While political upheaval and an economic meltdown caused the disintegration of families and hounded millions out of their country over the past 12 years, social networks have created a cyber-platform on which they interact and share information.
Badoo, Hi5, Myspace, Skype, Zoosk, WAYN, LinkedIn, Whatsapp and Twitter are all central to Zimbabweans’ online interaction, but Facebook seems to be the most common. Quick surfing shows that Facebook has become a huge network of various communities in which Zimbabweans are heavily involved. It is a hive of activity.
Personal time-lines keep friends updated through the posting of web links on latest news and current affairs, with Newsroom Lingo as a cyber roundtable for journalists, while Asakhaneni unleashes debate and solicits advice on personal problems and social issues.
Izwi Rerusununguko talks democracy and a better life, Makhox Women’s League is a page dedicated to issues affecting the fairer sex, while Bosso-Live gives soccer fans minute-by-minute action on Highlanders’ matches.
These are just few among thousands of pages that keep Zimbabweans busy on their computers and mobile phones.
Old friends and schoolmates have also found a more convenient way of reconnecting, through the creation of pages and groups bearing the name of their former schools – Whitewater High School being one of those. From the resultant chats and updates, development of such institutions has often been mooted, planned and executed.
Wherever there is a hive of activity, politicians, political parties, non-governmental organisations and the enterprising have entered the scene with their ambush marketing. Several organisations have found it better and simpler to launch Facebook walls and pages rather than set up websites, which would mean paying hosts and those who maintain them.
Bulawayo-based soccer academy owner, Siphambaniso Dube, has found an easy way to update soccer lovers on team activities in the city.
“Social networks help us to interact easily and send notifications to those who cannot get hold of the hard copies of newspapers,” said the Ajax Hotspurs Academy owner and director. “Besides, newspapers do not cover everything, so we get to cover the widely-ignored sections like junior football and lower divisions on networks like Facebook.”
Dube, whose academy’s page has more than 890 members, uses it to regularly update on his school of football Excellency, junior football news, fixtures and results. He also does regular “cross-overs” to other related groups to share the same posts and pictures.
Christine Kgwareli Nyathi, another regular Facebook user and Highlanders supporter, finds the social network to be very informative and allowing freedom of speech.
“It’s like a global newspaper. I get updates on soccer, especially on the Bosso-Live page,” she said.
“I also get to interact with colleagues from all over the world through the Babirwa group and get psychological support and advice on how to deal with marriage and other issues affecting women from Makhox Women’s League.
“Facebook has given us an opportunity to even debate and question some of the policies we have in the country. One thing I like about Facebook is that through it, even the voiceless can speak.”
There is a bad side to the social networks though, as celebrities and other popular figures have fallen prey to mischievous people, who create impostor accounts using their names and photographs and post comments pretending to be them.
Nevertheless, social networks have ably stitched together families and communities that ambition, political intolerance and economic rot have torn apart over the years. It is a really small world after all.
Post published in: Africa News