of people aren’t doing what you’re doing.” One of the things they can be encouraged by is they get a lot of information, but it also makes them laugh. I like to laugh, I like quotes, I like humor and sometimes dark humor. I’m just being myself and that’s not going to change. What I love about it, is it’s a great balance. There’s no mess on there and we aren’t gossiping about each other. You don’t see that on that platform. We can go against the grain, but we go against it tastefully. What I would like to see more of with some other platforms is being more helpful in the community and giving back.
