Is social media a positive impact on Africa As Shared By Bright Tenbil On TEDxGIJ?

TED is a unique thought-provoking platform that globally organizes events across various countries. One distinct and educative event that is organized by TED is the TEDx. TEDx events have proven to be one of the most insightful and life changing event that brings together speakers of diverse backgrounds to speak on pressing issues.

On 16th December 2021, there was a TEDx event in Ghana, at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), dubbed TEDxGIJ. There were 5 speakers at the event who spoke on the theme ‘Ghana, Africa, and Beyond’.  In the wake of globalization and the influence of social media in various industries, a speaker; Bright Tenbil spoke on the topic ‘Social media is a Drug’.

Bright Tenbil is a digital marketing expert with experience in brand promotion, social media management, and advertisement from Ghana.

Speaking on the impact of social media on Africans, he analyzed various perspectives how Africans make great gains using social media. Social media can be used as an effective marketing and learning tool through which several African businesses and initiatives have received global reach and recognition.

Nonetheless, we can’t extricate the several incidences of cyberbullying, false identities, and deceptions on social media. In addition, Bright explains how big tech companies with access to our data, monetize our data and present us with targeted advertisements. He puzzles and asks, ‘do we really have our privacy, like promised?’. He emphasizes that the detriments of social media are as much as its benefits.

The speaker opines that the third world war is happening with major tech disruptions with incidences like the swift takeover of Viber by WhatsApp and Clubhouse by TwitterSpaces.

The extreme competition among WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat, leading to the similarity in features amongst some of these social media platforms, for example, the Snapchat feature mimicked by WhatsApp Status.

He acclaimed how all these social media platforms compete for the same audience, therefore the need for either of them to be proactive in their operations.

The major pivot of his submission was the need for Africans to take control of social media and utilize it for their personal development, although social media may present several challenges.