Social Media Clinic to hold in Abuja Friday

Social Media Clinic (SMC), a platform which seeks to counter the irresponsible use of social networks, will take place in Abuja on Friday.

Founded by Sunday Dare, an executive commissioner at the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the clinic has the mandate of correcting ills in the society through engagement and sensitisation.

Some of the speakers at the second edition of SMC programme are Tolu Ogunlesi, special assistant to the president on digital media; Simon Kolawole, chief executive of Cable Newspaper Limited;  Gbenga Olonrunpomi, media aide of current Kogi governor, and Tunji Lardner, communication specialist – at the event.

In a statement issued on Wednesday,  Razaq Ivori, coordinator of the event, explained that the platform was set to up “to encourage the coming together of well-meaning journalists, writers, bloggers and concerned citizens into a countering force for inciting, false and sometimes evil media threatening a people’s right to a good reputation, peace and prosperity”.

“Social media is set up to be a socio-conscious check for today’s upscale instant journalism in sachet media, a free for all to write and publish whatever. The second edition of Social Media Clinic comes up on May 5, 2017. From 6pm to 9pm at 805, African Lounge 93, Aminu Kano Crescent, Abuja,” he said.

“The idea of a Social Media Clinic as a forum to sanitise the social media space and general blogsphere has become necessary.

“In the face of the onslaught of multiple platforms for information dissemination, the growth of citizen journalism and the ease and spontaneity with which information can be shared and spread globally, we know live in a world where no one is safe and nothing is hidden.

“The space between private life and the public has since been eroded. As social online news media becomes widespread, the leeway of using it inappropriately putting at risk hard earned reputation of individuals and corporate bodies has become a norm.

Ivori also said the forum would seek to interact with users of the internet space and to inculcate in them a new sense of responsibility in the way they spread, share, generate and report news and information.

“For every right enjoyed, there is a corresponding responsibility. SOCIAL MEDIA CLINIC as a collective believes that -The only safe and recommended way to regulate social media is through social media itself,” he said.

“A body of people must come together and stand for the forthrightness of journalism. We must begin to disseminate news with virtue and ethics that the profession demands. Online journalism is in need of serious refinement. The Social Media Clinic comes as a body to synergise and sensitise the art of journalism in mainstream online media.”