SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK: OGUN, LAGOS EXAMPLE In the world over, every government of the day seeks for ways to carry its people along on its policy formulation and implementation via communication. This, apart from personal contacts is being done through the, mass media. The recent proliferation of media houses of all types across the country is a wide range departure from the old government’s monopoly of the media ownership like the NTA, FRCN and Daily Times to mention a few. As at then, media activity was highly under government censorship and thus press freedom was next to nil. From the colonial masters to the military era down to the present democratic dispensation, the media serve as the only intermediary between government and the governed, as exchange of communication between them is conveyed by the media. Apart from the government, private organizations also have a way of disseminating information to their clients through mails and telephone conversations. This is the case with individuals too who interact with friends and loved ones far and near through letter writing and other medium of communication. Today, the emergence of the internet has turned the world to a global village in which information can be sent and received in split seconds across the world irrespective of the distance; the current proliferation of media houses and upgrading of media broadcast operations to 24 hours daily across the country notwithstanding thereby making them to degenerate from broadcasting to narrowcasting. The advent of the internet through computer networking globally which today has culminated into e-mail, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others has created a sharp new dimension to style of information dissemination among people and cooperate organizations with the use of websites where information can be shared to heterogeneous audience without distant barriers. This platform is what is referred to as social media. Interestingly, political office holders and the government at all levels now have websites and share information to the public as well in order to be acquainted with the policy formulation of the government. It is fascinating to note that individual audience can also respond to share their views on the activities of the government so shared on the social media. Government both State and at Federal levels as well as other political office holders now employ the use of social media to showcase their activities and share information on which the wide audience too can feed their opinions back to them. This is not limited to geographical boundaries as their subjects, audiences and citizens across the world can view and respond to their activities online. Observing a comparative analysis of the South-West States recently, Osun State government has 11,438 followers, while the governor, Rauf Aregbesola has 84,961followers; Ekiti State government has 15,186 followers, while the governor, Kayode Fayemi has 8,913 followers. The Lagos State government has 13,205 followers while Governor Raji Fashola has 195,962 followers. Lagos Indicator reveals that the state has 6,722 viewers. Lagos and Ogun indicator are facebook pages for pictures and videos of projects and events which are only operated by the two states and here according to survey Ogun state indicator clearly leads. The other states need to emulate these two states in order to the electorates on their programmes for them, not to see them as leaders with no vision. Ondo State government has 2,794 followers while Governor Olusegun Mimiko has 10,028 followers; Oyo State government has 3,695 and the governor Abiola Ajimobi has 13,609 followers. Ogun State government-OGSG has 17,382 followers and the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun has 45,136 followers. Ogun State Indicator reveals that viewers of the site are 17,119. On facebook, despite the fact of having the highest number of followers in Ogun State, but the official page of Lagos state still come behind that of Ogun state government which is the most active with various update of news, pictures, projects and events. On the use of twitter, Governor Raji Fashola has 155,515 followers (1,704 tweets), Senator Ibikunle Amosun has 4,041 (2,516 tweets), while Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has 9,297 (1,074 tweets). Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has 10,914 (540 tweets) while Mr. Kayode Fayemi has 20,571 (2,163 tweets) and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has 21,254 (452 tweets). In all Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State is found to be the most active on twitter with the number of tweets. Ogun State is also observed to be the most active on twitter via tweets while Lagos state government has the most followers. On YouTube, Senator Ibikunle Amosun has 118 videos, 91 subscribers and 8,601 views. On YouTube, the only official YouTube page we could find was that of Senator Ibikunle Amosun with constant and regular video updates of projects, programmes and events. With this observations, it now imperatives for other state government and governors to emulate the styles of South-West government in order to reach the people of their various state without much ado and confusion but with the use of social media networks, the world has now turned to a “global village” where we can reach our people without travelling here and there as it is done in early 70s and 80s. Thanks to social media network availability. Recently, little wonder therefore that the Dean of Mass Communication Department, Covenant University, Ota. Professor , Idowu Shobowale enjoined political office holders, public and private organizations to emulate the communication style of Governor Amosun, in term of uses of social media as a tool to create understanding and support of the people in order to discharge their mandates to the people they represent. Ademola Olarenwaju Journalist and a public affairs analyst Epe, Lagos State, 08029301122
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 12:27:57 +0000