The Nation Newspaper

Tag: social media

  • Hooked up by facebook – Tale of marriages through social media

    Hooked up by facebook – Tale of marriages through social media

    Relationship experts urge caution

    THE advent of social media sites such as Facebook and some others have brought a new dimension to the world of romance, love and relationships in the past few years. New friendships and burgeoning relationships are being conducted on these sites with varying results.

    For the unlucky ones, it’s tales of sorrow, disappointment and anguish. Stories abound of how some ladies fall victims of fraud, rape and other forms of violence through dates they met via the internet. In some tragic cases, death occurs, like that of the late Cynthia Osokogu, a 24-year-old post-graduate student who was murdered by friends she reportedly met on Facebook.

    In the midst of all these sordid, depressing tales, however, are heart-warming stories of couples who met on Facebook and began relationships that blossomed into love and marriage.

    From Facebook reunion to the altar

    Joseph Jibueze, a journalist, first met his wife of a few months nearly 10 years ago. She was a young, shy teenager in secondary school, while he was an undergraduate.

    “We knew ourselves when I was in school in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State. That was around 2003. We were in the same Christian congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in PH. Though I found her attractive, we were like family friends and there was nothing between us. Besides, she was very young then, still in secondary school,” he disclosed.

    After his graduation, he stated that he lost contact with her until they were reunited via Facebook. Said he: “When I left Port-Harcourt after graduation, I did not see her again for several years. But early this year, I was going through the Facebook page of my brother-in-law when I saw an attractive face on his wall. The face looked familiar but I was not sure who she was.” It turned out to be his old friend and church member in Port-Harcourt, the young school girl, Esther that he used to admire. She was now grown up, had graduated and was even working in PH.

    “I confirmed she was the same girl I used to know and something in me told me she was the one I had been waiting for,” Joseph added. He promptly sent her a request on Facebook but he did not hear from her for some days. “She did not immediately accept and I was a bit scared that she could be involved with someone else. Days passed before she accepted and we started talking. We spoke on phone too. We discovered we were really attracted to each other. She was not in a serious relationship then; so I moved in quickly,” he said.

    In early October last year, the lovebirds got married in a well attended ceremony at the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Port-Harcourt.

     

    The reluctant matchmaker

    Another couple who Facebook played a big role in their love story is James and Loretta. They got married about three years ago after meeting on Facebook and becoming friends. As James, 32, a marketing sales representative told The Nation: “I first saw my wife on my friend’s wall. We were chatting one day when I saw the picture of this lady. I became interested in her but when I told my friend about my interest, he discouraged me. He said she was already engaged and I should not bother about her,” he said. Later, he found out it was not true, it was just his friend’s way of protecting the girl, who was his cousin. “You see, my friend used to consider me a ‘player’ back then, he thought I was only after her for ‘fun and games’. But I was able to convince him about my sincerity towards the girl and he grudgingly gave me her contact.”

    Another obstacle cropped up after he called Loretta. As he stated: “When I contacted Loretta and told her I liked her, she was not too keen on going out with me. I think she just split up with her boyfriend then and she wanted time to recover. She was not interested in going into another relationship so soon after the break-up with her ex. But I didn’t give up. I kept calling her and I think I pestered her so much that she finally accepted me!”

    They courted for a year, then in 2010, they tied the knot. “My friend who gave me Loretta’s number did not believe I would marry her right up to the day of our wedding. He still believed I was not serious. He was my best man at the wedding and he gave a toast, telling the guests the story of how I met my wife on Facebook. We now have a daughter who is a year old.”

     

    Student romance

    Ronke Aremu (nee Ojo) first got connected to her husband via Facebook. She narrated her story to The Nation: “One of my flatemates, Tunde, posted a comment on Facebook (I can’t really remember vividly what the comment is about now ), but it was about him saying something about being depressed. Knowing he is a very lively person, I just replied his comment, ‘You of all people, why are you down?’.

    “My husband, Lekan who is his friend on Facebook, also commented on the post. My husband later told me that he was in the cyber cafe with one of his friends when he saw my comment on Tunde’s post and he was fascinated by my name-Ronke Ojo. He told his friend, ‘omo yi de fine o’ (‘This girl is beautiful’). He said throughout that day, my name was just ringing in his head.

    “He called Tunde and asked him about me. Tunde told him that I was his neighbour and he said he was interested in me and the guy said, ‘No, the girl is an SU!’ He sent a friend’s request which I did accept. He was sending me messages on Facebook, asking for my phone number. Tunde later came to talk to me on his behalf. He started calling me and later came down to my school, Ekiti State University in February, 2011 when I was about writing my final exams. We actually started talking in October. I told him that I was not interested and he left, saying he would come back after my exams. We were friends, we started talking on phone. We started dating officially in July 2011 and got married in November, 2013. I was convinced by his consistency.”

     

    From America with love

    The classy wedding of US-based engineer, Ikenna Nwaneri and Onome Edegware, on November 16, 2013, at Our Lady of Apostle’s Catholic Church, Kaduna, was the culmination of a romance that began on Facebook. It all started in January 2012 when they became Facebook friends. Through constant contact on the social media, love blossomed between the two. But there was an obstacle: distance. It was a long-distance relationship with the groom working in the US, while Onome was in London studying for a Masters degree.

    With time, they finally met and they felt an instant connection. “The connection was instant. We were friends and soul mates at the same time. It all just felt right,” Onome enthused.

    Ikenna proposed to her on a trip to Paris in 2012. As she disclosed: “He proposed to me in a most romantic way. It was Boxing Day in 2012 and our last night in Paris. We had dinner on the River Seine. I thought it was the moment but nothing happened. We left with two fortune cookies. We went to the Eiffel Tower and it was there I reached for my fortune cookie and broke it. The note inside read: “When you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. Onome baby, will you marry me?” With that, Ikenna went on his knees, attracting the attention of tourists nearby who began taking pictures of the happy couple.

    On their relationship, Ikenna had this to say: “Even with the rigours of a long distance relationship, we kept strong. That we were domiciled in different time zones did not deter us from our commitment. We were always in touch through the various social media.”

