Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.
As more and more young Liberians log on and use social media, technology is becoming an important source of change in the country, Liberia has seen an explosion in the use of online and mobile technology, particularly social media platforms like Facebook.
Much of the criticism of social media are about its exclusiveness as most sites do not allow the transfer of information from one to another, disparity of information available, issues with trustworthiness and reliability of information presented, concentration, ownership of media content, and the meaning of interactions created by social media. However, it is also argued that social media has positive effects such as allowing the democratization of the internet while also allowing individuals to advertise themselves and form friendships.
Most people associate social media with positive outcomes, yet this is not always the case. Due to the increase in social media websites, there seems to be a positive correlation between the usage of such media with cyber bullying, online sexual predators and the decrease in face-to-face interactions. Social media may expose children to images of alcohol, tobacco, and sexual behavior.
At ILab Liberia we are presently training 15 ladies on social media, discussing how individuals and small organisations can use social media to promote equality and good community relations. The various social media sites used for the training at iLab are: Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. and Google+ It will run for five days, 2 hours each day.