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Tag: Social Media

Social Media

  • Inspiring story of how Social Media helped transformed little Success to a bank customer

    Inspiring story of how Social Media helped transformed little Success to a bank customer

    Last week, a social media user uploaded a video of a passionate and disgruntled little girl, Success Adegor who felt cheated for being sent out of class because she defaulted in her school fees.

    While this was not the first time that such stories and videos make it to the internet, however what took many who have now expressed interest to sponsor the little girl to whatever level of education she so desires is her willingness to receive strokes to stay in class.

    Unlike the practice with some pupils who will rather run out of class even when not sent home just for the fun of play, Success told her interviewer that her parents were willing to pay and that the school authority should have whipped her rather than send her home for school fees.

    As expected, the video went viral with celebrities and other good spirited Nigerians promising to take over the sponsorship of her education and some others who might be in similar pitiable situation.

    Within two days, she turned a mini celebrity. Their Sapele home quickly wore a Mecca kind of tourist attraction. Guests of various calibre flooded her home. Like baby Jesus, several gifts ranging from school fees, school bags, book, cash and promises of scholarship flowed her direction.

    The following day, Success displayed her new school bag with gratitude to the kindhearted Nigerians.

    As Nigerians continue to show support for Success wellbeing, a Dublin based Youth leader, Mr. Lucky Fasa Eghagbevwa has moved a step ahead in preparing a successful life for Success. FASA has opened an account for her at First Bank PLC, Sapele, to enable her save whatever she has earned and will continue to receive. Though, Success is eight, the likes of Fasa has successfully planned a better future for her through Fasa Hope Foundations/ Fasa Volunteers for Oboro.

    It is worthy of note that this is not the first time Mr Lucky Fasa Eghagbevwa is opening bank accounts for children. In July 2018, he opened over 30 bank accounts for children in Christ Hope Academy, Ekpan. Uvwie Local Government Area, Delta State.

    When news men contacted Mr Lucky Fasa, on why he opened this account, he simply said that miss Success needs an educational trust fund rather than spending the money she is getting now for unnecessary things.

    Consequently, the Delta State Government has since began the renovation of Success’ school and had sanctioned the head teacher for demanding illegal fees from her pupils.

    For those who are willing to donate their token towards Success educational fund should make their donations to this : Account no is :3135820709
    Account name: Adegor Success
    Bank: First Bank, Sapele

    May the Almighty God bless Fasa for this wise initiative.

  • 50 acronyms for social media professionals

    50 acronyms for social media professionals

    In social media, acronyms are both common and useful as they enable the delivery of complex messages with just a few keystrokes.

    However, the real challenge is being able to recognize the litany of mismatched consonants, vowels, and numerals that comprise these acronyms.

    Understanding social media acronyms plays an important role in your texting life.

    You will also find them being widely used in business meetings, sales and marketing reports, and—most notably—by anyone who works in IT.

    Before you get too frustrated by all the ICYMIs and IDKs, take a look at this list.

    Chances are in this list you will find the one that has been baffling you for the longest time.

    • FB stands for Facebook.
    • IG stands for Instagram.
    • G+ stands for Google+.
    • YT stands for YouTube.
    • LI stands for LinkedIn.

     

    • RT = “Retweet,” which is when you publish another user’s Tweet to your own Twitter feed.
    • DM = “Direct Message,” or a message that is only visible to the individuals involved in the conversation.
    • MT = “Modified Tweet,” and is used as a courtesy to inform of changes made when retweeting. For example, the tweet could have been shortened to meet the character limit or to remove the poster’s handle.
    • B2B = “Business to Business,” referring to companies that market to other companies.
    • B2C = “Business to Consumer,” describing a company that markets to individuals.

     

    • CTA = “Call to Action”—a statement that encourages the reader to take action. It usually denotes a specific action that relates to maximizing a company’s social media presence, or facilitating a buying decision.
    • CMS = “Content Management System”—a tool used to edit, schedule, and publish any kind of online written material.
    • CPC = “Cost per Click,” defining the amount of money advertisers pay for each person who clicks to view an ad, or another piece of online content.
    • PPC stands for “Pay per Click” and means the same thing as CPC.
    • CPM = “Cost per Thousand,” which is tricky because the “M” is for the Latin “mil,” which means thousand.
    • CTR = “Click-Through Rate,” and it is a certain type of conversion rate where the specific action is to click a link.

     

    • UGC = “User Generated Content,” encompassing any and all visual or written content individuals create on a specific platform. This includes comments, blog posts, photos, video clips, and more.
    • PV = “Page Views,” which is self-explanatory.
    • ROI = “Return on Investment,” measuring the money made as a result of what was spent to make it.