     

    Caution is the key

    To marriage experts, however, caution should be the key in such relationships connected by social media, especially Facebook. As Julie Ngozi Okeke of the Moms Club International said: “Facebook marriages must be done with great caution. As a matter of fact, I do not outrightly support it; there are issues involved in it that call for great caution. I know that there have been one of two case like that where one heard that a Facebook couple has emerged and you may even say that there has been one or so that has lasted one or two years.

    “But you see, the truth is that marriage goes beyond one or two years of living together or of being a couple. It is more than that. What happens after two years? Also it is not as if one of such marriages may not stand the test of time, there is a ‘but’ clause to it. Most of them do not work out in the long run. Most Facebook people are not real. Girls or the young men should therefore be cautious. Unfortunately too, in these climes, when things come over here, new meanings and new interpretations are always attached to usage. So the way we use Facebook here is also important and must be considered. Just as there are real people on Facebook, there are fake people too.”

    Also speaking on the issue, Dr. Leonard Okonkwo, stated: “Most Facebook marriages will not work because the people involved would not have got to know themselves. Most often, everybody who uses the social media of which Facebook is one, ensure that they come out there at their best. They do not show their weaknesses or shortcomings, they come showing their best. Thus, when you go into marriages based on what you have seen on Facebook, sooner or later, you may find out that it is not really so. The person you were dealing with was only showing you their best side.”

    Another relationship expert and youth counsellor, F. Diepreye, also cautions on relationships developed via social media. As he stated: “Facebook, just like other social media, is an avenue for communication with friends, colleagues as well as strangers, people you don’t know very well. Even those you know physically can sometimes act ‘funny’ and be unreliable and untrustworthy, much less the ones you just met via Facebook. So, people need to be careful when using these sites, especially when it comes to serious relationships and even marriage. Friendships can develop through Facebook but be wise.

    “Do not rush into marriage until after a period of courtship so both parties can get to know each other well. Marriage is a serious, life long commitment, not something you jump into just because you saw a pretty girl on Facebook. Most of the pictures have been photoshopped anyway, so the person might look different in real life from his photograph. The bottom line is, young people and the adults as well should exercise caution on these sites. They should not get married based on what they see on Facebook but the reality on the ground, the real world and not the Internet world which most times is a fake, unreal world where people pretend a lot and are not true to themselves.”

    Okeke supports this view, stating: “If you must contract marriage on Facebook at all, make sure that you know such people as real people. Even then, people you met and knew years ago and you suddenly meet again on Facebook may have changed in character and other ways. So a lot of caution is advised for people who hope to get married on Facebook. The use of social media should be done with caution.”

    Said Okonkwo on this: “The danger in Facebook marriages is also that Facebook is open to deception. It is actually a platform where people get duped. So it is not a platform to exhibit you in totality. Moreso, when you can only read but cannot hear on Facebook, you cannot get to know the person that you want to marry in totality. What I am saying is that love that leads to marriage should not be based on Facebook connection. But Facebook could be used as a starting point. When you meet each other, you could then ensure that you date properly, get to meet and know. Afterwards, you can let other things follow. I however, do not see how marriage contracted only via Facebook without an initial meeting, can work. If it works out, then it will be one or two cases, which so happened by chance. But generally, a larger percentage will crash or lead to disaster.”

    Diepreye on his part advises people generally on the use of social media, especially when it comes to friendship. “Sometimes I hear people boasting that they have such and such numbers of ‘friends’ on Facebook and I wonder, what do you need 2,000 friends for, especially when you don’t even know a majority of them and cannot vouch for them? Of what importance are they to you? I suggest you keep those you know physically and know their character. Don’t keep so many Facebook ‘friends’ just to prove that you are popular. Do they give award to those with many friends on these sites? No! So, people should be careful in acquiring too many strangers as ‘friends’ on Facebook to avoid being duped.”

  • ‘How Vir2o ‘ll redefine social media’

    ‘How Vir2o ‘ll redefine social media’

    CEO of East Coast Diversified Corporation, Kayode Aladesuyi, a US-based Nigerian, and founder of Vir2o, a new website giving a different meaning to the social media experience, loves challenges. Joe Agbro Jr., met him during the official launch of Vir2o in Lagos recently and he shares his story.

