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Recently social media burst with a trending topic #iwafikiewazazi. We all watched in disbelief semi-nudes of our younger sisters and brothers going viral. The most vulgar scene to be associated with. We can all agree that social media has immense influential power over modern society a reason Cambridge Analytica got a soft patch to gain data.
The year 2008 is already registered in the annals of history as the darkest in the memoir of Kenya since it became a sovereign state. Elusive peace, bloodletting, venomous utterances, and infuriated Kenyans going for each other’s throats, were common scenes for a few weeks. Kenya suddenly turned into a ghostly state baffling herself, her neighbors, and the international community alike.
But social media users are guilty as charged. Concepts and pillars of tribalism, nepotism, regionalism, sectarian ideologies, name them, were crafted and “marketed” by some of the best brains in social media marketing.
Social Media as a Distraction Tool
We all watched with amazement, hilarity, and cynicism as the crack grew wider to pave the way for hatred fanned by propaganda-based hashtags in well-calculated moves to divert attention from the realities of life faced by many Kenyans and to further the interests of a few who could pay for such trending news.
What filled the airwaves in the form of political advertising left our professionalism and humanity in serious doubt. To a certain group of people, these hashtags made a perfect joke whereas to the other group, the same were mere insults. This widened the gap further.
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Not all wounds are meant to heal, some just stop bleeding. The 2008 wounds are still fresh in our minds, our irreplaceable loved ones stare at us from the grave in disbelief. Those who paid the ultimate price for having a certain surname or for being born in a certain region.
We pocketed handsome sums for running conflicting ideas. We were easily bought to bring confusion to the airwaves strategically by introducing a new topic to sugarcoat the ills of our masters. I mean for instance when Jacob Juma died the hashtag #RIPJACOBJUMA filled the media. When money speaks the truth is kept silent and in silence, hashtag #Kabeteswasnosaint took the stage. Recently #LordofImpunity vs #ThecliqueatJudiciary locked horns countering each other.
Do we ever think of how poor social media marketing has contributed to the problems we are currently facing? Did we care to ascertain that the posts we make were within the ethical code of digital media marketing? My answer is no, we didn’t at all.
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We either for love of money or sheer ignorance, yielded to and perpetuated the dirty political schemes without contemplating the consequences of the message we were passing across to the public. In nick of time, the Kenya we knew was burning out of anger.
No doubt, politicians needed our input in communicating their ideologies and thoughts, but it was our duty as professionals to do so without sounding like “drums of war”. Unfortunately, we’ve failed the test and the rest is history.
It is the same country, our beloved Kenya, we need to get time and take a deep and sincere look at our actions. They are piling up daily. We should sit down and think about the Genesis of woes in any vicinity and make sound adjustments.
