This bears testament to the true potential of social media in South Africa and the global impact of online media and communications.

For years, people have been trying to find better ways to connect and be part of a social network, and now there’s something that is sticking like glue.

Social media aids those who want to be part of the larger community as well as those who want to have a say in their communities. Hence the rise of citizen journalism, podcasting and blogging projects by big media houses in South Africa.

It is important to remember that South Africa’s media market has been founded on grassroots journalism since back in the 60’s. What that means for us in modernity now is that so much of what we are bombarded with everyday, might not be relevant for an individual at all, and therefore people are dusting those mics and putting fingers to keyboards to write more inspiring and relevant ‘spoken word’.

Even though we have reached the digital media era, so much of what we still see, touch, taste and hear has been driven by the need for the next big marketing spend in terms of advertising and marketable trends. That being said, consumers are realizing more and more that they should actually be dictating what their likes and dislikes are. And with that power comes, in theory, a more discerning buyer/consumer who is able to control just how pervasive they want the media to be in their lives.

Obviously there can never be total control because the same people that are instrumental in moving the social media cause forward, are the same people who get dressed every morning and head to their ‘media controlled’ jobs.

Most corporate heavyweights in South Africa like those of SAB, Samsung Mobile SA and even Naspers have started the great migration to the world of online media and social engagement with their very sociable consumers. This is what media pundits are now deeming enterprise media and social corporate engagement.

The big question is whether our youth and even our elders have enough information to sustain the engagement, and to a further extent realise the impact that their use of social media will have on their lives and the lives of the ones around them? Because it goes without saying that it is not enough that we must engage with the world and that we have the power now to do so, it is the responsibility of all social media lobbyists to educate each other in being ‘socially responsible’ with that power.

So if it is worth your while to engage, just say something…

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