    The hall was one of expectancy as the event promised the launch of a new social media network. Hovering from one corner to the other, he quietly ensured everything was going smoothly for the press conference about to begin. He had reason to. He is Kayode Aladesuyi, the chairman of East Coast Diversified Corporation (ECDC) and founder of www.vir2o.com, the product the audience waited for.
    Call him a busy body and you won’t be wrong. In the span of his life, he had managed a restaurant, worked at construction sites, worked as an accountant, founded a telephone company, a recording studio, and three technology companies. But as he walked to the dais, spotting a branded fez cap with the vir2o logo, Aladesuyi was full of infectious energy, telling the press that Vir2o, his brand new baby, has come to bring ‘humanity to socialisation.’
    “Unlike when we were growing up when you would find a girlfriend in school or at sport or social event,” he said, “today, it all happens online. Everybody is meeting everybody online. For most women, it is a dangerous experience. You don’t know who is on the other line. You don’t know what he likes and what he doesn’t like. Vir2o solves that problem.”
    Vir2o also creates a platform to connect on a business level, allowing users and businesses to have live interaction with regards to products and services offered.
    At the launch in Lagos about three weeks Aladesuyi said he feels honoured to come back to the country after 32 years. Speaking on the motivation for vir2o, Aladesuyi said, “Facebook is great but it doesn’t take care of connectivity that you have in an extended family situation. It doesn’t actually add socialisation to social media. In the US, it is referred to as a poster board where people go online to post information.”
    So three years ago, he sounded his then 16-year old daughter on what she thought of Facebook. Her verdict according to him was that “Facebook is boring.” “The moment she told me that,” he said, “the light bells went off in my head.” Recognising an opportunity, Aladesuyi said, “I got my engineers and my creative team together and we started to study social media to understand what exactly is there about social media that is exciting to people.”
    And www.vir2o.com, a website that puts chat, photos, music, games, videos, and a marketplace, together on one platform, was birthed. While vir2o has some common features with facebook and google+, it distinguishes itself with nVite, a session sharing technology patented by Aladesuyi, which allows users to share media contents such as videos and photos with their friends or family in real-time. This enabled friends and family to for instance, watch a movie or go shopping together, despite differences in locations. Also on the website is facility for live chat, Vmovies, and VBroadcast, which enables streaming of live events, such as concerts and religious services.
    Speaking further, he said, “today, what I’ve been able to do is for someone on vir2o to be able to tell a friend and say join me, let’s watch a movie together, regardless of where that person is – whether you are in China or in Mexico.”
    And, the sharing experience which is due to nVite, a session sharing technology patented by Aladesuyi also enables connected people on the platform to shop together. “About 68% of relationships today are formed online,” Aladesuyi said, as he hopes that with vir2o, the word virtual become realer.
    Aladesuyi is also interested in getting “black people to code (computer programming)” and says Nigerian software developers now have a platform on which they can develop locally-relevant applications. “Even in the US, we are lacking when it comes to technical education,” he said. “You won’t find a single app developed by an African on facebook. It’s not because we can’t do it. It’s because we don’t have the platform.”
    But in a market swelling with a plethora of social media sites, what convinces him that Vir2o can fly, I ask. “Inspiration and business,” he swiftly replies. Being an African-American, a Nigerian in the field of technology by its very nature is challenging. I love to be challenged.
    So far, vir2o has about 20,000 users globally but it is poised for growth. To push this, Aladesuyi has set about one million dollars. And following its launch, users have an opportunity to win $5,000 by uploading a creative video on the website.
    Born on May 21, 1960 in Lagos, to Mr. and Mrs. Adedeji and Kikelomo Aladesuyi (nee Benson), Aladesuyi grew up on the Island and Mainland of Lagos at various times. In 1982, he went to the American University in Watford, England but transferred in 1983 to the US, bagging a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Alabama in 1986.
    Immediately upon graduation from college Mr. Aladesuyi’s interest to practice as an accountant was immediately dashed when a head hunter advised him to change his name if he wanted to secure interviews.”
    Aladesuyi didn’t adopt an English name and decided to be entrepreneurial. He paid a professor to teach him digital accounting. And with the knowledge of several accounting packages, the young Nigerian started Associated Management and Financial Services Group, his first business in the US, in March 1986. It was a bookkeeping and tax services for small businesses. He provided financial and accounting services to many businesses and individuals, representing companies such as Metropolitan Life, Prudential and New York Life insurance companies.
    Though, with an academic background and early career steeped in accounting and administration, Aladesuyi as CEO of ECDC runs three technology companies. How did it happen?
    “My transition (to technology),” he said, “began when accounting started to move from paper accounting to digital accounting.”
    And by the early 90’s when Atlanta was becoming a major music market, Aladesuyi created Loud Entertainment Group, a production studio, and Vision Records, an artist development company.
    And when the United States decided to break up AT&T’ and the Baby Bells’ monopoly in providing local phone services across the country, Aladesuyi took advantage of the opportunity and started Planet Link, the first African American telephone company in America in 1996. “I was like a child in candy store basically. So, to compete with the Baby Bell, I partnered with Dish network, which was major cable service provider in North America. I was able to compete by combining cable service and my own telephone service. I ran that business up until 2002. In 2002, the company was taken public.”
    Black Enterprise Magazine ran a story on him as one of few African Americans to run a publicly traded entity.
    In September of 2003, Mr. Aladesuyi resigned from PlanetLink Communication to start EarthSearch Communications. Doing business with Dish and researching on satellite, Aladesuyi found out that President Bill Clinton had signed a declaration allowing commercialisation of GPS technology. Studying GPS technology fascinated him. “To me, it was a technology that broke down all boundaries. ”
    In 2004, he set up Earthsearch Communications in Brazil where in conjunction with engineers to build his first technology product, AutoSearch GPS, a GPS tracking device.
    When FBI reports showed that more than $40 billion worth of goods were stolen each year while vehicles were on the highway in the US and even more in Europe and globally, Aladesuyi took it as a challenge, one which he solved by creating the first wireless communication protocol between GPS and RFID. This technology, which he owns the patent for has been transferred into many industries including security. And a local beneficiary is Halogen Security.
    In 2008, after 25 years of living abroad, he returned to Nigeria for the first time. He brought along with him a GPS navigation product called Roadnut. The concept of a navigation device was novel in Nigeria then. “We used a local company to get us the street map of Nigeria,” he said. But we quickly found out that it was not going to work. The roads were not properly numbered, there was not enough detail. But, just the idea was exciting.”
    But, there are still big plans in the offing as Aladesuyi said “he intends using vir2o to demonstrate to the world that Nigeria is a virile market. That Nigeria can be a catalyst to investors who want to invest in Nigeria. If vir2o can take on facebook, I can say vir2o took on facebook because Nigerians support vir2o. It is a powerful statement to make in the business circle in US. We are ceding Nigeria to the Chinese. It is something that concerns me.”
    Aladesuyi is married to Andrea Sousa, his second wife, who he met in Brazil in the course of expanding his business. He had earlier married Valerie Wells a native of Alabama that he met in college. Though, his works take him to India, China, Brazil, and other parts of the world, away from his wife and five children, whenever he can, he said he loves spending time with his family. “I also love to play golf too.”

  • Social media and brand building: The Chivita example

    Keen examination of the trend in marketing initiatives will easily reveal that social media is developing as an important avenue for companies to build brands. The ascendance of social media rests on three fundamental human relationship values namely the self-expression it engenders through product education, its ability to share information with friends and the attention it generates through word of mouth. More importantly, social media enables brands to connect with customers in a way never before possible with scale.

