The officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army (NA) have once again been advised to exercise restraint and apply caution when using the social media to interact and share information.
This was made known by a social media expert and co- founder of Riterac, Mrs Ojiugo Ajunwa during a training workshop on the Use of Social Media and Digital Marketing organized by the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) for personnel of the Centre.
Mrs Ajunwa reiterated that despite the believe that social media will die a natural death at the onset, today it has remained alive and changed the face of communication in that social media gives us a meaningful connection with our audience.
She said social media and digital marketing have turned into powerful tools we use to relate, persuade, share stories and products that are of human interests. Therefore, she stressed further that a user’s mistake can lead to erroneous fall of a company, government or even a nation.
Mrs Ajunwa admonished the participants to be aware of the disadvantages and embrace the enormous advantages of the social media because it bridges the geo-political divide, achieves easier communication and a faster way to inform during emergencies. She listed distractions, decreased face-to-face communication and diminished understanding as major disadvantages of the social media.
In his remarks earlier, the Director General of the NARC who was represented by the Executive Director Maj Gen IM Yusuf urged the participants to pay special attention to interpersonal and inter-group interactions on the social media. He agreed entirely with Mrs Ajunwa that inasmuch as the social media is relevant in our day to day activities, care should be taken to use it rightly in order not to jeopardize the entire process.
He advised that officers and soldiers should desist from discussing politics and sensitive national issues or share official documents on social media as most personnel fell short of the law out of ignorance on the use of social media. Present during the workshop were the representative of the Director General, Maj Gen IM Yusuf, Directors, senior officers, officers, Soldiers and civilian Staff of the Centre.