     

    • RSS = “Really Simple Syndication,” describing a feed of all content posted from a specific source, primarily a blog.
    • HTML = “Hypertext Markup Language.” This is the foundational coding language used in the development of webpages.
    • ISP = “Internet Service Provider,” the company powering your Internet service and that of your employer’s.
    • SEO = “Search Engine Optimization,” a type of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). It governs written content that is strategically developed to help a page rank higher in a search for specific criteria.
    • UI = “User Interface,” the visual display a person uses to manipulate data in a program. The buttons on your cell phone screen are common examples of UI.
    • TOS = “Terms of Service.” Nearly every website and online entity has one. It designates a set of rules that individuals must agree to, if they want to use the site or service.
    • UX = “User Experience,” referring to someone’s reaction and response to utilizing online tools.

     

    • BFF = “Best Friends Forever.”
    • BTW = “By the Way.”
    • AFAIK = “As Far as I Know.”
    • BAE = “Before Anyone Else.” This one is more recent, and refers either to someone’s significant other or a close friend.
    • IDC = “I Don’t Care.”
    • BRB = “Be Right Back.” This is often used to signify that someone has temporarily left a real-time chat or conversation.
    • FTW = “For the Win,” and is a throwback to game shows like “Tic-Tac-Dough” where the phrase was commonly used by a contestant who had achieved a competitive advantage over his or her opponents.
    • FYI = “For Your Information,” and predates the Internet.
    • ILY = “I Love You.” Awww…

     

    • ICYMI = “In Case You Missed It,” used most frequently when sharing a piece of content that is currently creating a buzz on social media.
    • IMO = “In My Opinion.”
    • IMHO = “In My Humble Opinion,” which cushions the IMO blow in certain conversations.
    • NM = “Not Much.”
    • NSFW = “Not Safe for Work” is used as a warning that the material behind a link contains language or content not suitable for the workplace.
    • IDK = “I Don’t Know.”
    • JK or J/K = “Just Kidding.” This one is particularly helpful in conveying the kind of light-hearted tone that can escape the grasp of communication via text.
    • LOL = “Laughing Out Loud,” and is one of the oldest on the Internet. It has variations like LMAO (“Laughing My A** Off ”), ROFL (“Rolling on the Floor Laughing”), and even a merger of all three: ROFLMAO (Rolling on Floor Laughing My A** Off).

     

    • IRL = “In Real Life” is used to distinguish between things that happen in the physical, as opposed to the virtual world.
    • NBD = “No Big Deal.”
    • NVM = “Never Mind.”
    • OMG = “Oh My God” or “Oh My Gosh.”
    • SMH = “Shaking My Head.” It is used most frequently to express emotions like frustration or dismay.
    • TBT = “Throwback Thursday,” and is now very popular at the time of this writing. It precedes posts of old pictures, products, etc. mostly from the person’s own past.
    • WTF = “What the F***.” Not terribly appropriate for work or business…
    • YOLO = “You Only Live Once,” and has been popularized online by the Hip-Hop artist Drake in the last couple years.

     

  • Two chiefs quit as Facebook reorganizes

    Chris Cox, Facebook Chief Product Officer and Chris Daniels, Vice President for WhatsApp have both left the company.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made this known as the company reorganizes to become privacy-focused.

    Zuckerberg said his social media platform is reorganizing to become more centered around making private messaging, stories and groups the foundation of the experience, including enabling encryption and interoperability across services.

    Expressed sadness Cox and Daniels left at this time, while also deeply grateful for their contribution to the firm.

    “While it is sad to lose such great people, this also creates opportunities for more great leaders who are energized about the path ahead to take on new and bigger roles,” Zuckerberg said.

    Will Cathcart will be taking over as the new head of WhatsApp and Zuckerberg has left Cox’s role vacant.

    “Instead, the leaders of Facebook (Fidji Simo), Instagram (Adam Mosseri), Messenger (Stan Chudnovsky), and WhatsApp (Will Cathcart) will report directly to me, and our Chief Marketing Officer (Antonio Lucio) will report directly to Sheryl,” the Facebook CEO stated.

  • Facebook gets proactive against revenge porn

    Facebook gets proactive against revenge porn

    Facebook has announced new detection technology and an online resource hub to proactively fight against revenge porn on the platform.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports revenge porn, also known as non-consensual intimate images, is sharing someone’s intimate images without their permission.

