Friday 16 May 2014

ALL HAIL THE HASHTAG #, THE NEW ‘SUPER POWER’























According to Twitter the ‘#’ symbol, called a ‘Hashtag’, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. However, this symbol has evolved beyond just marking keywords and topics on Twitter, to something much greater; from enabling resource mobilization to fostering campaigns and revolutions that brought nations to their knees, and also united the world for a common purpose.

In January 2011 mass protests filled the streets of Egypt in an 18-day revolution against then President Hosni Mubarak, who kept the country under tight dictatorial rule for 30 years. Hundreds of thousands of people occupied flooded the Tahrir Square, Egypt, in what was an entirely new kind of uprising that shot through the entire Middle East. We saw firsthand how social media –marked by hashtags such as #Egypt #Cairo #Mubarak - could shape events of the world. The government eventually had to shut down the internet a few days after across the country.



According to an article by Ryan Holmes, CEO at HootSuite, “One woman, whom I never met and know only from one tweet sent through HootSuite was named Sonia Verma. Reporting from right in the heart of Tahrir Square—where protests had suddenly turned bloody—she tweeted: “They are ripping up banners to use as bandages #Egypt.” In fewer than 140 characters, she said volumes—and her message potentially reached and moved millions. That’s the power of social media.”


In April 2014 over 200 school girls were abducted in Borno State in Nigeria by Boko Haram insurgents who have been terrorizing the Northern part of Nigeria since the present administration, led by President Goodluck Jonathan, took over office in 2011.
The Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls has helped galvanize world attention to the kidnapping of the girls, with global leaders and celebrities joining the calls to find the girls and bring them back safe. First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama’s photo in solidarity of the campaign is recorded to have been used nearly 3 million times on Twitter.




Although the girls are yet to be found, protests in Nigeria and around the world, as well as foreign government and international pressure on the Nigerian government to take more action, have shown that people will not rest until the girls are brought back home.



While it is not guaranteed always that the hashtag or social media campaigns will ultimately deliver the desired end – as was shown by the #Kony2012 campaign – we however cannot deny the fact that it always generates a lot interest and action towards the issue. Unfortunately, because of the virtual nature of the hashtag, it may never be considered for a Nobel Prize or anything of that sort, but we can all see how with a click of a button on your computer/phone/device, the world community can be rallied around a matter and generate impact, successfully or unsuccessfully.

Friday 17 January 2014

DEMYSTIFYING SUCCESS: HOW YOUR BRAIN IS AS GOOD AS THE BEST.



Growing up, in high school, I remember how my father would say that the best student didn’t have two heads, that all the student did was study hard and prepare well for exams. I was not a bad student academically; on the contrary, I was actually quite good, even though I admit now that I might have been a little lazy and maybe quite uninterested in studying so hard. Regardless, I always made the top ten in class.
I also did know the ‘best student’ then. He didn’t quite like me, I remember. His name was Tunde Adeniran, but we called him Tunene, a quiet young lad with round, oily face. He wasn’t really good at sports and played very little tennis on occasion. He would just sit in the classroom or hostel room and read his school books. He wanted to be a neuro-surgeon. It was because of him that I learnt about Siamese twins and heard about Ben Carson, that was in J.S.S 3. Tunde didn’t like me because he felt I was unserious with my studies and therefore I would be bad company, so he avoided me.

Many other students who studied perhaps even harder than Tunde, and prepared well for exams too, began to suggest that it was because Tunde was born pre-mature that’s why his brain was unusually sharper than others. It was easy for such a notion to fly around and stick, and everyone believed it, so that many concluded that they would never be able to beat Tunde in any academic test or examination.

At first glance – and it is quite easy to see why – it would seem actually true that Tunde’s academic success was tied to him having a sharper brain from being born pre-mature. However, Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers proffers a different suggestion, a more reasonable one and I tend to agree with. Like Tunde, Outliers are those who have been given opportunities – and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.

You see, Tunde is the youngest of four children. His immediate sibling is about seven years older than he is. He grew up almost by himself, kept company by the many books his siblings were done with from their classes. While Tunde was in high school his immediate elder brother, Kola, was already studying to be a medical doctor in the university. During the holidays Tunde would sit to read Biology and Medical texts. His eldest brother is a pilot so growing up Tunde was also exposed to a lot of Physics and Engineering texts as well. Now, the same holiday period while Tunde swam in an ocean of knowledge beyond his age, most of his mates were on trips to America or the UK, watching TV all day and reading comic books. When school resumed the next term, Tunde would astound the teachers and fellow students all over again.
Now, while I have nothing against kids watching TV and going on trips during the holiday period, I hope you see the point I am trying to make here. People are not better than the other because some people have been configured differently from others.


Eventually, it becomes clear that people like Tunde, people who climb higher, who we often consider to be exceptionally different, are not so different from us in the ways we consider them to be. They are products of history and community, of opportunities and legacy. Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky – but all critical to making them who they are.
The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all.