PICK OF THE WEEK (1)

It’s a fresh new week, and I can only hope for, and be optimistic about productivity and efficiency; above all, that things turn out positive for everyone. But they never always do, so I will just remain hopeful as all humans are. Pick of the pile is a brand new idea, so I thought to test it today. Should have come fresh from the press, but I have also been lazy at finishing my work. And I am sorry it didn’t come rushing out of the blocks as it should. But even though I hope that the publication can be as weekly as possible, I don’t pray for the laziness to be as frequent as that. So, I hope that you get to enjoy what I am trying to do, and also give me feedback on how ingenuous I can be, to serve you the best.

If you are on social media, you must know this already. Conversations can flood your timeline at breakneck speed. Depending on your degree of connection, a lot will happen and you’ll only get to see but a few. Some will get very popular and go viral, some might just be popular with an audience which you’re not a part of the ‘tribe’. Fret not! My job, is to try and scan the ecosystem, and get you some of the top viral conversations, hoping that I can give you a review of what was said, and what the reactions entailed. I’m lazy, so don’t expect me to do a thorough job. Neither should you expect me to feature your favorite picks of the pile. But if you’re so eager to, you can always send me your scoops. My pick of the week, will focus on conversations curated on twitter between September 8^th and 14th, 2014.

MY PICK

Oil Theft

  Exactly one week ago, at 9:56am, Aljazeera journalist, Rawya Rageh tweeted “About to tweet a series of crazy pictures from the powerful shoot we went on with combined task force fighting oil theft #Nigeria”. What followed, in 45 minutes of 17 twitpics, was a gory, sad story-telling of an oil war, still raging in the creeks of Nigeria’s Oil-rich Niger Delta. Years after the amnesty programme to free those parts, of militants and oil bunkering, it is slowly turning out to be a tough war for the government to win, as depicted in the mosaic below:

In a daring patrol, Rawya and her brave crew bring us gory images of environmental degradation from illegal oil refiners who dump toxic waste without a thought for the environmental impact, thereby destroying vital flora and fauna that help the famed delta thrive, and the measures carried out by federal agencies, which after discovering dangerously refined oil, refineries and bunkered oil, destroy them thereby, releasing more and more carbon to the atmosphere. Environmental activists like Uncle Nnimo will certainly be irked by the actions of both parties. With the Climate “Ban Ki Moon” Summit coming up on the 23^rd of September, climate change activists will certainly be on the lookout for news as these, and try to understand the position of the Nigerian government in the fight against climate change. Her tweets reached an average of 153K+ accounts and made an average impression of 172k+ (accounts that can possibly see the twitpics). Folks like Rosanwo had the most impressions, as they retweeted them to their timelines and many more people were able to see in graphic details, what seemingly happen in the Niger Delta daily, as the federal government wages war against oil bunkering, theft and illegal refinery.

 
Suicide

    On Friday 12^th, @BabajideFajodu drew my attention to a seemingly suicide, when his picture of a said Liberian, Kate, who hanged herself on a peach tree in Magodo district of Lagos went viral.

With 150+ retweets, Babajide's tweet was able to reach 96K+ accounts with an impression of 108K+. There were atleast 50 people who tweeted or quoted Babajide with the pictures with @Gidi_Traffic, @MrsMUFC, @Ayourb and a few others making up the bulk of the impressions even as it went viral for atleast two days. The reactions to his ‘reverse-snap-twitpic-report to Police-drive on’ we as hilarious, disturbing and empathic as Nigerians can be defined. 

The said Kate, had seemingly gone in to depression, after she turned up ill, and residents refused to interact and do busines with her, since she's Liberian, and the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease had made its way in to Nigeria through the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, to whom Nigerians now hold an eternal hate.

Am I Your Father's Mate?

While I was minding my business with apoti on the TL on Saturday, 13^th; something started filtering in with the line, “Am I your Father’s mate?” in it. Before I was done setting the apoti and sitting on it, jokes and memes were flying in from every angle, and when I realized the initial statement was used by Gen. Chris Olukolade, Defense Spokesperson, the stats were already staggering. Apparently, Mallam Jibo who had tweeted at General, must have just been plain honest in his tweet. And while General is still coming to terms with the freedom social media affords, I heard he deleted the said tweet. But not before I was able to screengrab the 'darn' thing! I just hope that General Chris Olukolade will come and subscribe to my short course on ethical use of social media for social good. An hour's session costs an affordable N15,000 only. With all the money making going on in the name of fighting insurgency as Mallam Jibo pointed out, I believe General Olukolade will be able to afford a couple of hours. 

  Goodluck Jonathan
  Early Sunday morning, news started filtering in of the pavilion collapse at the TAN rally in Minna. A public show of support for Mr. President as Nigerians seek to pressure him to run for a second term, the air was dented, when the pavilion came crashing on the dignitaries. There have been rumors of up to 40 persons severely injured including the wife of the ‘Chief-Servant’, and counter statements that no one was injured at all. Whatever the truth was, the story as reported by @Vanguardngrnews reached 415K handles, and had an exposure impression of 467K+ accounts. More and more media houses have reported it since and I expect the numbers to jump… 

Nigeria

I round off with a half-truth and sarcasm, when the handle @NotGoodluck tweeted: 

The Dassault/Dornier Alpha (NAF 466) fighter jet, one of 24 in the Nigerian Airforce fleet, which has been effectively deployed in various wars across the continent, was reported missing, even though some rumors have it that it was actually shot off the Adamawa skies. Official statements say it’s missing, and the there’s a concerted search for the pilots aboard. Amassing 150+ retweets and a couple of favorites, reaching 79K+ accounts, and making an impression of 89K+. The tweet from a parody account, links the missing jet story with that of a famed missing Chibok girls and a recent dismal performance by the nation’s senior football team which in the past, is responsbile for the unity and joy of the country.

