Social Media Week Lagos was about life – Obi Asika

The Social Media Week Lagos 2017 may have come and gone, but the organisers has said the impact will go beyond changing hundreds of businesses that participated in the week long conversations, to the lives of individuals that were present.

“The Social Media Week Lagos is really about how new media and technology affects you, the individual in a global connected economy,” Obi Asika, co-founder of Social Media Week Lagos, told BusinessDay. “

He noted that organising the multi-venue event since 2013 in a logistic chahas been a major milestone.

“We all know Lagos; we all know the logistics of Lagos, so how are you going to do a multi-venue event that has 50 events every week? I have been producing events for almost thirty years. It sounded like this was an impossibility. You are battling with restriction with access, logistics and opportunity and also restrictions on funding. We are the smallest sponsor revenue base of the 32 cities.

“But I have an incredible team led by my executive director and co-founder Ngozi Odita. We made it happen” Asika said.

The prevalence of smartphones according to him, has deepened the conversation on the relevance of social media to every phase of life.

“When we started in 2013, smartphones were just coming in this part of the world. Today it is has hard to imagine functioning without a smartphone. We are sharing the news with the phone, we are receiving it with the phone. So it is about those products and services that are now available on your phone in social, you can use it online, stay mobile, stay connected.

“What does that mean for content producers, content owners? Publishers, platforms, and how does that affect life and life means convenience, entertainment means convenience, entertainment, security, production, responsibility? Corporate action, individual action, press freedom? Really, I like to say that social media week Lagos is about life. In many respects when it comes to this conference, you can feel the energy,” Asika said.