    For instance, Chi Limited, makers of Chivita Premium fruit juice, entered the market nearly three decades ago. During the period, the company worked hard to earn consumers’ loyalty and respect through its many flavours, promotions and campaigns. Along the way, Chivita became a household name. Nonetheless, the brand is set to grow bigger with its adoption of social media for brand building. Chivita Premium has a Facebook page that is growing daily and is full of action. The overwhelming response to the daily tips on Healthy & Natural Living by visitors to the page has resulted in over 70,000 clicks on the Like button within the short period of its introduction.

    In addition, thousands of visitors to the site engage in lively discussions on their daily experience with the brand.

    A brand’s equity depends on two things: the level of awareness it commands among consumers in its category and how positive the consumer is about what they know about the brand as perceived by its image.

    With comments like “Chivita Premium is the best and original juice in Nigeria” and “I love Chivita, my day is incomplete without a taste of the orange flavour” by some visitors to the page, it becomes easier to appreciate the premium value of the Chivita brand.

    Stanley Omeokwe, a follower of the Chivita Premium Page, had this to say about the brand: “I have tasted all the flavours in Chivita. The flavours are incomparable with the flavours in other juices. Thumbs up!!!” another follower of the page, Promise Ozioma, said “I cherish Chivita so much because it is so nourishing.” The page parades several one liners like “nice,” “I feel good drinking Chivita,” “my best juice,” or “I love my Chivita,” in addition to clicks on Like button on comments that cumulatively run into thousands.

    All the way through the Chivita Premium Facebook Page timeline, Chi Limited, educates consumers through the ‘Chivita’s go and do’ tips.

    Examples of such tips include: “Try to get as much physical activity as you can. Skip the elevator and take the stairs, walk to the supermarket instead of hunting for parking space” or “Exercise at least four days a week for about 30 minutes daly. If it’s all not possible at a go, break your workouts into smaller sessions.”

    Visitors to the page will also learn the health benefits of oranges from Chivita where it is disclosed that “oranges, like other citrus fruits, is an excellent source of vitamin C (provides 53.2 mg per 100 g, about 90 per cent of DRI); Vitamin C is a powerful natural antioxidant.

    Consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the blood.” Another Chivita’s go and do lesson says “Limit sugary and caffeinated beverages.”

    What makes apples so great is a question that is regularly asked because of the saying that ‘one apple a day keeps the doctor away.

    One of the entries on Chivita’s fruit facts provides the answer to the riddle. “The soluble fibre found in apples binds with fats in the intestine, which translates into lower cholesterol levels and a healthier you.”

    Chivita Premium contains no added sugar, no preservative and no added colours. Made of 100 percent pure juice, Chivita Premium comes with the goodness of health and natural taste. It is available in three sizes of 1 Litre (10 packs in a tray), 500ml (10 packs in a tray) and 250ml (24 packs in a tray). Chivita Premium Fruit juices are rear blend of the best of Nigerian and imported fruit juices. Interestingly, Chivita Premium Facebook Page also rewards visitors to the page through a game known as Chivita Friendometer. A follower of the page who decides to play the game automatically gets a discount on up to 5 Chivita Premium cartons. The more friends that a player has who also like the page and the more correct answers to questions about the friends, the more the chances of the players winning prizes like iPad 2 or Samsung chat phones.

    According to Managing Director of Chi Limited, Mr. Roy Deepanjan, “The need to inform consumers on the benefits of consuming 100 percent fruit juice as well as providing useful and life enhancing health tips necessitated our facebook page opening. We want to nurture long-term relationships with our consumers through the Chivita Premium Facebook Page in an engaging and mutually beneficial way.”

  • Curbing the excesses of social media

    Social media is the ‘new media’ that accelerate conversations in a more interactive way that makes communication more effective and worthwhile. It is an online media that takes communication beyond the limitations of the traditional media, which most often delivers content but doesn’t permit readers, or as the case may be, viewers or listeners, to participate in the formation or development of the content. Ron Jones’ definition of social media seems quite apt, that it is, “a category of online media where people are talking, participating, sharing, networking, and bookmarking online.” Currently, there is an array of social media networks in the world, ranging from social sharing sites such as YouTube, Twitter to LinkedIn and Facebook among others.

    Social media’s rise to prominence could be attributed to its ability to create the kind of fun that catches people’s attention. Equally, the opportunity it affords everyone to freely share ideas and disseminate information makes it popular among various kinds of people across the world. More so, social media has created an avenue where anyone, who so desires, can find friends, business contacts and become part of a community of people, who interact and share thoughts online. In short, social media offers an opportunity to be seen and be heard without any restriction, which the traditional media does not give.

    Social networking sites which started from Orkut, followed by Twitter and Facebook, have become the vogue across the world, especially among the youth because it makes communication easy, seamless and highly interactive. Just a few clicks and you can chat with your friends and family, sitting at a different corner of the globe. Facebook is, perhaps, the most popular social network in the world today. It is also one of the two most frequented websites in the entire internet. It routinely trades places with Google as the most visited web service, and by the company’s estimates, now has over 800 million active users. That’s more regular visitors than the entire internet had in 2004. As at June 2012, Facebook had over 955 million active users, more than half of them using it on mobile devices.

    The social media has numerous advantages, some of which have radically transformed our world. For one, it makes information dissemination faster and easier. It also provides unlimited platform for genuine business transactions, as it offers businessmen the opportunity to promote their goods and services for a global market. Indeed, the social media has made our world an interesting and exciting place.

    Being a global phenomenon, social media increasingly gets embraced in Nigeria by a variety of people on daily basis. The social media commonly used in Nigeria include Facebook, 2go, yahoo messenger, BBM, Netlog, Badoo, Eskimo, Twitter, Nimbuzz and WatSAPP amongst others. They all offer their users unrestricted access to chat with friends, relations and other acquaintances. However, like every of man’s invention, the social media, if not properly regulated, could be a source of unending trouble and frustration in an already troubled world, primarily due to abuse.