    “Finding these images goes beyond detecting nudity on our platforms.

    “By using machine learning and artificial intelligence, we can now proactively detect near nude images or videos that are shared without permission on Facebook and Instagram,” Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Global Head of Safety said in a blog post.

    This means that Facebook can now find revenge porn contents before anyone reports them.

    Davis, however, said a specially-trained team member will review the contents found by the technology, before they are removed.

    “If the image or video violates our Community Standards, we will remove it, and in most cases we will also disable an account for sharing intimate content without permission,” he said.

    Meanwhile, there is an appeals process if someone believes Facebook made a mistake for removing a particular content.

  • Social media can increase children’s unhealthy food intake, research suggests

    Exposure to social media marketing of unhealthy food could lead to an immediate increase in children’s intake of unhealthy food with more calories, a new study published in Pediatrics suggested.

    The researchers from the University of Liverpool in Britain designed a control experiment which consisted of 176 participants aged nine to 11.

    The researchers said the study was aimed at examining the impact of social media marketing of snack foods on children’s snack intake.

    The participants were randomly split into three equal groups with each assigned to one of three influencer-marketing conditions: healthy food marketing, unhealthy food marketing, and non-food marketing.

    The result showed that children in the group that viewed unhealthy snack images consumed 31.5 per cent more calories from unhealthy snacks specifically, and 25.5 percent more calories in total compared with children, who saw non-food images (the control group).

    According to the study, though acute experimental exposure to influencers promoting unhealthy food on social media revealed direct influence on children’s food intake, healthy food endorsements on social media had little or no effect on them regarding healthy food intake.

    “Tighter restrictions are needed around the digital marketing of unhealthy foods that children are exposed to, and vloggers should not be permitted to promote unhealthy foods among vulnerable young people on social media,” Anna Coates, a member of the research team, said in a report published on the university’s website.

     

  • How social media use affects teens mental health

    Social media is a daily part of life for the vast majority of teens and for many, social media platforms are becoming almost addictive. It comes as no surprise as there is a much greater good that comes with better use of social media platforms, as social media can be used for connecting, communicating, collaborating, advocacy and lot more.

    However, too much of every good thing, they say, is bad. It is hard to find a teenager without one social media profile or the other. More also, most teens visit social networking sites on a daily basis.

    A report by Common Sense Media found that more than a third of teens visit their main social networking site several times a day. A study by UCLA brain mapping center found that certain regions of teen brains became activated by “likes” on social media, sometimes causing them to want to use social media more.

    During the study, researchers used an fMRI scanner to image the brains of 32 teenagers as they used a fictitious social media app resembling Instagram. The teenagers were shown more than 140 images where “likes” were believed to be from their peers. However, the likes were actually assigned by the research team.

    As a result, the brain scans revealed that in addition to a number of regions, the nucleus accumbens, part of the brain’s reward circuitry, was especially active when they saw a large number of likes on their own photos. According to researchers, this area of the brain is the same region that responds when we see pictures of people we love or when we win money.

    What’s more, researchers say that this reward region of the brain is particularly sensitive during the teen years, which could explain why teens are so drawn to social media.

    Undoubtedly, social networking plays a vital role in broadening teen social connections and helping them learn valuable technical skills.

    But what impact is all of this social networking having on young teen minds?

    Sleep deprivation

    Sometimes teens spend so many hours on social media that they begin to lose valuable sleep. Consequently, this sleep loss can lead to moodiness, a drop in grades, and overeating, as well as exacerbate existing problems like depression, anxiety, and ADD.

    Communication issues

    While social media is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, it also is not the same as face-to-face communication. For instance, a teen cannot see a person’s facial expressions or hear their tone of voice online. As a result, it is very easy for misunderstandings to occur, especially when people try to be funny or sarcastic online.

    What’s more, many teens spend so much time online checking statuses and likes that they forget to interact with the people right in front of them.

    Anxiety

    Teens often feel emotionally invested in their social media accounts. Not only do they feel pressure to respond quickly online, but they also feel pressure to have perfect photos and well-written posts, all of which can cause a great deal of anxiety. In fact, some studies have found that the larger a teen’s social circle online the more anxiety they feel about keeping up with everything online.

    Depression

    Researchers are just beginning to establish a link between depression and social media. While they have not actually discovered a cause and effect relationship between social media and depression, they have discovered that social media use can be associated with an intensification of the symptoms of depression, including a decrease in social activity and an increase in loneliness.

