Nigeria-born American poet David Fasanya says every user of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter has a stake in the networks.
Fasanya believes individuals need to be open-minded, and everyone on social media has the power to highlight issues that deserve collective attention.
Fasanya performed a poem at the TedXchange event organized by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this month.
Speaking to HumanIPO, Fasanya said: “It is an individual responsibility to call other peoples’ attention, develop interest in what we ought to have interest in. It is also important to be open to everything.
“As individual users of Facebook and Twitter, we have a stake in social media. I think it’s our responsibility to make the people around us aware. In other words, we need to start educating ourselves on what is going on.”
He also stressed the need for communication with other people, which he said is essential in order to expand the world.
“Social networking isn’t entirely digital. In the real sense, it is people talking to one another. We should also not be afraid to open up to people in our community. If you don’t talk to strangers, if you don’t communicate with other people, the world isn’t going to expand.
“The people that may have the resources or influence those things that are going on in our lives or in the life of our native land may not help us if we don’t open up to them.
“If you stay in the same circle, you’re not going to bring anything new into the mix. I think it is important to network, not just in the sense of social media, but as people talking to one another,” Fasanya said.
