Twitter was unavailable online for a few hours in Lagos recently. This came as a surprise to many of its affected users. The outage was between 8:20 am GMT and 10:00 am GMT. Twitter later tweeted: “Some users are currently experiencing problems accessing Twitter. We are aware of the issue and are working towards a resolution.”
Meanwhile, in Lagos, radio stations had to air their programmes without reading tweets. For them Facebook may be verbose. They had to revert to the outdated way of getting feedback that is through text messages. This simply reveals the reach and impact of these burgeoning new media.
So, the question is-Does it mean that Nigerians cannot do without twitter? These outlined reasons will provide answers.
The Influencers
Many twitter influencers are smiling to the bank because they can use their solid social media presence to promote brands, events, and other internet marketing ideas. A tweet from them can immediately drive engagement and trigger conversations. If anything ever happens to twitter, many of them will lose their social media position.
Serve as Check on Government
Governments, today, dread social media especially twitter. It can make or mar any administration. This is why they have threatened, several times, to shut it or restrict access to it. In Nigeria, the citizenry adopt it as a tool for checking the government by expressing their views on any policy or programme they perceive anti-social. Quite a handful of governments will be excited if twitter ‘disappears’.
Build a Network of Virtual friends
With the rise in internet penetration and more smart phones in the hands of Nigerians, visiting friends is arguably out of the question. They now rely heavily on Facebook to keep tabs on friends, follow conversations on twitter and post pictures on Instagram. Through these various networks, people connect to educate themselves by organising tweet meets, and other offline social media events like the social media week.
Instant feedback
Companies now take their twitter presence serious since it can be a public relations tool for reaching out to customers. They receive complaints, resolve them and ensure that customers are comprehensively satisfied on. Without twitter, the instant resolution of complaints is not feasible. For example, you can easily contact a mobile service provider on twitter and get immediate response rather than calling their customer care where you have to wait for several minutes before the number will be picked.
Photo Credits: The NextWeb
