SMW: Highlighting the impact of social revolution

THE impact of social media on society and different fields of endeavour was the focus of discourse at the just-concluded Social Media Week (SMW) held in Lagos last week hosted by First Bank Plc. 

  The three-day event had diverse discussions on social media. One of the sessions hosted by First Bank had ‘Inspiring Possibilities’, as its theme and Whatif as its hashtag. On the panel were Tuface Idibia, Tosin Ajibade of Olori Supergal, Oye Akindeinde, Co-founder of 360nobs.com, Bridget Oyefeso-Odusanmi, Head, Sponsorship and Event, First Bank and Founder of Bridal App, Editi Effiong. 

  Each of the panelists took turns to give insight on how they came into their chosen fields, made headways and how social media is shaping their professions positively and negatively. 

  For Tuface, social media has made things easier to get across to people including his fans. He noted that although social media has its negative sides, the positives far outweigh the negatives, which other panelists agreed with. 

  Head, Digital Marketing and Brand Strategy, First Bank Plc, Yinka Ijabi, said his organisation decided to be part of the SMW because part its aspiration is to be a lot more appealing to the customers, which social media and digital marketing help to do. 

  Ijabi said, “So supporting a thing like this is very inline with our aspirations and core strategic objective. That was why we partnered with the SMW. Digital does everything for you and it is a perfect business deal for us”.

  Commenting on the competition between social media use and traditional media, Ijabi maintained that both would continue to co-exist and complement each other. 

  “A few years ago, people talked about the death of newspapers because people could read the newspapers online, but sales of newspapers are still very strong. The fact is, newspapers will not go off because social media gives instant news. People still want to read in-depth news; you want to go beyond the 140 character of twitter, opinionated views on Facebook to an objective view and traditional media still provides all of that. They complement each other; they will co-exist forever, the same way books will never die simply because there is social media platform. What you read on phone is fun when you are in transit; when you actually need to read, you want to pick a hard cover book to read, because that experience cannot be replicated online”. 

  First Bank’s Oyefeso-Odusanmi also said because the possibilities are endless with social media, “So, we cannot be having a SMW, and being a top bank in the country and not being involved”.

  She stated that it was about helping its customers to tap into the possibilities of what social media could do for them, their businesses and lifestyles.