Everything You Need to Know About Social Media Debate Jos 2017

Pax Amor Initiative in collaboration with Tomruk Innovation Hub yesterday 18th August 2017 organized a debate on social media themed "Social Media and Extremism".

The goal of the debate was to provide a forum for public discourse, rooted in facts and reason that would help in educating the community about preventing extremism on these platforms. 

A lot has been happening on the social media space in recent time, people are spending more and more time on different social media platforms and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

According to statistics, over 2.8 billion people are active on social media, that's about 37% of the world's population. If social media was a nation, it would be the most populous nation on earth.

L-R Founder and Ceo David Daser and Lead Research, Developer Theodore Longji at nHub

As more people start to get to these platforms, it's only right we start discussing ways we can begin to curb extremists that use these platforms productively; hence the reason we must continue having these type of discussions so we can keep the conversation going in order to reduce the number of social media extremists we have out there.

The founder and CEO of the first tech hub in Northern Nigeria Daser David and filmmaker Ulan Garba supported the motion while Social Media Trainer Janet Faden and Freelance Journalist Charles Dickson where against the motion and broadcast journalist Ponsah Fanah was the moderator for the debate. 

Mr Daser kicked off the debate arguing that social media has definitely promoted extremism in all ramifications;  with the arrival of social media, businesses tend to hit the mark extremely really fast compare to pre-social media era when it could take probably up to 10 years to do so. 

Members of the audience at Social media debate Jos 2017

To the negative aspect of extremism, he argued social media has aided extremism in religion as it's made it really easy for terrorist group to recruit individuals through these platforms.

Social Media Trainer Janet Faden argued that before social media, there had been different channels that have aided hate speech, fake news, religious radicalization and that extremism itself has existed before the era of social media. She argued that social media as a communication channel has it's disadvantage and advantages like every communication channel we have out there. Lastly, our focus should instead be on how we maximize the advantages and minimize it's disadvantages. 

Filmmaker Ulan Garba started  by defining addiction as something that does not allow you to spend time alone. She argued that social media has turned a lot of individuals to social addicts. Social media platforms make us spend less time reflecting and more time reacting by constantly going onto these platforms to feed our addiction. 

David Daser and Freelance Journalist Charles Dickson

Freelance journalist Charles Dickson opening remarks focused on the fact that social media and every other aspect of life is about control. He believes we live in a world where everything has become practically dangerous and that social media as a tool has the potential to be used positively or negatively. He talked about how instant messaging tools have helped us in our everyday communication.

Filmmaker Ulan Garba reiterated that individuals should always reflect before they post anything online. Before you post something out there, take some time for critical thinking where we are not only seen from our own point of view but we are seen from every other point of view. 

She understands the fact that we all have the right to post what we want, but we should also try and understand that the world is made up of different types of people. Before you post anything online, understand your motive, ask yourself "Will this make me better?" or "How does this post or comment affect my life positively". 

The above are important questions we should ask ourselves before we post on social media. 

Janet Faden believes social media is just a medium and we should be careful how we attack the medium. Social media as a tool has it's advantages and disadvantages as other communication tools, before we attack the tool, we should understand that extremism has existed long before social media came into existence. 

She believes there are two types of people, those that act before they think and those that think before they act. Social medium is just a medium and how it is used depends on the individual using it. 

nHub CEO David Daser stated that he has over 5000 people on his social media platforms but believes that only a few of the individuals using these platforms have the right level of awareness so it is very easy to create and spread propaganda. He gave examples of ISIS using social media to recruit new members and Olajumoke the bread seller who became an overnight celebrity by bumping into a picture as examples of ways social media can disrupt any industry.

Charles Dickson believes social media is two sides of the same coin. He thinks its more of social behavior and reaction to it. A journalist  with a first degree in psychology, he states that the American Psychology association  have argued that selfie is a physiological disorder. 

He believes that individuals behave the way they do because of their mental state. People act the way they do because they believe in a certain way. Social media is a tool and the way we use this tool depends on  who we are. 

