What Can We Share On Social Media Platforms?

I didn’t share it because I couldn’t share it. It wasn’t because I couldn’t bare it. But I reminded myself to be mindful and tactful. To be careful and be considerate about what I could share with my colleagues and friends on the Social Media platforms (SMP). Fact is being circumspect in what we do, what we say, what we write and what we share, helps us as individuals or groups to avoid slip-ups and bad consequences.

That notwithstanding, we all falter one way or the other at times. It’s common knowledge that as users of the social media sometimes we tend to tilt the positive handle of the clock to the negative side (anti-clockwise), whenever we ignore these guiding principles if you like.

Indeed what we can share or not share on social media platforms has always been an issue or a bone of contention among group members. And if you haven’t faced or heard this question then you could pass as the ‘Stranger in Jerusalem.’ It’s a question that rears its head almost every day and users are very familiar with it. Over the weekend a colleague on a platform asked me: “What can I share on the social media platforms?”

My response: I wish I can tell you to share everything. Share anything and everything that you consider to be appropriate, decent, encouraging, motivating, and insightful: Anything that informs educates and entertains. Anything that doesn’t offend one’s sensibilities, anything that you wouldn’t like someone to post on the platform(s) Mind you, what you might find to be offensive, others may see it otherwise. So, I think, making a sound judgement all the time would help a lot to avoid the bumps on the road. But if you’re in doubt or indecisive as to what to share consult the Platform’s Admin or a friend via inbox.

Groups on social media can also influence what one could share on platforms. The groups vary from class, gender, sex, race, age, faith to professionals. So which one do you belong?

Is it a college year group say ‘Class ’94?

Is it a group of professionals?
Or is it a platform for the ‘Sweet 16ners’?

I have always maintained that we must attach decorum in our postings. By doing so we will afford everyone the opportunity to express his/her views, display photos, videos, post articles and messages etc. Above all, we will be able to achieve the desired goals and objectives. Also it must be noted that unnecessary censorship would stifle interest in participation. Remember, one’s treasure is another’s trash. But also don’t forget the watchword—circumspection.

Besides, the question as to who’s doing what and how it’s going to be done often remains problematic. You totally have no clue, what you’re going to see or read the moment you switch your cell phone back on. Sometimes the goods are good and other times they come in bad tastes. There are absolutely no gatekeepers in this field. You wield the trump card and you decide what’s at your disposal. Someone wrote: “If you can’t watch them just ignore or delete them and stop whining.”

It could be a prank message about the death of a loved one or a video made up to create panic and fear. There was a disturbing video shared on a certain platform a couple of days ago. It had a huge snake (python I suppose) swallowing a young lady believed to be a student.in an upscale hotel in Nigeria. The clip raised eyebrows. The poster graciously deleted it without crying foul.

There’d also been rumours of deaths churned out by the social media regarding Her Majesty the Queen of England, boxing legend Mike Tyson, African billionaire Aliko Dangote and Ghana’s football maestro Abedi Ayew Pele and many more. Suffice to say every hour generates something new, something eerie.

Can governments control SM contents?
By far the New Media today have done or are doing incredible and unimaginable things. They’ve made our world so tiny, shone mega lights on our secrets, traditions and mores. Privacy has found herself at the eastern window of course. And what more we can tweet, we can whatsapp and we can facebook whilst in bed and even driving.

Despite its marked advantages governments, institutions, agencies etc. across the world have raised concerns about contents put out by the social media. The concerns have to do with indecent materials, vicious attacks, defamatory messages, scary and gory images and many more.

On Thursday 20 April Ghana President Akufo-Addo made known his government’s plan to regulate contents of the social media. He said: “My government will institute regulations to guide and control indecent social media content. “

According to him regulating indecent communication was essential and could help control contents posted on social media which would also avoid denigrating Ghanaian societal norms and values.

It is not clear when this regulatory plan will take off. In the run-up to the 2016 general elections then Inspector General of Police threatened to shut down internet services across the country. He said the move was to install sanity in the atmosphere and also ensure users of social media did not put out unsubstantiated information.

Around January this year the U S President Donald Trump also disclosed his government’s plan to shut down its own social media accounts in an effort to combat what they saw as politicisation at some government agencies. Already the administration had barred the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using its social media accounts and from issuing press releases an unnamed staffer for the agency told Fox News.

“Not the most inspiring time at EPA right now but we’re fighters,’ the staffer said.

Elsewhere in Turkey in 2016 the government shut down social media, detained elected legislators from leftist pro-Kurdish party.

Elsewhere in Turkey in 2016 the government shut down social media and also detained elected legislators from leftist pro-Kurdish party.

Would the social media be able to withstand governments’ shutdowns or regulations?

That remains to be observed going forward. Users of the social media myself included spend hours on varied platforms as if we are at the stores and malls looking for different merchandise. Through google search engine I looked into what’s called in the industry as ‘Infographic.’

I found out the amount of time people spend on social media is increasing. The most users are teens. Teens are reported to spend nearly or up to nine hours a day on social media platforms, while 30 per cent of all time spent online is now allocated to social media interaction, according to writer, Evans Asano.

Amazingly, Mr. Asano reported that the average person would spend nearly two hours (approximately. 116 minutes) on social media every day, which translates to a total of 5 years and 4 months spent over a lifetime.

Ii is understood that the total time spent on social media beats time spent on eating and drinking, socializing and grooming. As to how much each media’s share in the time constitute or translate into: The beak down are as follows, YouTube comes first, consuming over minutes of a person’s day (i.e. 1 year and 10 months in a life time.

Facebook users, the report says, will spend an average of 35 minutes a day totaling 1 year and 7 months in a lifetime. Snapchart and Instagram come in next with 25 minutes and 15 minutes spent per day, respectively. Lastly, users will spend 1 minute on Twitter, spanning 18 days of usage in a lifetime, the report concluded.