    Envy

    Jealousy and envy—while normal emotions—can wreak havoc on teen brains if they dwell on what someone else has possessed or has experienced, that they themselves have not. And because people tend to post only the positive things that they experience, or make light of the bad with funny little anecdotes, it can appear to the reader that other people lead more exciting lives than they do.

    Unfortunately, what teens often do not realize is that people tend to only post their “highlight reel” on social media and often keep the mundane or difficult experiences off the Internet. As a result, another person’s life may look perfect online, but offline they have struggles just like anyone else.

     

  • 2019 elections: Beware of social media results – INEC

    2019 elections: Beware of social media results – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kebbi state, has urged politicians to be wary of social media posts after voting prior to the official declaration of result by the commission.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Alhaji Ahmad Mahmud, gave the advice during an interactive session with stakeholders in Birnin Kebbi on Monday.

    “Fake news is now a trend and can mar our efforts to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

    “We urge you to be wary of social media posted results before official declaration.

    “Only INEC Returning Officers at wards, local governments and state levels have the statutory authority and power to declare the results,” he said.

    He said that 1,938,171 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were received from INEC headquarters out of which 1,860,239 were distributed, leaving 77,932 PVCs unclaimed.

    “We have all the sensitive materials at CBN custody, so we have no fear for the materials now.

    “I collected the remaining sensitive materials that we had been awaiting for and by Wed, Feb. 20, we are going to start distributing them to remote areas and by Fri. 22.

    “We hope to finish the distribution in all the 21 local government areas of the state.”

    According to him, the state has 225 wards, 1,345 voting points and 2,398 polling units in the 21 local government areas.

    “We still maintain our arrangement as we had earlier told before the postponement that, we are going to use 520 vehicles in the transportation of ad hoc staff and election materials.

    “This is part of our arrangement with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Federal Road Service Corps (FRSC) as well as security agencies on transportation.”

    He assured that INEC was determined to ensure free, transparent and fair elections but urged the people to continue to pray for successful conduct of the exercise.

    The REC said that special arrangements had also been made to take care of physically challenged persons to enable them exercise their franchise without hitches.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the stakeholders at the interactive session were security agencies, representatives of political parties, traditional and religious leaders as well as various NGOs and CSOs.

  • My new TV series is inspired by social media- Amanda Ebeye

    Prolific actress and filmmaker, Amada Ebeye is presently on the set of her much anticipated TV series, ’It’s a crazy world’.

    In a chat with TheNewsGuru, the ‘Weeping Tiger’ actress who has featured in several soap-operas noted that her TV series is inspired by social media

    “The general message of ‘It’s a crazy world’ is that we are tackling issues that deal with the use of social media. Social media is an amazing thing and has made many people rich, but also destroying a lot of people that don’t know how to use it.People feel intimidated a lot on social media thinking other people are better than them, because of the pictures that they see. The major thing I tell people is that you see a picture of a person smiling on social media you don’t know if the person cried before posting that picture”.

     

    Speaking further, she shared her thoughts on the inspiration behind the title of the TV series.

    “I decided to go for the title because of the content of what I am shooting .It’s a comedy which has a lot of competition, struggles, it’s funny and at the same time has so much people can learn from and it touches so many aspects of life. ‘It’s a crazy world’ just digs into people’s personal lives and puts it out there on the screen for you to see what happens when they are not smiling on social media. Before you say someone is better than you try and know about the person’s personal life”.

     

    Ebeye noted that If she isn’t an actress, she might not be as active and engaging as she is on social media.

    “I am on social media all the time, I am an actress so it’s a very important tool for me, but If I wasn’t an actress I ask myself ‘Would I really be on social media’ because I am an extremely private person? Even to post my pictures on Instagram at times can be a lot of work. Right now it’s a competition on social media, you see people who are not actors, actresses or musicians, but are celebrities”.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • 2019: Facebook to show voting day reminder on Election Day

    2019: Facebook to show voting day reminder on Election Day

    As Nigeria counts hours to the 2019 general elections, Facebook has said it will show a voting day reminder at the top of Facebook’s News Feed on Election Day.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Ms Akua Gyekye, Facebook’s Public Policy Manager, Africa Elections made this known on Wednesday in Lagos.

    She said the firm had taken eight steps to protect election integrity in Nigeria and Africa.

    Gyekye said with the number of upcoming elections across Africa, Facebook was committed to reducing the spread of misinformation, protect election integrity and support civic engagement across the continent, including Nigeria.

    She said the social media giant had in recent times dedicated unprecedented resources to these efforts globally, especially in Africa where its efforts had been focused in eight key areas.

