On Friday, June 4, President Buhari decided that it’s time Twitter stops operating as a social media platform in Nigeria.
Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”.
The President, in his indefinite ban, which was announced by the Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed on Friday, said that Twitter was being used to undermine “Nigeria’s Corporate Existence”.
Although, Buhari has had some personal experience with Twitter, we are yet inconclusive as to what prompted the ban – whether it is the actual use for said “undermining” or, as BBC put it, a Buhari’s row with Twitter.
In any case, as at 1am on Saturday, Twitter was pretty much active with agitations that the Ban will affect businesses and income-earners who rely on Twitter as means of livelihood.
Although, Twitter’s fate in Nigeria isn’t promising, as the Federal Government recently directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
So you might be wondering, how does this Twitter Ban affect me?
First off, understand that Twitter is a social media giant in Nigeria. The information on Twitter travels to a lot of people very fast via retweets. Some Twitter users save useful images and video, then post on other platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
The Trends feature allows us to be aware of what’s making wave in Nigeria. Those that are in the dark can be brought to light through the various hashtags tweets by users.
As Tweets are short and on point, information contained in them is summarised to provide what’s actually needed. This allows for Breaking News, among others, from blogs.
There are some businesses that are being performed on Twitter, which explains why Twitter created the “Twitter Business” platform. Advertisements are also used to reach more audience by companies.
Employees who manage the Twitter accounts of their companies may be out of Job. Although, not necessarily, as they may manage an alternative platform.
As at 2am on Saturday, efforts to reach Twitter’s website proved abortive, the following message was received:
What’s more is the unavailability of important information contained in Twitter. Although, most account owners would have downloaded their data prior to the ban.
We expect social media users in Nigeria to flock to Facebook, and other alternatives such as Tiktok, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
