MASVINGO – Young people should use social media networks to advance development and social good, Masvingo mayor Fermias Chakabuda has said.
Report by Vimbai Marufu Own Correspondent The mayor encouraged young people to learn to get maximum benefit out of social networks by connecting people, particularly rural farmers, to markets for profitable purposes rather than just wasting time using social media tools purposelessly.
Addressing participants at a two-day workshop held under the theme The definitive guide to social media in Zimbabwe held at Charles Austin Hall in Masvingo, Chakabuda said social networks such as Facebook and Twitter could be used for marketing and advertising agricultural products from around the province.
“Let’s use technology to connect farmers with their markets. Let people know what is in Masvingo.
“We must use the knowledge that we have gained from this workshop to create networks that work for us,” said Chakabuda, before handing out certificates to the 40 participants.
He added that social networks could be used to spread a lot of unreported news in the rural areas and such workshops could be conducted there to allow people to tell their stories and link with the rest of the world.
Chakabuda recounted that the first newspaper of Masvingo, founded in 1905, was handwritten and hung at the town’s Victoria Hotel for people to read.
“That was then, but today, there are many networks that can help to tell our story at the click of a button,” he said.
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He encouraged young people to develop networks that can benefit.
“Many of the platforms that we are relying on are developed elsewhere, but we can develop hyper-local platforms that can link the province to the rest of the world in a minute,” he said.
