As
the world remains shocked at Friday’s multiple attacks in Paris,
France, social media has continued to play the role expected of it.
In
seasons of joy, the Internet has proved to be one of everyone’s best
companions. At a time like this, too, when insurgents found their deadly
way into an otherwise sacred place like Paris, the new media could
simply not have failed the global community.
In
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms, the world has found an ear, a face and, indeed, a reliable heart.
Since
the Friday Paris attack, millions of people and organisations have
exploited the social media to express sympathy and condemn the action.
Nigerians are not left out. From President Muhammadu Buhari to the
common man who knows the worth of the new media, words of consolation
have continued to pour in.
What has, however, been peculiar in the
Nigerian case is the argument raised by some Facebook users who have
accused the platform of being insensitive to the country’s experience in
terms of the terror attacks it has suffered. The accusers are reacting
to the Facebook App that encourages users to change their profile
pictures to the colours of the Paris flag.
But it is also good
that many have countered the argument, saying Paris deserves all the
sympathy it can get and that the fact that Facebook did not create a
special package for Nigeria as Boko Haram advances its campaign is never
a fault of French people.
In any case, anybody who has
experienced Paris’ elegant hospitality will always wish her good and
rise to her aid in times of challenges.
As Paris terror attacks unfolded…
As
the attacks in Paris were still unfolding on Friday night, social media
sites lit up as sources for information that went beyond the news.
Facebook
activated its Safety Check tool, which allows users in an area affected
by a crisis to mark themselves or others as safe. Facebook created the
tool to help in times of crisis, a spokeswoman, Anna White, said on
Saturday, and it had activated it five times in the last year after
natural disasters. But this was the first time it was activated for
something like this, she said.
“People turn to Facebook to check
on loved ones and get updates, which is why we created Safety Check and
why we have activated it for people in Paris,” White said.
White said she did not have numbers to show how many people had used the tool, and people were still using it on Saturday.
Facebook
also made a profile picture frame available globally on its official
page. “We’re offering our community the chance to change their profile
pictures to show support for France and the people of Paris,” White
said.
Twitter, at the same time, put its new Moments tool to use,
highlighting top news tweets about the attacks, as well as the prayers
and good wishes posted by celebrities around the world, from the
actresses Salma Hayek and Emma Watson to the presidential candidates
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief
executive, posted just two words on his social network — “So terrible” —
with a link to one of the Moments collections.
Twitter quickly
turned into a message board on Friday night with information to help
people in Paris get to safety. The hashtag #PorteOuverte — “open door” —
became a vehicle for offering shelter to those in Paris who needed it. A
Twitter spokesman, Christopher Abboud, said on Saturday that there were
one million tweets with the hashtag in 10 hours.
The hashtag
#prayforparis, the spokesman said, was even more popular, with 6.7
million posts in 10 hours. And the hashtag #StrandedInUS gained a lot of
traction in the United States to help French people whose flights had
been cancelled.
The hashtag #RechercheParis, Abboud said,
accompanied descriptions of loved ones and requests for information, and
it was used to share news when someone who had been sought was found
alive. He said there were a million tweets with the hashtag within 24
hours.
The hashtag #UneBougiePourParis (a candle for Paris) was
also trending, Abboud said, “As I look out my window, I see a bunch of
flickering lights in the Parisian night,” he wrote in an email on
Saturday. He added that the streets were deserted, “but people need to
connect somehow.”
Source: New Tork Times
