The weeklong Social Media Week Lagos featuring innovative, creative and engaging use of social media tools begins on Monday, February 4 at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos.
Kenneth Affor reports that the theme for this year’s edition which is the seventh is STORIES: With Great Influence Comes Great Responsibility.
The annual event first held in 2013 focuses on initiating, exchanging and implementing new creative ideas in social media and what to expect in the future.
At this year’s edition, industry players, journalists, influencers, government and stakeholders will be deliberating on how to use the African story for the good of her people and the society at large.
Speaking on the theme, Ngozi Odita, Co-Founder/Executive Director, Social Media Week Lagos explains that “Our stories serve as a reference point and are integral to our identity as Africans.”
“The current digital paradigm has allowed for the amplification of our stories and enabled us to have a tremendous impact beyond our communities, our countries and the continent’s borders. It is also the case that with this impact comes great responsibility and an obligation to use our collective influence to move Africa forward.”
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Toby Daniels, Founder, Social Media Week added that “The stories we tell, consume and share have the potential to shape who we are and what we become.”
“The number of social media users worldwide in 2018 is 3.2 billion, up 13 per cent year-on-year. By 2020 almost 5 billion people will be connected.
“Given its scale, social media has become the world’s most influential storytelling platform. Whatever form they take, the stories we tell through social media have the power to reach and influence more than 60% of people on the planet.”
In 2018, over 23,000 participants attended the week-long event which produced over 600 million online participants via the social media platforms thereby making it Africa’s largest digital gathering ever.
Since the Week’s inception, there have been new approaches to the use of technology and social media in general from rendering and delivering goods and services to remote geographical terrain – the inner cities and the urban world, financial transactions and interactions among social media influencers and their teeming followers. It also gives tech innovators the opportunity to showcase their inventions at the event.
