Digital media: The future of creative journalists

In a bid to equip journalists with social media tools that will enrich their stories and make it more reader-friendly, Wild Fusion Foundation, a digital marketing agency organised a one-day digital marketing training for journalists on Thursday January 3, at the foundation’s office in Lagos.

The training facilitated by the foundation’s Chief Executive, Abasiama Idaresit and his team, was geared towards enhancing the skill of Nigerian journalists and enriching the practice of journalism in the new millennium by exploring the potentials of the digital marketing and social media platforms. 

Speaking to the participants comprising journalists from major newspapers and online publishers in the country, Abasiama said that Nigeria is currently rated among the top 10 countries in the world where internet penetration is very high.

 This, he said, requires acquiring more digital marketing skills to enhance effective productivity and to push the frontiers of future journalism practice in the country. The free training, which was informed by the need to give back to the society, prompted the company to set up a foundation in 2010 to meet the evolving demand in journalistic practice globally. Several topics that were treated during the progamme include TRENDINGS – Google Trends, Google Alerts, Twitter Rolls, Google News, Hashtagify and others. 

Also, Digital branding, handled by Gbenga Onalaya dealt with the language of the internet, personal branding and live story-telling which he said journalists of today need most to keep abreast of the evolving trend in information dissemination. There was also practical experiments with mobile phone gadgets on live video coverage and the new trend that allows reporters to utilise social media platform to send news on the spot. Certificates were awarded to the participants at the end of the programme.