A three-day workshop going on in Yola at King Daken Diplomatic Suites organized by Folio Media and creative Academy (FMCA), the training arm of Folio Communications Plc, publishers of the Daily Times newspaper positioned to equip Journalists, media executives, and public relations in collaboration with Dangote group is currently training about fifty journalists drawn from the North-East geopolitical zone.
While addressing the journalists, the
General Manager, Branding and Corporate Communication, Dangote Group represented by Okey Nwankwo said if a journalist does not write the story they cannot build a nation.
Okey said the Dangote group came up with the workshop idea to connect with the journalists across the nation, bringing the group closer to the people.
He appreciated the efforts of Journalists in the role they play in nation-building and assured media participants of better and more enhanced workshops in the future.
“If a Journalist does not write the story we cannot build a nation.” He said
The theme of the three days of critical media practice workshops says “the convergence Journalism.”
The resource person, Dr. Shadrack Idi of the department of Mass Communication and head of the newly introduced public relations and advertising in Taraba state university talked extensively about Social media journalism Free webspace, free web identity, or address to users to portray the importance of convergence journalism.
Idi said the Features of social media holds the future of Journalists who embrace the trend knowing the huge market of over 4.48 billion social media users all around the world.
He revealed to participant Journalists that the features of Social media provide opportunities to build a personal profile, the ability to upload multimedia content, Allow live chats, direct messaging facility, and Enable members to create unique pages/groups.
“There are 4.48 billion social media users all around the world, which is almost 57% of the Earth’s population, Almost every field is evolving to catch up with social media,” Idi said
The communication expert said social media matters in twenty-first-century journalism as it can be used to broaden journalists’ knowledge and build their professional network.
“With social media, you can be a bigger brand than the organization you work for. Social media allows you to have a conversation with your audience, gain feedback, and elevate your brand.” He added
He, however, said social media can Make or mar journalists it depends on how one makes use of it and called on them to be social, be secured, and be responsible while active in any social media environment.
The facilitator also said Writing in social media involves a lot of technicalities and skills.
He said: “Aside from knowledge and skills for conventional mass media writing, one needs to apply some unique writing tips to effectively function on social media space.”
Dr. Idi revealed that any journalists that are good at drafting outline content, plan what to say and how he would like to say it by developing a storyboard will always have an edge over conventional news writers.
He educated the journalists in multimedia journalism as a veritable tool in the trend of online journalism.