   And that is it for this week. I hope it made sense? However, do let me know in the comment section. And if you have scoops for next week, mail them to kenneth.kolo@aiesec.net or tweet them at me - @KoloKennethK 

 

 

ABUJA (11)

Dear Abuja, aren't you in panic like Zaria, Awka?
I bring you saltwater shake, warm
For while men slept, #Ebola flew by night

*Poem was inspired by the recent 'salt water bath' rave which left Nigeria stricken and confused on the cure and prevention of the deadly Ebola virus

Aboki And The Rest Of Them All

As usual, I woke up one other morning, and picked up my career defining noise-making habit on twitter from where it left me off, when I sprawled on my bed and dozed off the night before. Not that I have a set schedule or agenda, but noise naturally comes to me, so I'm able to easily make them. And today, it was about derogatory words used on each other by Nigerians. Of course, the #Haiku, #OOMF and #Soliloquy hashtags will come along, sprinkled on the timeline before the end of the day, usually away from dedicated time for #EventWorthAttending, and other business-based tweets. It happened that I stumbled the ability to educate, entice, stimulate, inform and sensitize those who have given me the honor of a follow, of diverse issues, brands, products and what-have-you.

This country ehn? It is big. We are so big that my native Niger has 300 documented tribes, yet even most Nigerlites can only identify as few as can be counted on one finger. And so, when I hear that Nigeria comprises 350 tribes, I give off a sarcastic chuckle, as I known that the oyibo who did the counting, must have evaded 'mosquito-infested areas, and promptly rounded up the numbers.

Well, #ThatsNoneOfMyBusiness. The idea today, was to make noise to a level that I could start engaging people in long exciting conversations, and it wasn't long until my timeline went burst in flames. An added humor of threatening to block everyone who used the words on me, promptly brought succor to the recalcitrant whom every now and then, seek satisfaction in seeing me hurt like some 'overlords' whom rather than drinking ice-cold water, will rather block or engage in twitfights. That was how one handle died a natural death. Well, I mean, after dissing Yoruba boys (and most of what the handle said, were usually true). Anyways, RIP @Songhainese. Not the 'Kendra' behind the handle oh, but the handle.

So, the aftermath of it all was that I learned -- yet again, of more derogatory words used on Nigerians by Nigerians, and the apparent disunity, reference to Nigeria's 'major' tribe brings. I blame whoever categorized Nigeria across tribal lines, with Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo as major. Anyways, by the time it was 11am, aguru/ebi/yunwa dawned, and I trudged off my bed in search of breakfast. Thank God I found bananas in my neighbor's fridge, for the rest now, is history.

ABUJA (10)

Abuja, thy wetness amazes me...
See how Father Sky slips into you with ease?
Not a whimper of winds, lightening or thunder.

ABUJA (9)

Abuja is wet again
My bed is never spared
Whenever her demons are here again.

Localization of Search and the Proliferation of Mobile

My penultimate assignment in the course Understanding Media by Understanding Google on Coursera centered on the localization of news, books, politics, heroes, etc based on the convenience of generation Y and Z, to easily access them on their mobile. Thus, because a lot of people today are finding it harder to let go of their mobile devices (%75 of Americans are with their phones for up to 20 hours daily), there's that debate whether if peering in to phones in the middle of a task, is beneficial and deepening that original task because the person is engaged; or it is a distraction from the original task, because the individual is bored. Find my argument below:

Owen Youngman posits, that the new "local" will no longer be defined by physical attributes, but by convenience and ease or the use of less effort, especially in accessing news, or relevant information via digital media; albeit the ease that comes on our mobile devices. However, more than often, because we feel that "local" can go around with us in our pockets, mobile could begin to define "multi-tasking". I disagree with this growing notion, therefore, I opine that if someone instinctively and repeatedly picks up a mobile device to consume media (or conduct Google searches) while engaged in another activity, he/she is bored and seeking to be distracted from the first activity.

Before completing this assignment, I had not totally taken a look at all relevant course materials for the week, because I had a hashtag conference project, and had to do the reports before the end of the financial year, today. Thus, moving from one article, to watching Joe Kraus' video and then unto Youngman's seemed like a man seeking for answer from all materials at the same time -- "multi-tasking" like Joe Kraus said in his video. However, after four hours of that plus taking breaks to look at my tab, reply tweets, watch some Mexico vs Netherlands battle it out in Brazil, I had just written the first paragraph of this assignment, albeit, with the other assertion that "I was being engaged, and seeking to enhance and deepen the first activity".

But there could not be any better example to buttress my point than my own very experience, because after taking 45 minutes out to read Nicholas Carr's "Is Google making us Stupid" and another 20 minutes in keenly watching Kraus' video, I am now able to drop the report writing for my assignment, knowing that I'm not really multi-tasking,but distracting myself from accomplishing either tasks. Thus, because I feel that switching from one article to the other could quickly help me reach my answer faster, achieving "efficiency" and "immediacy" like Mr. Carr writes, results in me achieving nothing in the end.

The conclusion is that I have had to abandon the report for my assignment, and I'm glad to say that after 2 hours of reading and watching the course materials, I didn't only get better grasp of the question, I am able to complete my assignment before deadline, after which I shall now pursue my report writing in earnest.