Hivos Southern Africa has urged civil society organizations (CSOs) to integrate social media into their communications matrix as this provides a valuable opportunity for them to reach their communications goals and new audiences more efficiently.
By Tafadzwa Tseisi
While media polarisation in Zimbabwe has been a contentious issue over the years, so many gains have been brought by increased access to internet. Globally, the convergence of media platforms with technology has enabled media players to distribute their content – news, information, data, photos, audio and videos – to far larger audiences around the world.
Social media has become an alternative platform where people can freely express themselves on matters affecting them on a daily basis. Speaking at a Social Media for Human Rights Training recently in Harare, Hivos Southern Africa communications officer, Masimba Biriwasha, said many CSOs are sitting on tonnes of purposeful content that can spark positive change within various communities if shared strategically across social platforms.
“The internet is under utilised by many CSOs sitting on tonnes of information that can empower many people once accessible. More often than not CSOs tend to treat social media as a separate entity from their overall communication processes. As a result, knee jerk approaches have been employed in the management of social media characterized by rapid fire social media posts during workshops to the detriment of audience engagement. Against this background, it is imperative for CSOs to integrate Social Media into Communications Matrix and create content that can be packaged into digestible bits,” Biriwasha said.
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