    Sometime ago, the Senate President, Senator David Mark, proposed that measures be put in place to check the negative tendencies of the social media in the country. His proposal was hinged on the seeming lack of control of the platform. On many occasions, the authenticity of information posted on the various social media is suspect. In his view, media practice, particularly journalism processes and scrutinizes news gathering and dissemination and thus exercise control in addition to operating a feedback mechanism which gives room for rebuttal when practitioners erred. But the social media affords a faceless character the platform to post devious and phony information but without any compelling process or law to enforce rebuttal. At the end of the day, the victims of such misleading information are faced with the task of responding to issues that never existed. However, the views expressed by the Senate President on the subject were misinterpreted in many quarters to be an attempt to gag the social media.

    The truth, however, is that whether we like it or not, there is a need to regulate the activities of social media. If there is established mechanism in place to control the traditional media, there is no reason why same should not apply to social media. Anything contrary would only lead to chaos, especially in a country like ours where we already have enough divisive and confusing tendencies. The polity has, in recent time, become so edgy that an unregulated platform of social interaction, such as currently exists with our social media, could become a catalyst for social turmoil.

    The recent crash of an Associated Airline aircraft, with registration number 5N-BYT in Lagos, which killed 13 of the passengers on board, is a pointer to the danger of an unfettered social media. On the fateful day, various social networking sites came up with diverse unconfirmed information concerning the tragic incident. Unfortunately, most of the information was misleading, confusing and false. For instance, it was reported in some of the social media sites that the entire family of the late Dr. Agagu was involved in the air mishap, and that all of them had, indeed, died. Not only this, some other people, who were not even on the plane, were said to have died in the crash. One of such names that was bandied, in almost all the social media, was that of Gbenga Obasanjo, son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who impeccable family sources claimed was nowhere near Lagos as at the time of the sad occurrence.

    Without doubt, there is a need to put in place clear and proper directives on how delicate and sensitive developing news stories should be handled in the social media. It is professionally and morally wrong for any medium to authoritatively disseminate information on crucial matters they are not sufficiently informed. The most irritating aspect of it is that those responsible for disseminating wrong information on the social media don’t usually consider it essential to retract the information based on current reality. One simple rule of journalism is that if the story changes based on further information, the reporter should indicate as such and apologise for initially misleading the people.

    In as much as it is true that, all media are embedded in cultural contexts that end up determining how and why they are used and that technology brings certain constraints and affordances, it is still true that it is the people that should ultimately be considered as more important. Therefore, it is crucial that social media, and indeed all media, always verify information from credible sources before dissemination. It is also vital that those who visit social media platforms for information should always make efforts to substantiate the veracity of such information before posting it out to others as the gospel truth. For instance, efforts should always be made by the public to corroborate news, especially BREAKING NEWS, which emanate from social media with credible traditional media for authentication.

    Operating a loose information dissemination mechanism is not the best for any society, as any society where such is allowed would pay dearly for it. The earlier the social media is made to conform to some forms of rules and regulations, the better for all of us, because people outside will only rely on information that we write about ourselves to make judgments about us. God bless Nigeria.

    • Ibirogba is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State.

  • The other side of social media

    The other side of social media

    Social media have become part of life in Nigeria. In this report Hannah Ojo takes a look at their uses and abuses.

    Until he was almost scammed by some unscrupulous elements, Daniel Olusanya used to believe social media is the best thing that could happen to him. If not for the tenacity of his mum and the heated exchange he had with his siblings, he would have parted with his miniature life savings. The journey to the land of swindlers began when he met a female friend on Facebook who claimed to be a Filipino working in a London hotel. They started interacting through chat messages and she enquired about his occupation. On learning that Daniel has been out of job for over a year when his former employer relieved him of his duties as an audit associate, Sarah Chito, as she gave her name, promised to help him talk to the boss of an hotel in London that is recruiting staffs. It was hard to take her as a fraud as she appeared real since they have built a relationship from their Facebook chat interaction. Her profile information which gave her away as a waitress at Marriot Hotel, Manila also helped sell the image she portrays. When this reporter also read through the chat history between Sarah and Daniel, her tone and speech mannerism didn’t betray her as a fraud but someone showing genuine concern.

    Soon afterwards, she connected him to John Rocco Forte whose Facebook profile reads; “owner/ President at Browns Hotel, Newham, United Kingdom.” Failing to discern that on social media, anybody can claim to be somebody, Daniel sent his CV as directed to brownshotelrecruitment@yahoo.com. Daniel did. The process swung into full swing: he was told he would be recruited as cashier with his HND qualification in Accounting. After filling the visa form online, he got this reply; “When it’s ready (the Visa)…I will send it down to British embassy there and I will get the contact of the approval agent. All you need to do is get ready with your approval fee. As soon as your visa is ready, I will link you with the agent as soon as possible”(sic). The approval fee for his visa was pegged at one thousand pounds E1000 translating roughly to over N200, 000 in Nigerian currency. To gather funds, he sold his shares in quoted companies and was set on gathering funds from family members when his mum took it personal. It took a conviction from warnings from prophets in his church before he could be dissuaded from chasing after the wind.

    Social media addiction

    Dr Kehinde Ayoola, a senior lecturer in the department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife commands great respect from his students. Unlike his older colleagues, he does not have a phobia for the internet. He responds to his mails almost immediately and he is comfortable with his students sending their projects and assignments to him via email. Hearing him talk about how social media has impacted on learning, he commented on the sad reality the popularity of blackberry phones and other high tech gadgets has wreaked on the learning standards of most students. “Many students are so attached to their phones that they engage in pinging even while lectures are in progress. It is not unheard of that students contact themselves for assistance even while examination is in progress”.

    With abbreviations such as: TTYL (talk to you later), GGMUB (God go make you bigger), LWKMD (laugh wan kill me die), TCCIK (take care because I care), BRB (be right back), GOAT (Girl of all talents), ROFTL (rolling on the floor) and many more hilarious sorts making spellings and grammar to be sacrificed on the altar of being social, the trend is also being carried into formal writing unconsciously. To this, Dr. Ayoola responded; “Students write more sloppily these days; they use SMS spellings and are rather lackadaisical in their style. Outside the classroom, they spend too much valuable time on social network sites. To excel in today’s competitive world, students need all the time at their disposal to devote to their studies. In a situation where students major in the minor, too many students end up as underachievers”.

