SMW Lagos founder urges Nigerians to embrace social media

Mr Obi Asika, the founder of Social Media Week Lagos has urged Nigerians to embrace the social media and the change it is creating as a universal interactive platform.

Asika gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

He said that although different people had different ways of using it, Nigerians should take advantage of the opportunities presented by social media tools to express themselves.

But what I advise people is don’t be afraid of technology; don’t be afraid of social media, don’t be afraid of change because everything changes, and everything has changed already and they will change again.

It happens in every country, it’s reflective of the society, there are bullies, there are people who are extremists, there are people who are rude, there are people who are using it the wrong way.

But it’s not peculiar to Nigeria, it happens in every society, every country, so what we ask is that people are patient, people are calm, be respectful, try to avoid shouting on Social Media.

Because anything you do on Social Media, you can’t remove it, it’s indelible, you’ve done it.

So just be mindful of your reputation, think about what it means for you and whether you really need to put yourself in that way, in that place, at that time.

But I don’t think Nigeria is any worse than any other country in the world in terms of behaviour on Social Media.

The key thing with it is that everybody has access, everybody can express their opinion, but not everybody knows how to express their opinion.

So we ask the population and the people to better educate themselves, to better prepare themselves on how to use these tools, and don’t put themselves in the situations they can’t defend themselves.’’

Asika, who organised a Social Media Week in Lagos last week, also told NAN that the Social Media Week was not a profit-making venture.

According to him, the event was kick-started in Lagos so as to equip and educate Nigerians better about the social media usage.

NAN reports that the Social Media Week Lagos 2016 was the third edition in Nigeria.

It took place at the Landmark Events Centre, Lekki between Feb. 22 and 26.