In the rebuttal section. Mr Daser argues that we are being exposed to a ton of information on these platforms. He says he wouldn't have known the meaning of the world 'selfie' if he wasn't on social media. He believes individuals are being exposed to large number of information and a lot of individuals will struggle to understand what is right or wrong. 

These days, someone can make a post in Syria and somebody in London could subscribe to it. 

Mr Charles Dickson argues that the problem is sometimes we defend our inability to make the right choice based on our mental depreciation. Every individual has a choice to behave the way he/she wants. 

A lot of us don't take time to read the terms and conditions before we agree to the terms and conditions of most platforms we use online. This is more of a cultural problem where a lot of individuals take decisions without fully thinking of the consequences, the problem has to be the fact that a lot of humans tend to abuse most situations they find themselves. 

Mr Daser argues that during the Ebola outbreak, the fact that over 50% of Nigerians took a salt bath goes to prove his point about the level of extremism on social media. It is highly alarming that because of social media a lot Nigerians drank salt water believing that it would help prevent Ebola. This shows the level of awareness within the country and the fact that these tools have created a medium that has made it easy for anyone to spread fake/false information. 

Social media has created a platform where anyone can interact with any other person. He made a comment on the Apostle Suleman saga and a pastor reached out to him telling him he was doomed. If religious officials could hold such extreme views and would boldly share them on these platforms then this is definitely alarming. 

Janet Faden states that if social media had existed during the 2001 Jos Crisis, that it would have been easier to control the events as individuals would be exposed to information in real time. 

Closing remarks.

Janet Faden believes that social media has made all of us content creators, if you don't really understand what these platforms are and how you can start using them proactively, then you should really try to invest the time and effort into doing so. 

Mr Daser's closing remarks was about the way social media has transform the way we interact with one another. If you have been to the airport, you would understand  that social media has made it easy to differentiate individuals that are just meeting for the first time and those that have known each other for a while. 

Mr Charles Dickson believes that self control is important in life. We are exposed to loads of events everyday but it's up to us to choose our reaction to these events. You can choose to react negatively or you can choose to react positively. Social media is a tool and the way you use it says a lot to do with who you are as an individual. 

R-L Samuel Famolu Legal office at nHub, James Rebecca, Temitope Ojo, Creative Director @ Tomruk Innovation and Tabitha Hris

Social media is a tool that has transformed a lot of lives and it has the ability to transform more. Individuals on the various social media platforms should be thinking of ways they can use these platforms to make the world a better place. 

Ulan Garba feels social media has taken a vital amount of our time. Most individuals spend more and more time on social media and less time living the life they are capable of. People have built virtual lives that have disconnected them with society and she believes this plays a huge role in the quality of life we tend to live around the world. 

Members of the audience made comment that social media has indeed aided extremism, the fact that individuals go the extra miles to complete a challenge that was presented to them on social media adds to the point that truly most individuals tend to use the platforms extremely. Also, the fact that most information is not censored before it is put out there add there shows that as a tool, it can be used for positively or negatively.

Tomruk Innovation Hub Ceo/Social Innovator David Job and His fiance James Rebecca Ceo/Founder WinBeck's Ltd

Extremism is the ability of people of like minds to come together. Social media had made it a lot easier to see the injustice around the world. Our goal should be how we can use these tools to achieve our goals in life. 

Extremism itself is used in a theological context in this discussion. Social media is only a form of our society that has evolved online. Each society has it's own problem and the focus should be on using these platforms to rid as many of these problems as possible. 

Questions were raised about social media control, regulations, it's impacts and how impactful would social media media be to the future generations and how we could manage it's constructive and destructive parts.

A lot have been said here and I would leave you with the above questions for you to ponder. How do we control or regulate social media without inhibiting people's creativity? How do we use social media to impact the next generation of leaders and how do we manage it's constructive and destructive part? I would love to listen to your opinion in the comment section. 

Yusuf Ahmed Social Media Strategist at nHub NG

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