Since March 2014, The Shade Room has gone from being a celebrity gossip page to a media powerhouse. It now covers breaking news topics, pop culture, politics and more on multiple media platforms.
According to The Fast Company, The Shade Room has become one of Instagram’s top accounts.
“It receives more than 1.5 billion impressions and reaches about 32 million people per week, and it has grown at a rate of five million or more followers per year,” The Fast Company reported.
While the outlet continuously grows, there has been some speculation regarding the type of posts it makes and the context of them, leaving followers and non-followers to wonder if the people behind it care about the effects their posts have on people, specifically the Black community.
Brianna Strickland, a second-year pre-nursing student at FAMU, said that The Shade Room does create posts that can be uplifting on occasion, but the majority of its posts are negative.
“I think that The Shade Room does post some uplifting content occasionally. But a lot of times they make posts that incite bullying, gossip and generally unproductive conversations,” Strickland said. “This annoys me because I feel like they make these posts just to get all this negative engagement. It puts a lot of ignorance in our community on display.”
Niya Bassette, a second-year business administration student, said she does not like The Shade Room’s content.
“I don’t really like the stuff they post because a lot of times when they do (post), somebody becomes the butt of a joke, and it is mostly at a Black woman’s expense,” Bassette said.
Although The Shade Room posts a mix of positive and negative content, the negative content seems to be the main reason people have been moving away from the outlet and its content.
Bassette said that the outlet does a mix of positive and negative content, but the negative content is the reason she strays away from the site.
“I think that keeping people updated with the news is the way they uplift them (the Black community),” Bassette said. “The way they negatively impact the Black community is of course opening up discussions where Black women are made fun of.”
Bassette said that she does not visit The Shade Room’s page to avoid seeing the negative aspects of their social media.
“I don’t visit their page at all,” Bassette said. “I have them blocked because I feel like I am better off not even seeing the discourse.”
Strickland said having a big page of information, such as The Shade Room can be positive but their posts breed negativity.
“I think a positive effect is having a big page where everyone can access the current topics of the Black entertainment industry,” Strickland said. “There are positive stories where support is shown in the comments. However, there are posts that breed negativity. I think the posts that have more liberal/progressive ideals tend to get more hate and this shines a negative light on the community.”
While The Shade Room can be negative and gossipy, its relevancy still seems intact.
Bassette said that the size is still relevant due to its continuous growth.
“I do feel like they are still relevant because over the years their page has grown tremendously and I don’t think it is going to go away anytime soon,” Bassette said.
Strickland said The Shade Room is still relevant because its posts are still shared and viewed constantly.
“I think The Shade Room is still relevant because people still view and share the posts all the time,” Strickland said. “But, I don’t think it’s taken as seriously as a gossip source as much as it was during quarantine.”