    With a nation blessed with the larger part of the population as young people, it does not come as a surprise to learn that Nigeria constitutes 81.2 percent of the 900 million active Facebook users via mobile phones. This is not to mention the huge presence of Nigerians on other social media platforms such as twitter, google+, instragram, whatsapp, and others. With the level of flippancy among the younger generation, the nature of discussion that occurs in most of these online medium is not hard to tell. “The largest followership on Twitter are those in the entertainment circles. It’s not to say this is bad, but the truth is that no nation develops simply because it has a thriving entertainment industry. The quality of discussion is skewed towards the banal more than deep and critical issues. There are, however, crops of young people online too who have benefitted from the social media given the access they have to more materials to develop their capacity. They are, however, in the minority”, says Sola Fagorusi, a youth development advocate and active social media user.

    Life is always a twist of ironies, thus it comes with a tinge of paradox that where others are experiencing ruin is more or less like a cash cow to Dr Biodun Awosusi, whose practice has been boosted as a result of his social media activities. “ As I speak, I am considering accepting an invitation to be a guest post for an Ethiopia blog on our experiences on universal health coverage in Nigeria. My likely response is a yes, and a lifelong relationship ensues! I have published a piece on the use of social media on the Commonwealth website. So I appreciate the value of the social media”, said the young medic whose blog was recently dominated for the World Summit Youth Award (WSYA), a United Nations – sponsored event. He, however, admitted to the fact that social media can be a big trap as it can lead to distraction. “I felt victim with the BB so I stopped using it. Sometimes I get carried away with twitter! But I think the trick to dealing with these necessary evils is to limit the use to the barest minimum, especially when you have completed essential tasks for the day or just on a break!”.

    Just as it appears sensible to eat and drink measuredly so as to defy the mediciner’s visit, so is it important to apply moderation when indulging on the social media radar. While the platform has been used by some smart chaps to generate income, others have had to pay dearly for their indulgence. The tale of Cynthia Osokogu, the slain daughter of an army general remains a point of reference in Nigeria’s tale of digital calamity.

     

  • Adverse use of social media on canvas

    As an artist, Gbenga Orimoloye believes the face holds many secrets. To drive home his view, he will be showcasing the use of facial expression as a means of communication during his art exhibition, Oju. It will hold at the Terra Kulture, Lagos, from May 4 to 9.

    According to him, facial expression is still the most dependable and more accurate to relate to because it is natural. He said: “The more you look at a person’s face, the more you begin to realise that what you see is not actually that person, but a transit point. This is that which helps you to register, in one moment out of eternity, whether by means of a smile, frown or whatever, an understanding of who and what lies beneath.

    “Being a figurative artist, I see a face as a landscape, especially when emotions can be attached. In a sense, valleys, mountains, rivers and indeed other geographical and physical features, each allegorical with its own respective set of differing opportunities, can all be present in a face.

    The Yaba College of Technology trained artist is also inspired by the socio-cultural developments within the context of today’s generation. He said Oju will feature new works that portrays the effects of social media on the young generations. “Today, our generation has become increasingly dependent on our smart phones and other handheld devices, making us rely less on ‘real-life’ face-to-face contact and interaction. I also use the social media in the likes of facebook, twitter and e-mail to communicate to my friends. An old friend of mine for example, got my contact on facebook by just searching my name. Social media also let me communicate my works to the world,” he said.

     

    His last exhibition was a solo. Ona, held last year. His works usually portray the unique features of women and the lavish use of the color blue. According to him, “They are the attraction, and they are unique and adorable. One of my favorite color is blue, and blue portrays the drawing well.”

     

     

     

     

  • Hook,line and social media

    Brands need social media. Social media – web and mobile-based technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, LinkedIn and BBM and others that readily turn any message into interactive dialogue among individuals in a community, organisation or a country – does not need brands. On the contrary, brands need social media.

    According to recent reports, this year, social media is one of the most powerful news and updates sources. Because of this and similar reports, brands desperately need social media to be successful, to be social media savvy, to connect with grassroots, to sell their goods, and to be successful.

    Brand managers have these reports and they do understand that, in the 21st century where technology has blurred marketing boundaries, no brand succeeds on its own. In addition to the traditional media, brands need the efficacious power of social media.

    Reason: brands jostle for the attention of several millions of individuals who populate the social media scene. Brands need the attention and wallets of these people, as such; brand custodians would play all games, through different marketing gimmicks, to grab their targets.

    Some of these games include asking you to download free cool logo and use it as a screen saver, new singles of a popular musician; or if that fails to deliver the number, you are enticed to record and upload your own music on a particular site to win a particular gift, or get opportunity to mingle, giggle and wriggle. “Catch the fun while it lasts!” The brands scream in ecstasy. That is the catch.

    Guess what, the target, mostly youths, believe this sweet-sounding words hook, line and sinker. Who wins? It is not the target.  The brands win. That is why the brands keep going back to the social media space to recruit ardent fans, raving fans to fan the embers of their brands. Do not blame them. Much of the space on social media is free. However, that is the main reason brands need the social media. No, it is not only that, some brands have limitless pocket.

    I think the bottomless pocket of some of these brands (and the social juice they can get) attracts them to social media circle. This (bottomless pocket) gives brands opportunity to acquire social media muscle and bask in the social juice it brings.

    This used to be the exclusive preserves of the traditional media [newspaper, magazines, television and radio], but not any more, not any more, not any more. If a campaign breaks and it does not hit your Facebook page, it does not hit your Twitter handle, it does not hit your BBM anonymously, such campaign has not gone viral. If it has not gone viral, it has not succeeded. If it has not succeeded, it has failed. Ask a social media-savvy brand manager.

    That is the power of social media platform. In addition to this is the ability to connect with the target at an emotional level and hit their passion points and create a hero out of a zero; generate emotion and keep it in motion, create meaningful content and be in contact, engineer powerful engagement and keep the arrangement, sustain interest and build large followers.

    If you look at it with 20/20 eyesight, it is clear that social media allows the brands to set up infrastructure for their target and make the connection that makes the biggest difference (like the ones described above. I am sure you must have participated in one or two social media games).

