Media executives, journalists gather for critical review of social media

The one-day summit co-hosted by  Everything Journalism, The Journalism Clinic and the United Bank for Africa targeted at journalists, bloggers, students of media studies and journalism, media executives, everyone interested and concerned about the future of journalism in Nigeria, particularly in the context of evolving digital technologies.  With several Nigerian journalists being social media aliens […]

The one-day summit co-hosted by  Everything Journalism, The Journalism Clinic and the United Bank for Africa targeted at journalists, bloggers, students of media studies and journalism, media executives, everyone interested and concerned about the future of journalism in Nigeria, particularly in the context of evolving digital technologies.  
With several Nigerian journalists being social media aliens and the terrain fast becoming saturated with people who may not bother with ethics of the profession, the forum aims to get more journalists to be social media savvy; while boosting their capacity to optimise the various social media channels to gather news, build online communities and engage with their audiences.
Chaired by Richard Ikiebe, Director, Centre for Leadership in Journalism, School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, a team of media professionals and scholars discussed topics: ‘I’m A Social Media Alien’, ‘Social Media 101’, ‘Social Media: 10 Questions The Travel Industry Must Answer’, ‘Banking On The Internet – The Uba Story’ and ‘Crowdsourcing: What An Investigative Journalist Can Do With It’.
Others were: ‘Online Editing: Tips, Tools And Take- Aways’, ‘It’s On The Internet, So….’, ‘What’s Your Apptitude?’, ‘Social Media Guidelines For Broadcast Managers’, ‘Social Media Guidelines For Broadcast Managers’, ‘Facebook Is Good For Me’, ‘Multimedia Journalist At Work’, ‘Ethical Traps And How To Avoid Them’ and ‘Conflicts. Emails. Fact-Checking’.
Representative of UBA CEO said the bank is involved in the programme because they traditionally support the media, adding that UBA is one of the few to appreciate online media at its early stage. “Digital is the future of the media,” he said.
Chairman of the event, Ikiebe said PAU is working with Google to train Nigerian Journalists on Social Media for a possible period of three months.
Chairman of THISDAY editorial board, Segun Adeniyi in his presentation stated that he has never been in any social media platform. “I’m already too busy reading and replying emails and don’t need to add to my trouble. I don’t see reason in engaging people I don’t know.” He said many persons take advantage of social media to abuse each other and display their private lives. Adding: “I misses nothing by being out of the Social Media. “Once I write my column, I don’t look back and don’t read whatever comments followed. He said some celebrities abhor the social media because it is an invasion on their privacy. Quoting Angelina Jolie, who in her admittance of her lack of media tech knowledge said, “As Brad Knows I barely even know how to turn on the Computer.”
Travel journalist, Pelu Awofeso, described social media as being on a ‘Bullet Train’ which journalists need to catch up with as well as the world being on Information ‘Over Drive’. Arguing that stories have longer life spans and effective feedback online than in print, he said, “social media is a good place to hang out with a billion of the 7 billion people in the world – 900 million persons on facebook, 200m on twitter and 155m on Linkedln.”
Observations from participants on the presentation included the failure on Awofeso’s part to highlight the negative impacts of Social Media such as the relay of wrong information leading to negative consequences. Another remark was that many social media users are often not knowledgeable about the topics they discuss. Responding, imploring bloggers to fulfil their role in properly educating their followers, he urged more curious looks at the contents’ depth, knowledge and capacity and not just to blog.
Regarding crowdsourcing Yemi Adamolekun, Executive Director, Enough Is Enough, said there no news platform in Nigeria that actively engages audience in Nigeria like the social media. “The 2011 post-election violence was picked up by the social media before any traditional one. 164,349 SM contents were tracked in 2011 elections.”
A general complain was the poor internet service which inhibits efficient journalism. To this National Communication Commission’s Public Affairs Director, Tony Ochogbo said, “as at April this year, Nigeria had 129.3 million active lines, 63 on the internet, number 10 in the world and 1 in Africa.”
Mr. Lekan Otufodurin, Online editor, The Nation newspaper, describing his job said there are some aspects of editing that would require being active on the social media. “An online editor edits comments online, either on the social media page or website of the media organization,” he said.  
Adding: “The content of the website should be different from the print content which includes news updates, as well as other premium contents different from the online content. A good online editor is in charge of captioning pictures, giving headlines and even updating information on the social media, be it Facebook, Twitter and Google+.”
According to the award-winning ICT journalist and Founder/ Editor, ‘Technology Times’, Shina Badaru, mobile phones have become the primary source of news and Information. He said MTN has over 57 million subscribers and therefore has the ability to send 57 million news content at any time. “Those that will shape the nature of news may not be the traditional journalists like you and me,” he said.
AIT’s Lara Wise who joined Facebook in 2008 uses it to express herself because she loves writing a lot. “I also use Facebook to counsel and send messages to numerous persons I don’t know physically.”  But her greatest achievement from Facebook was the compilation of her Facebook posts into a Book which was launched on 29th June last year.
Software Developer, Emeka Okoye, talking about aptitude and urging journalists to shift focus and reconsider their stand on ethics and regulations said, “BBC said Nigeria gives them the highest traffic outside the UK and most of it through their mobile device. Any Media that does not allow their Reporters have Blogs will eventually fold up. He said search engines now identified individual media content contributions which affect the rating or otherwise of Media Houses. The future of Journalism lies in ‘engagement journalism’.”
Wale Ajayi, the Head, Department of Mass Communication, Lagos State Polytechnic and New Media Specialist during his presentation ‘Social Media Guidelines for Broadcast Managers’ said there is a marked difference between one who generates content for online publication and a Journalist who writes news stories. “Broadcast Managers must ensure that employees have clear cut distinction between professional and personal presence online. About 80% of Nigerians use their phones to browse. They check their phones about a hundred and sixty times a day for messages (‎emails, text messages and BBM pings).”
He urged mediums to regulate their use of User Generated Contents on their platform noting that untrained Bloggers are taking the shine off trained Journalists because they have failed to take advantage of the Social Media.