Nacho García knows how to make humor in and out of social networks. Although he confesses to be “lazy” when it comes to using them to promote his work, he recognizes that thanks to them he has achieved professional opportunities. Comedian and stand-up comedian, he also collaborates in the TV show “La Roca”, which airs on Sundays on La Sexta. We talked to him about social networks, the Internet… and life in general.
Nacho, how have the Internet and social networks changed our lives?
I don’t think they haven’t changed that much. In the end we relate to other people, we meet new people and we continue to work, only now we do it using the cell phone.
The tool has changed, but people still want the same thing. This has sounded really deep, but the truth is that everything has changed a lot, now you don’t even put down the phone to take a nap.
How do they benefit the work of communicators?
We have no culture of being educated in writing
Continuously people who are starting out and with a lot of talent make themselves known through social networks and that opens doors for them in other media. I would not say that it is easier to get there because there are many people and it seems that everyone becomes “known” in some area. What can be said is that everything has become much more democratized. The people I see doing well in networks are because they have talent and they work hard.
They have also brought negative consequences… what would be for you the main ‘evils’ of social networks?
For me there are two problems:
1. Everything has become more precarious. Now it seems that people’s time is worth less and we have normalized asking someone to do jobs for nothing or next to nothing. It’s a fucking disgrace.
2. Certain comments from people. It can’t be that there are so many adult people in the world talking trash. Things we wouldn’t say in public we say in writing in an Instagram post. We don’t have a culture of being polite in writing.
In what ways do you employ social media?
I use them quite badly, I think. I post stories mostly when I have time and something makes me laugh, but then when I have to announce my performances or that I’m in a program I’m lazier and I always do it late and badly.
Which ones do you use the most?
Instagram and Twitter (I don’t want to say X). I have abandoned Facebook.
Do you think it’s possible to practice humor on them or have they become more like fields full of hate and tension?
It is possible and a lot of people do it. Although it is also true that if someone doesn’t like a joke they take it personally. In person and sober you would never go and tell an artist that you don’t like their work, but for some reason on the internet there are people who feel the need to tell you that they don’t like you. Luckily and although it may not seem like it they are in the minority.
Do they help you to spread your work, have they allowed you to achieve collaborations or projects that maybe you didn’t think of?
Very much so. There are a lot of things I do that if it weren’t for social networks would not get anywhere.
Can social networks help attract an audience? How do you collaborators use them in “The Rock”? Do you have any kind of guidelines?
They help bring audience only when the program connects with people who are on social networks. Otherwise, no matter how much you bring to a program someone with a lot of followers in social networks, if they don’t come to do what they are known for in social networks, they are not going to connect.
The only guideline we have at The Rock is to be brave and say what we think. Which is terrible because I get every intrusive thought in my head….
Should social audience be measured, should it be taken more into account?
It can be measured and it is important but where there is the real audience and know how many people have the TV on watching a program that the rest is removed.
In addition, there is a very important percentage of the population (the older ones) that do not use social networks so actively but they do consume a lot of television. Television is not only about creating viral moments, it is also about accompanying and we have to make television without forgetting about them.
What feedback do you usually receive from viewers?
Ugh, wonderful. People are always polite and say very nice things to you. If they recognize you from television they say it out loud but if they recognize you from social networks they say it quietly, as if it were a secret, I love that.
Can you tell us a funny story that has happened to you in the networks?
A cat tried to denounce me, I think it was a Chinese cat. He sent me an email saying that I had used a video of him to make a joke and he wanted $2,000. The email was written by the owner of the cat but he said he was his legal representative and that he was speaking on behalf of the cat. So it was the cat that wanted to report me. A WONDER.