    According to her, the eight areas include fighting false news, boosting digital literacy to help people spot false news, promoting civic engagement, making political ads more transparent and proactive removal of impersonation accounts.

    She said it also included connecting with political parties about security, undertaking the training of journalists on practices for sharing content on its platforms and partnerships with NGOs and civil society groups on the continent.

    ”We want to stop the spread of false news on our platforms. That is why we have teamed up with local third-party fact-checkers across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal.

    ”They include Africa Check, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Pesa Check (a local Kenyan fact-checking organisation) and Dubawa (a local Nigerian fact-checking organisation).

    ”These independent groups help us assess the accuracy of news shared on Facebook, and when they determine content is false, we reduce its distribution in News Feed so fewer people see it.

    ”We also show related articles from fact-checkers for more contexts and notify users if a story they have shared is rated as false,” she said in a statement.

    Gyekye said that in Nigeria, WhatsApp had worked with Africa Check and CrossCheck Nigeria to let users send questions about potential rumours they have received through the platform.

    She said that these fact-checking expansions were part of a broader strategy to fight fake news that included extensive work to remove fake accounts and cut off incentives to the financially-motivated actors that spread misinformation.

    Gyekye said that Facebook had also intensified efforts to help people spot false news on their own and to flag it, rolling out educational tips on national and regional radio and in print media across Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

    She said that in Nigeria, WhatsApp had launched its ”Share Facts, Not Rumours” campaign, to help increase awareness about hoaxes.

    According to her, at the end of 2018, Facebook began a new online safety programme for students in Nigerian secondary schools.

    She said that the 12-week workshop was designed to help teenagers understand the fundamentals of online safety and digital literacy.

    Gyekye said that Facebook was also promoting civic engagement around the elections.

    She said that in Nigeria, the firm had rolled out new options in English and Hausa, so people could report posts that contain incorrect election information, encourage violence or otherwise violate its community standards.

    According to her, on Election Day, Facebook will show a voting day reminder in English and Hausa at the top of Facebook’s News Feed.

    ”Arguably one of its boldest moves to date, Facebook is also making political ads more transparent across the globe including Africa.

    ”Earlier this month, it began temporarily expanding enforcement and not accepting foreign election ads on Facebook in Nigeria to help prevent foreign interference.

    ”Another measure deployed has been the proactive removal of impersonation accounts, thanks to recent advancements in its detection technology, which has made it to become much more effective at identifying these accounts.

    ”We want Facebook and WhatsApp to be places where people feel safe, can access accurate information and make their voices heard.

    ”We are making significant investments, both in products and in people, and continue to improve in each of these areas,” Gyekye said.

     

  • SMW: Using social media platforms to contribute positively

    Due to the impact social media platforms have in moulding people’s perception, influencers are urged to use their platform to build, contribute positively and improve on the narrative and happenings in the society.

    The Panellists gave the advice at the ongoing Social Media Week (SMW) Lagos on Friday while speaking on “Influential Content: Using Storytelling To Drive Social Change In The Digital Age’’.

    According to them, the influencers should lend their voices using various media in speaking up against social injustice, holding leaders accountable, as well as inspiring people to positive actions such as running for public office and making their votes count.

    A Panellist, Mr Victor Ekpo Bassey, Founder, Expert Business School, urged the public not to ignore the power of storytelling in building good content.

    According to him, once one is on social media, he should be mindful of the fact that people are watching what he pushes out and any negative can make or mar the person.

    “The word story means a journey and a transformation takes place in the journey which can lead to changes and it behoves on one to be responsible and be able to change that narrative

    “The internet is filled with people with specific inclination; so the need to understand that people have various way of communicating. One should not be pushed to do otherwise.

    “There is no second chance in social media. People will want to know if you are trustworthy,’’ he said.

    Mrs Ugochi Obidiegwu, Managing Partner, Ulomka, said that anyone that wanted to make change happen, should begin with personal change.

    According to her, the contents pushed out in social media should be able to help one make good decisions.

    “There should be positive digital training and understand the implication of what we are pushing out.

    “In pushing contents online, one should be security conscious as anything pushed out is difficult to retrieve when another person has picked it, ‘’ she said.

    Another panellist, Oluwatosin Ajibade, Blogger, Olorisupergal, said that story telling was important when one wanted to drive social change in the digital age.

    According to her, the positive attributes one pushes out online will help in moulding people’s perceptions of things that happen in the society.

    “Every Social media platform has its own way of addressing issues and helping others; so one should know which will be beneficial.

    “One should be focused online, understanding that a slip can cost the owner of the content,’’ she said.