    The birth of BlackBerry, different web-based applications platform and social sites have provided canvasses brands to tell their stories, to promote their ideas and be all to all people. That is why brands would always be grateful to social media dais.

    As social software that mediates human and brands communication, social media is the only platform that brands can flaunt their social juice, as it gives brands relevance, responsibility and recall, all year round, twenty-four-seven. Therefore, if a platform stays and sleeps with you that long, you are wont to believe everything it says hook, line and social media.

    As Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content, social media also packs extreme believability. This is where Cynthia Osokogu comes in. Cynthia made that same mistake of believing the content of her BBM. Cynthia was a victim of social media mistrust. Save the gory details.

    You remember her. Great. My job is not to regurgitate the ordeal she went through but to save a soul, by preventing a reoccurrence. That Cynthia paid the ultimate price does not mean the social media platform is evil. It is just prove that majority of social media fans are gullible. They would believe every twit. They would believe every ping. They would believe every contact. That makes them vulnerable to physical, viral and fraudulent attacks.

    Kindly note, social media platform is a social gathering of friends and acquaintances. Invariably, this indicates that you could meet genuine friends, strike legitimate business deal or find your bride while chatting in some professional chat rooms. On the other hand, social media space can be likened to clubbing.

    In a restaurant, you could make new friends that would last a lifetime, meet a dupe, or be swindled by a woman who happens to be smarter than you are! Does that make clubbing evil?  Answer to that question is not available on this page.

    What you would get here is this: brands look for critical mass to strike the numbers, the critical mass are available on social media space, and brand custodians would do all to lick those numbers. If you have a Twitter handle, Facebook page, BBM or LinkedIn profile, look out. If the message it too good to be true, and you cannot authenticate the source, it is too good. Delete it. Ignore it. Watch who you follow. Follow whom you watch. As my mother would say, keep to well-lit streets after dark.

    Be careful with your BBM. Know your pings. This is not a revelation. It is a reminder. In her wildest dream, Cynthia would never think those pings are death messengers. She was innocent. She was blameless. However, she has offered a great lesson on how not to deal with BBM contacts: Not every contact should be contacted. Not every contact has a contact address. Be wary of contact who insists on physical contact, unless you are sure. If you are not sure, delete the contact.

    Several social media contacts hide under aliases. Aliases are guises. Guises are masks. Masks hide dirt. Dirt tells bad story. Bad story is bad. Ask questions. Probe aliases. Be social media-wise. Have fun. Life is short. Do not shorten it further. Remember Cynthia. For social media addicts, happy pinging. For Cynthia, adieu.

     

  • Save the Children hosts Post 2015 Development consultation

    With progress being made towards reaching the MDGs, extensive consultations on the post 2015 Development Agenda has commenced.

    Save the Children, Nigeria according to a statement by its Communication and Events Assistant, Grace Olomiwe, on April 5 marked 1,000 days left to deliver the eight Millennium Development Goals and  4594 days since 150 countries made the  commitment.

    Save the Children an internationally active non-governmental organization that promotes children’s rights to development, participation, education, protection in Nigeria collaborated with the United Nations Millennium Campaign to mark the event by hosting a #Post2015NG Social Media Hub, an event that brought, youth leaders and Social Media activists from across Nigeria together.

    The programme was to inform, connect and empower  participants on social good and channel  the various online debate on post- 2015 particularly MY World to real time consultation.

    Social Media Activists were mobilized and empowered to engage the public to take action via voting on the MyWorld2015 site www.myworld2015.org and  @savechildrenNG  @myworld2015 with Hashtags #Post2015, #Post2015NG #MDGmomentum and  through their individual Social Media Presence on many social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn etc.

    The event was a unique opportunity to support Nigerian government and Civil Society Post2015 Consultations efforts across the country through the mobilization and engagement of  online and new media users providing an opportunity to vote on their top six development priorities through www.myworld2015.org.

     

     

  • Social media and My oga at the top

    Social media and My oga at the top

    It used to be thought that newspapers were the main feral beasts tearing reputations apart and destroying careers. But compared with the immeasurable capacity of social media to pulverise and annihilate, newspapers are tame, friendly and adorable communication organs. In the few years since it became probably the most popular means for the creation, exchange and sharing of information and ideas between communities and individuals, social media has trumped everyone, in part because, like terrorism, it is not limited by borders. On social media, news and contents can be created and shared instantly. If the news is positive, and it goes viral, it can help an individual or community reap humungous benefits. But if the news and other contents are negative, the consequences to reputations and careers can be equally swift and destructive. Shema Obafaiye, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Lagos Commandant, is the latest to feel the merciless sting of social media.

    Mr Obafaiye had on a recent television programme performed poorly in projecting the image of his organisation. Though he answered most of the questions posed to him very well and showed mastery of issues pertaining to Civil Defence, he flunked the rather simple question of what his organisation’s web address was. And as he hemmed and hawed, he blurted out a reference to My oga at the top, a pithy part of his wrong answer that would haunt him in the hours and days after. Indeed, because it has now cost him his position as Lagos commandant of the Civil Defence, it seems the reference to My oga at the top will haunt him for the rest of his life, and perhaps in the end cost him his job.

    The gaffe was of course shocking, but not unpardonable. Web addresses are generally pesky little irritations on the memory, especially when they are not the simple dot com or dot co dot uk type. In the pre-social media days, a little gaffe now and again would not kill anyone, let alone bring a person to universal opprobrium. But Obafaiye has chosen to blunder in an age when all communication barriers have fallen, and when nothing is beyond the reach of the web or of the waspish pens and tongues of pernicious fellows. Moments after the Civil Defence officer made the gaffe and gave the public the memorable line of My oga at the top, social media took up the refrain and relentlessly lampooned him. The unsparing ridicule was followed by yet more merciless parodies, caricatures, clerihews, musical compositions, emblazoned tee shirts, and one-act drama pieces. A deeply mortified Civil Defence had to withdraw Obafaiye from his visible office and consign him to obscurity, perhaps to push files, run errands and clean the archives.

