#NGAGE 5.0 –How To Do Social Media Right

Is social media broken? Blogger and Yamu Founder Indi Samarajiva seems to think so. Facebook maintains a monopoly on turning consumers into products, believes Indi, though he is hopeful that younger generations can fix these problems. These and other interesting ideas were shared at the fifth instalment of Dialog Axiata’s #ngage tech and social media meetup, held on Thursday (May 25) at Dialog HQ, Colombo, attended by a full house despite heavy rains that threatened to bring the roof down.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

The last speaker at #ngage 5.0 was Executive Creative Director at Ashraff Associates, Aman Ashraff, who shared some wisdom on conducting oneself on social media with a keen awareness of one’s responsibility to the community.

“Always check your emotions before you post anything on social media,” said Aman, highlighting the importance of constructive engagement on platforms like Facebook, where a seemingly trivial faux pas can come back to haunt you when you least expect it. Screenshots, needless to say, are forever.

“You can’t undo what you posted, because even though you deleted it, someone took a screenshot,” said Aman.

According to Aman, digital is not a medium, but rather an infrastructure, and though technology fuels creativity, it will never replace it.

Touching on the somewhat controversial topic of social media influence, Aman said that relevance is key.

“Create relevance. Not awareness. And you will influence the world,” he said, adding that advertising is not about attention, suggesting that those in the profession do something worth their while with the influence of the brand.

What must also be noted, he said, is the value of context, when engaging in social media.

“Although content is king, context is emperor,” he said.

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