The Real Facebook

The gruesome killing of Cynthia Osokogu Udoka, the 25-year old daughter of a retired Nigerian Major General, Frank Osokogu, by friends she made on Facebook, was jaw dropping and has left millions of Nigerians skeptical about the usefulness of the social media.

Cynthia’s killing and outrage that was generated after the murder seem to have overshadowed the importance of Facebook and the fact that, daily, millions of Nigerians use the world’s largest social media to pursue their dreams and aspirations in life.

When Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook on 4 February 2004 at Harvard University, he did not design it for criminals and murderers. It was set up for people at least 13 years of age who understood that the world was becoming a global village and the challenges of life were better solved collectively rather than individually.

Facebook and other social media such as Twitter, Pinterest or Youtude, effectively democratised access to information and freedom of speech by eliminating biased gatekeepers and providing a platform to the voiceless . Before the advent of the internet and especially social media, information was tightly controlled and went through many gatekeepers who were often accused of bias.

The publishers’ interests, the editors’ judgement and other gatekeepers’ biases determined what was released to the public. Thousands of writers and editors determined what millions of people knew and read in our country. But the social media have changed all that.

Breaking news stories are often first released by ordinary people on Facebook or Twitter. Citizen journalism has come to stay and we will only need to improve it or adapt. Facebook had 995 million subscribers in June and it is believed that there are now about a billion people connecting, discussion and interacting through Facebook daily across continents.

People in Nigeria are daily exchanging ideas, information or photographs with people in Papua New Guinea through Facebook. People in Asia are getting to know more about the culture of Africa and other continents by hearing directly from ordinary citizens in these places.

There is an explosion of data that is being released daily via the social media and millions of people get to know themselves via Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Relatives who live in different countries now keep in touch via Facebook, Twitter, Skype or Youtude.

The invention of mobile devices has made the social media even more user friendly as users join common-interest groups, organised by workplace, school or other characteristics. Millions of people are growing businesses and professionals from all fields of life are comparing notes via the social media.

The world has indeed become a small village and we will need to adapt.

While the killing of Cynthia is a remainder that we must always be careful about those we allow into our lives as some of them may turn out to be criminals, it must not overshadow the fact that the social media are important and have come to stay and we use them for our common good. It has also brought to the fore the need for law enforcement agents to train on social media and new information technology to prevent crimes and track down criminals.

There is also an urgent need for our lawmakers and our criminal justice system not lag behind but catch up with the times. While we are not advocating a Chinese type of crackdown on journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens who voice their opinions through the social media, we believe that law enforcement agents must always be a step ahead of criminals who use social media to perpetrate crimes.