    With social media becoming the leading activity on the web, it is now clear that no private or public person can even afford to tell a little, innocuous lie. Once he is found out, ubiquitous and pretentious Mozarts and Beethovens will produce instantaneous compositions to celebrate the lie. Nor, from all indications, can anyone even commit indiscretion bordering on spousal unfaithfulness. Imagine social media to have been very active in 2007 when Robert Mugabe allegedly videoed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo and critic, Pius Ncube, romping with a married parishioner, Rosemary Sibanda. All borders have fallen, so never rule out what item will next go viral on the web. Today’s safe man may be tomorrow’s endangered man. Today, it is Obafaiye’s gentle gaffe; tomorrow, it could be something much more poisonous and salacious. Many governments have spent incredible amount of time and resources trying to regulate conventional media; let us see how far they can go with social media, where there is little adherence to ethics, and where regulations even by the most vicious governments have proved utterly inadequate.

  • Social media leverage

    Brands need social media. Social media – web and mobile-based technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, LinkedIn and BBM and others that readily turn any message into interactive dialogue among individuals in a community, organisation or a country – does not need brands. On the contrary, brands need social media.

    According to recent reports, this year, social media is one of the most powerful news and updates sources. Because of this and similar reports, brands desperately need social media to be successful, to be social media savvy, to connect with grassroots, to sell their goods, and to be successful.

    Brand managers have these reports and they do understand that, in the 21st century where technology has blurred marketing boundaries, no brand succeeds on its own. In addition to the traditional media, brands need the efficacious power of social media.

    Reason: brands jostle for the attention of several millions of individuals who populate the social media scene. Brands need the attention and wallets of these people, as such; brand custodians would play all games, through different marketing gimmicks, to grab their targets.

    Some of these games include asking you to download free cool logo and use it as a screen saver, new singles of a popular musician; or if that fails to deliver the number, you are enticed to record and upload your own music on a particular site to win a particular gift, or get opportunity to mingle, giggle and wriggle. “Catch the fun while it lasts!” The brands scream in ecstasy. That is the catch.

    Guess what, the target, mostly youths, believe this sweet-sounding words hook, line and sinker. Who wins? It is not the target.  The brands win. That is why the brands keep going back to the social media space to recruit ardent fans, raving fans to fan the embers of their brands. Do not blame them. Much of the space on social media is free. However, that is the main reason brands need the social media. No, it is not only that, some brands have limitless pocket.

    I think the bottomless pocket of some of these brands (and the social juice they can get) attracts them to social media circle. This (bottomless pocket) gives brands opportunity to acquire social media muscle and bask in the social juice it brings.

    This used to be the exclusive preserves of the traditional media [newspaper, magazines, television and radio], but not any more, not any more, not any more. If a campaign breaks and it does not hit your Facebook page, it does not hit your Twitter handle, it does not hit your BBM anonymously, such campaign has not gone viral. If it has not gone viral, it has not succeeded. If it has not succeeded, it has failed. Ask a social media-savvy brand manager.

    That is the power of social media platform. In addition to this is the ability to connect with the target at an emotional level and hit their passion points and create a hero out of a zero; generate emotion and keep it in motion, create meaningful content and be in contact, engineer powerful engagement and keep the arrangement, sustain interest and build large followers.

    If you look at it with 20/20 eyesight, it is clear that social media allows the brands to set up infrastructure for their target and make the connection that makes the biggest difference (like the ones described above. I am sure you must have participated in one or two social media games).

    The birth of BlackBerry, different web-based applications platform and social sites have provided canvasses brands to tell their stories, to promote their ideas and be all to all people. That is why brands would always be grateful to social media dais.

     As social software that mediates human and brands communication, social media is the only platform that brands can flaunt their social juice, as it gives brands relevance, responsibility and recall, all year round, twenty-four-seven. Therefore, if a platform stays and sleeps with you that long, you are wont to believe everything it says hook, line and social media.

    As Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content, social media also packs extreme believability. This is where Cynthia Osokogu comes in. Cynthia made that same mistake of believing the content of her BBM. Cynthia was a victim of social media mistrust. Save the gory details.

    You remember her. Great. My job is not to regurgitate the ordeal she went through but to save a soul, by preventing a reoccurrence. That Cynthia paid the ultimate price does not mean the social media platform is evil. It is just prove that majority of social media fans are gullible. They would believe every twit. They would believe every ping. They would believe every contact. That makes them vulnerable to physical, viral and fraudulent attacks.

    Kindly note, social media platform is a social gathering of friends and acquaintances. Invariably, this indicates that you could meet genuine friends, strike legitimate business deal or find your bride while chatting in some professional chat rooms. On the other hand, social media space can be likened to clubbing.

    In a restaurant, you could make new friends that would last a lifetime, meet a dupe, or be swindled by a woman who happens to be smarter than you are! Does that make clubbing evil?  Answer to that question is not available on this page.

    What you would get here is this: brands look for critical mass to strike the numbers, the critical mass are available on social media space, and brand custodians would do all to lick those numbers. If you have a Twitter handle, Facebook page, BBM or LinkedIn profile, look out. If the message it too good to be true, and you cannot authenticate the source, it is too good. Delete it. Ignore it. Watch who you follow. Follow whom you watch. As my mother would say, keep to well-lit streets after dark.

    Be careful with your BBM. Know your pings. This is not a revelation. It is a reminder. In her wildest dream, Cynthia would never think those pings are death messengers. She was innocent. She was blameless. However, she has offered a great lesson on how not to deal with BBM contacts: Not every contact should be contacted. Not every contact has a contact address. Be wary of contact who insists on physical contact, unless you are sure. If you are not sure, delete the contact.

    Several social media contacts hide under aliases. Aliases are guises. Guises are masks. Masks hide dirt. Dirt tells bad story. Bad story is bad. Ask questions. Probe aliases. Be social media-wise. Have fun. Life is short. Do not shorten it further. Remember Cynthia. For social media addicts, happy pinging. For Cynthia, adieu.