Social media can be used to champion good causes instead of spreading hate

What you need to know:

  • Social media is there for you to share your opinion, but you must not emotionally or verbally attack others.
  • If you are going to perpetuate anything, at the very least let it be the truth.
  • Your social media page is a megaphone, and the more you shout the more we are likely to hear you.
  • Let us strive to make social media enjoyable.

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow to find that all social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and WhatsApp — have been deleted, never to return?

Social media is currently in open season, spewing venom at any opinion you give. But aren’t we entitled to object? After all, this is a public platform where one are free to share his or her thoughts.

However, regardless of your views, you have a personal and public duty to use your social media account responsibly. Public etiquette does not allow us to walk around calling each other names and telling each other where to go. It is objectionable for you to walk right up to strangers and start telling them your thoughts on their outfits.

Yes, social media is there for you to share your opinion, but you must not emotionally or verbally attack others.

TRUTH

If you are going to perpetuate anything, at the very least let it be the truth. This is not the truth as you know it, but the absolute truth that is beyond question.

Your social media page is a megaphone, and the more you shout the more we are likely to hear you. Social media is a powerful and delicate tool that can cause damage of great proportions when mishandled by sharing information that is inaccurate. Most of us are blasé and do not verify the source or the information we are receiving. The sheer visible chain of forwards, retweets and shares give this bogus information legitimacy, making it seem like the undeniable truth.

It is quite easy for us to identify with and share information that aligns with our interests. However, sometimes, much as it hits home, it is fake.

Take a few minutes to distinguish the fake from the real. If it is true, by all means shout it through your megaphone to your followers.

FAKE NEWS

If it is untrue, do not knowingly and wilfully undermine the truth to make others riled up. ‘Fake news,’ as we now call it, is creating a negative online ecosystem that is dysfunctional and socially destructive.

Furthermore, do not read the truth and create your own version of the truth through selective snippets to commodify content because it sells or gains you followers. It is known that social media is supposedly an objective source of wisdom and insight for quite a number; do not mislead them. Even a thief has 40 days.

In all this, social media is a privilege. Growing up in the era of President Moi, for most, the closest they got to His Excellency was by the roadside, waving the Kenyan flag and dancing as he took a brief stop to say hello to the wananchi while on his way to a public function. Now, you can tweet President Uhuru Kenyatta or even interact with him directly through Facebook Live. If we did not know what devolution is, having first hand direct access to the President is the epitome. Let us pause on that for a minute.

INSULTS

If we reassigned just an eighth of the time we spend hurling insults at each other to raise objective public concerns over our healthcare, security, economy, and sports with the President, we would be a few hundred kilometres ahead.

It is futile for you to tweet or Facebook us when we lack the practical capabilities of changing things. Take meaningful action by communicating your aggravations to the one person who can do something about it. Use your social media page wisely, and we will get a lot done as a country.

On this point, perhaps President Kenyatta should have a segment of ‘The President’s Question Time’ every week.

Finally, let us strive to make social media enjoyable. King Solomon said there is a time for everything, including a time for banter.

In this political season and beyond, we could use a good laugh, albeit not at the expense of others. After all, laughter is the best medicine, and God knows we need to heal as a country. Let us not always be so political and hot headed that we miss out on making human connections through social media. Be a socially aware, image and content conscious social media user.

The writer works with international businesses on commercial litigation. [email protected]