INSPIRATIONAL MUSINGS 2 Social Media is Your Voice Instead of Your Toy in the New Age

— Gaston Bache lard, The Poetics of Space

When I was much younger, the most effective means to reach out to people if I can remember very well were via radio, TV, newspapers, rallies, billboards etc.

Then, reaching out to a huge population was the exclusive right of major corporations, government institutions and the clergy because they had the funds, but by divine providence and the efforts of smart people across the world, there came the internet and most especially the social media. Advertising took a new turn from that moment. It became affordable.

This new media revolution provided an avenue for an individual or organizations to reach out to thousands and millions of people without having to spend as much money as long you have the right message or product. This new concept even broke international and inter-continental barriers.

I have never met Strive Masiyiwa, the telecom billionaire from Zimbabwe also known as the spiritual entrepreneur but I hope and pray to meet him some day. He's a man I can say I know some of his inner thoughts very well from his posts on Facebook and other channels on social media. He continues to touch lives and inspire millions with his social media accounts from his home in Johannesburg or wherever he finds himself in the world.

Just like we have a Strive Masiyiwa, that touches many lives with the social media, I have also seen many people spend time on social media to celebrate things that do not add a dime or value to their lives or situations. I have observed people deliberate endlessly on what won't change the price of fish in the market. It is something I have tried to have a grip of to no avail.

Listen, my dear, people are watching you, they are reading your posts, I have experienced situations many times without number, where people talk about my posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Blackberry messenger groups in detail and I will be like Wow, you didn't even drop a comment, how come you took time to digest it this much? That's how it is. Opinions are being formed, impressions being shaped. Remember you are most times addressing hundreds and thousands of people with every post or picture on Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and the likes. It is imperative you have this at the back of your mind always.

What do you want to be known for? What brand are you building? What message are you passing across? What value do you want to add to the lives of your friends and acquaintances, who you talk to through the social media? Remember they read and follow everything you put up there. Get me right, please you don't have to pretend or show off, that's not the point. The main message is this: social media has afforded you the opportunity to share with the world at almost zero cost your talent, message, brand and the gift of value within you that you have always wished you could share with the world, if you ever had a voice or a seat of power. So why squander this rare opportunity on what is needless? I will tell you a little story shortly on my personal experience. I always wish a lot of us can see the social media the same way I see it.

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My Short Story

I joined LinkedIn shortly after I joined Facebook in 2008 I guess, but I never bothered to get myself acquainted with the application because I had a mind-set that it's a platform for job seekers and since I was already an entrepreneur there was no point stressing myself to know anyone or get used to the way things worked around there. I had these thoughts in my head for seven years, but all through these seven years, LinkedIn kept in touch via e-mail all through, at times I will open the app, try to blend in somehow but all I kept seeing were employees of different organisations which I felt I had no business with. On a faithful morning in 2015, I was chatting with a friend on Blackberry messenger and he made mention of something on LinkedIn that I needed to check out. I laughed it off as I had no business with LinkedIn since I wasn't looking for a job. He corrected the impression right there noting that LinkedIn was much bigger than what I thought. He went on to tell me that the business brief that changed his life the previous year came through LinkedIn. When I heard that, the entrepreneur in me swung into action immediately. I got deeply involved in LinkedIn and found out that the app had its own specific use and it was one designed for professionals and business inclined people, I can't even describe what I have learnt from LinkedIn, the calibre of people I have come in contact with and the kind of business opportunities that have been afforded me just because I chose to get more serious with the use of a social media account. That is what happens when you embrace social media as a tool for progress rather than a tool for needless propaganda, jokes and games.

I also have to spare a thought on what Facebook has done for me since I changed my attitude towards the use. I have always been a keen observer of the political space, I follow politics very well but I do not wish to ever become a politician for reasons known to me, although in life I have since learnt that one should never say never but it will require a lot for me to join politics. However, that's a topic for another day. I also follow politics because it determines everything in a nation, no matter your trade or professional qualification, the decisions of politicians are binding on you, regrettably so, but you just have to follow what is happening in that space. I used to see Facebook as a means to express my political thoughts and convictions until it dawned on me I was just wasting my time on Facebook, it occurred to me that here I have a tool to propagate my businesses and inner thoughts to the world, things that primarily sustain me rather than the things that do not add a thing to me, politics is also very emotional, you argue with faceless people all day, so much you get drained mentally in the process. So, just the way I changed my approach to the use of LinkedIn, I did same with Facebook and I can say this remains my best decision in business in a longtime.

You Can Change Your Approach as Well

Knowledge or skills shouldn't be kept to oneself for no reason, for someone who has since been using his or her social media accounts for profitable reasons might see this topic as stale and outdated but you will be shocked that millions of people never saw their social media accounts as tools for progress in anyway, they just see them as means to while away time or snoop on the latest news in the lives of friends and acquaintances. You don't necessarily need to use your social media account for business or political advancement, you can employ it as means to any positive end. Your passion might be for acting, use it to be a better actor or actress, yours might be a gospel ministry or an agricultural advancement program, engage the use of social media. It is a voice for the voiceless, politicians have since discovered the potency of it, they have used it to win elections, researchers have used it to conduct countless opinion polls, do not be left out in this media revolution. Use it to advance your own career, do not join the increasing number of social media junkies. Please act differently.

You can begin the process today and you will be surprised how far you had gone in six months or a year.

The world awaits your emergence. Do not wait any longer.

Chapter end