Youth Initiative, a youth led not-for-profit organization, has been actively utilizing these forms of social media since 2010. From broadcasting information to promoting its activities, social media has been of immense support to the organization. [break]
Affirming that social media is very important, Santosh Acharya, president of Youth Initiative, says it’s the best tool to use during a campaign. “It’s a meaningful tool and it gives us maximum outreach in a short span of time. If we just have a day to spread a message and gather people, social media is how we must do it. There is immediate response and the program becomes fruitful. That would be impossible without using social media. We have a group and a page on Facebook where we interact with our members, and put up reports of our programs and vacancies, respectively. We also make use of Twitter and Youtube,” he shares.
In these competitive times, many organizations and institutes have taken to social media to reach out to people and potential clients and recruits. With most of the youth in the urban areas using one or another form of social media, it’s a very effective method of ensuring that a message is visible, and, thus, has impact.
Internet has always been a fascinating instrument to gather and share every kind of information. And the introduction of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter has been popular. Facebook, especially, is a trend among young people; a portal which they view with pure entertainment. To introduce the fruitfulness of social media, a recent workshop with 102 young participants on social networking was conducted in Pokhara, Chitwan and Bhaktapur.
Kabita Gautam, mentor of Nepal Tunza Youth Environment Network, organized the event as well as trained participants on blogging. The idea stemmed out of her interest in blogging, she says, and she wanted to introduce more young people to blogging. “I’ve received many opportunities through my active use of the social media. So I know for a fact that it’s fundamental for a young person to be utilizing it. Young people engage in social media, and if they learn how to do it effectively, then it will take them much forward,” she says.
The workshop was conducted with the intention of finding a common path for the urban and the rural youth in the form of social networking.
One of the participants, 14-year-old Lucky Shrestha from Bhaktapur learnt how to take his interest in blogging forward. He went to the workshop after his teacher encouraged him to participate. “Blogging helps me to be creative. It also provides a lot of information,” says the ninth grader of Everest English School. As part of the workshop, he blogs on a new topic every week and says that it gives him an opportunity to research and learn.
Another participant, Smriti Tekhim Limbu from Chitwan started her blog as soon as the workshop was complete. “I’ve always enjoyed writing stories but I didn’t know where I could publish them. The workshop made me understand that I could publish them in my blog. Blogging gives me the freedom to be creative, and it’s wonderful that I get feedbacks,” she says.
Smriti, currently studying agriculture at Rampur Campus in Chitwan, blogs about agriculture and literature mostly. After she started blogging, she was made the national coordinator of Green Youth Generation and also the local representative of YPARD (Young Professionals in Agriculture Research for Development).
“The trend among the youth is only using the internet for amusement, but there’s more to it than that. Blogging gives you opportunities to put your thoughts out there freely. A group of us at college started a group called Youth Eco Network. As none of us knew how to use the social media as a tool for promotion, we didn’t have much activity. It is after the workshop that we have more activity going on,” she states.
Being involved in a number of organizations and events like The Small Earth Nepal, International Youth Day 2012 Nepal, Kabita is acquainted with the advantages of being a dynamic social media user. “Many times, I’ve been called to participate just because I am actively involved in social media. During the Rio +20 conference I was working as a social media focal point,” she says.
As the world grows smaller due to the constant personal and impersonal news accessibility through internet, students ought to learn new tools to update how and where they voice their thoughts. Information is surely powerful.
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