The word “community” in the last 2 decades, has expanded from a social unit with a shared sense of commonality to include: norms, religion, values, customs, or identity, situated in a geographical area; to incorporate a virtual place through communication platforms and social networking sites e.g Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube and less technically, WhatsApp.
A pivotal part of community is usually the sense of community, which has been identified by McMillan and Chavis in a seminal 1986 study, to consist of these 4 elements:
- membership: feeling of belonging or of sharing a sense of personal relatedness,
- influence: mattering, making a difference to a group and of the group mattering to its members
- reinforcement: integration and fulfillment of needs,
- shared emotional connection.
For virtual communities, value, knowledge and information, is the currency or social resource through which these communities thrive. With relationships among members in a virtual community, tending to focus on information exchange about specific topics. Therefore, the leading social networks are usually available in multiple languages and enable users to connect with friends or people across geographical, political or economic borders.
Source: Statista
It has also been observed, that what differentiates virtual communities from their physical counterparts is the extent and impact of “weak ties,” which are the relationships acquaintances or strangers form to acquire information through online networks, and often impersonal.
These Twitter and social media communities in Nigeria, are determined to tweak this narrative, by engaging in offline interactions.
It all started with this tweet from Twitter user, Alhaji Royz @royzkingin, that set in motion, “The rave of twitter hangouts” to come.
A far cry from what many may have anticipated to be the outcome of a perceived conservative town like Ilorin, the #IlorinTwitterHangout was lit. As experienced through exciting picture threads, posts and reactions that followed, including a number #4 trending hashtag (maybe the “WiFi” had something to do with that), enough to spur the hangout trend and pull one over the “socially-competent city of Lagos”.
In order to save face and as an attempt to reclaim its title, preparations for THE #LagosTwitterHangout, will swing into action, spearheaded by Twitter influencer: @UnclePamilerin. With an official website, partner and updates on the event, preparations appeared to be going on fine.
The 042 crew in the coal city, heated things up in the South Eastern part of the country, by taking the lead, to host their #EnuguTwitterHangout, and later on, a social media hangout.
The controversial “Arewa Twitter” wasn’t left out, hosting Abuja and Sokoto Twitter Connects.
However, Minna Twitter didn’t seem like it got the memo, when this photo from the hangout from Twitter user @sopheeomar surfaced, with this amusing caption of a flame emoji connoting how vibrant it was.
The oil rich South Southern parts of Nigeria also hosted their hangouts, to include the cities of Benin, Asaba and Uyo.
While many Twitter and social media hangouts have come and gone and the internet still retains fondest memories of these connect groups, the South West is surprisingly still dragging her feet. With #OgunTwitterHangout proposed for January 2020 and uncertainties surrounding the #LagosTwitterHangout, while awaiting the Ibadan Social Media Rave 2.0 happening on the 21st of December, 2019 touted as “The biggest rave in South West Nigeria” amidst the suspension of Mazi Ibe’s Twitter account on the eve of the celebration. It also interestingly will feature #LagosTwitterHangout class captain: @UnclePamilerin. Ekiti on the other hand, decided to stick with their slogan of being: The Fountain of Knowledge” with its #EkitiTwitterconference2019.
Probable causes of delay for the #LagosTwitterHangout would be waiting to find a suitable date that wouldn’t clash with the endless list of #DettyDecember activities, or that Lagosians are disunited on the idea of hosting just one hangout in the state? After all, it was #IlorinTwitterHangout and not #KwaraTwitterHangout. Which would be another debate for: Lagos State vs Lagos City.
A good question would be: Do we really need one or were we just unnecessarily triggered by the #IlorinTwitterHangout 2.0?
One thing to takeaway on the import of these offline hangouts, taking this tweet from @TheVunderkind is that:
