The Hybrid Hub Podcast
Welcome to our captivating podcast where we delve into an exciting blend of trending topics, entertainment, captivating photography, cutting-edge fashion, influential media, thought-provoking politics, thrilling sports, and so much more. Join us as we embark on an engaging journey through a diverse range of subjects, exploring the pulse of the zeitgeist and offering insightful perspectives that will keep you hooked. Whether you're seeking to stay informed, be entertained, or simply expand your horizons, our podcast is your go-to destination for a captivating listening experience. Tune in and join the conversation today!
The Hybrid Hub Podcast
The Brighter Side of Social Media: Advocacy, Awareness, and Uplifting Communities
Ready to harness the power of social media in a positive way? Teddy and Adegoke guide you through an enlightening conversation about the brighter side of these platforms. We talk about how social media can be used for effective marketing, personal branding, and job hunting. Furthermore, we delve into its potential as a tool for advocacy, exemplified by the awareness raised around the untimely passing of Afrobeat artist, Just Basta.
In the second part of our discussion, we take a deep look at the importance of taking responsibility in the digital space. We'll equip you with strategies to combat misinformation, promote uplifting content, and ensure that you're part of a positive online community. We also highlight the incredible power of social media in building connections and fostering a sense of belonging. In an age where digital communication is king, it's time we all step up and use our platforms for good. Don't miss this insightful conversation about the potential of social media!
Hi guys, hello everyone, how's?
Speaker 2:everyone doing? How's the weekend?
Speaker 1:Well, the weekend has been good, the weather is great.
Speaker 2:Is it? Is it great? Yeah, it was a good weather.
Speaker 1:How was yours?
Speaker 2:Mine was decent? I think no, actually it was a decent weekend. I want to say it was busy, as always, but hey, we move. Hi guys, I'm Teddy, I'm Adegoke and we are the hybrid hub and in our podcast we aim to bring candid and engaging conversations on the hottest training topics of our time. Please do join us as we dive into the dynamic words of news, sports entertainment, including captivating photography, and an ever-evolving fashion landscape. But that's not all. We also dive into the rooms of politics and the church, exploring the intercessions of faith, society and culture. So what we're talking about today? Adegoke, do you have anything for the people? Are we going to talk about our sponsor? This?
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's talk about our sponsor quickly. Our sponsor is Gokifotography and Films, and currently we are running a 40% discount on our wedding packages, including photography and videography. And yes, you know you can depend on us to make sure that we we are going to create a memorable event for you. We're going to make sure you have the best experience as well. So all you need to do is to reach out to us by our email at info at Gokifotographycom, or you can also visit our website at wwwgokifotographycom. So today, what are we talking about? We're talking about the positive side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we can quickly just recap on what we discussed last week. So if you haven't yet checked out our last episode on any of your social media platforms the last week's episode we were diving into social media as a whole and we were talking about what the impacts of social media basically, what is social media, what is its impact on people, socially and internationally? How is it affecting people, and I think we then went on to end it with us introducing the benefits of social media. So here we go. So there go. Okay, I'll ask your question.
Speaker 2:Since you are, you know, you've been in photography for more than 10 years. You do have a YouTube channel called Koke Photography. I'll give you a shout out. Just wanted to know what has social media done for you in your life and what is it? What's the good impact of social media best? You know best on your own opinion. How do you you know, how do you navigate it, how do you find it, what are the benefits of it, and how would you encourage people to actually use social media effectively to benefit themselves?
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of benefit from social media. First of all, for me personally, because we run a business, so we use social media as a platform to advertise our product and we have really gotten a lot of client via our social media like Instagram, you know, facebook and the YouTube as well. So for me, in that front, it's been very beneficial for the business and so, and for me I will say, the 80% reason, I will say 85% reason why I use social media is to promote the business anyway. So, basically, that's the, I will say, major reason why I use it and for me, that's, that's, that's and it's not only me, like a lot of people, thousands of me that will make money via social media. So social media is a form of, you know, it's a source of income for people and it's great. What about yourself?
Speaker 2:I would say, first of all, I'll talk about just, you know, piggybacking on what you just said, which is about marketing, and you know you spoke about marketing and branding for a business, right. So I think that's a very, it's a very good benefit. But I will go on and say that social media is also can be amazing for personal branding. So you know like individuals can use it to build their personal branch, showcase their skills and talents, like to a global audience, because a lot you know around internationally, everybody's on social media right.
Speaker 2:So I think it's a very good platform for personal branding. I also feel like you know, social media brings out job opportunities for people, so I mean depends on what your content is and what your audience is.
Speaker 2:But I believe, like a lot of people end up with most of the jobs through social media because the more you advertise your skills, your consistency, you know, growing your platform like in a healthy way I don't I wouldn't say like people should like, obviously, put a lot of pressure on themselves.
Speaker 2:But even if you just choose that I'll be posting once a week, I'm sure, like particular companies will see you will engage with you and then that builds a sort of like you know, job opportunities. I'll also say it's good for just the mere fact of, you know, advocacy, advocacy and awareness. So here I'm just talking about things like where you know people can use their platforms to like it can be a part, you know, social media can be a powerful tool for advocacy. I'm wearing, and so I'm just talking about, of the recent events of the Afrobeat artists, more by the Just Basta with God. Rest in Soul. But in the example here is how all the different bloggers, influencers have been able to use that tool for the good of here of that particular individual. That lost his life.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Because it got people talking, because the whole world now has engaged, you know, and that's where you know exactly, for me it's advocacy and awareness advocacy. People are fighting for justice for this guy, the way he lost his life and everything else that came with it, and it has also not only made its awareness aspect of. It is just showing how you know our nations, especially in Africa, where the laws are not really being followed, and people do things exactly.
Speaker 2:People do things in their own time when they feel like if I bet you my money, if the noise was not made on social media, if people didn't kick up a fight, if people did not protest and everything else, they will not have dug up his body. They would not had. It would have just been a gun case that lost his life, blah blah blah you understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:So I would say social media is a very, very powerful tool, not just for advocacy but to raise awareness for social, political, environmental issues, and it also enables people to unite, organize events and, you know, mobilize, like different causes as well yeah, yeah, I agree. What have you got to add on that?
Speaker 1:I think you know, just to shed more light. You know I had one thing, but that is part of that as well. Social media allows information to spread quickly. Sometimes it could be a positive information that could save people's life, right? We've seen cases of whereby I've even heard of places whereby there is a robbery or something in some areas or something bad going on in a particular location or in a particular area and through social media, other people were able to raise their alarm to say other people should not go to that area and things like that. So we've seen so many occasions whereby, if properly used, when this information is being passed across on social media, it's so informative that it just saves. Sometimes it saves a lot of people, I mean, it saves their lives, you know, and which is also great. So for me, information, spreading information via on social media, positive information that is saving life, is one I think is a big big deal for social media.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and just to just continue with that, I also feel like having access to information that gives people opportunity to also have real-time updates like what's happening around them, what's going on like people will record videos or you know people, somebody will just go on a quick live just update people about certain situations that are going around. I mean it could also be used for, I would say, like entertainment, like social media is great for entertainment.
Speaker 2:You know people record content on YouTube for, like you know, consumer what would I say consumption. So it's like you know, people would record specific content like certain things I watch on YouTube as well. I watch videos. I watch like updates of like news around the world, like countries that I have an interest in, just to catch up and even just to get, like you know, a bit of gossip here and there to know how people are addressing like different topics and their, you know, personal opinions on that. I also say things like social media can be used as like an education tool as well, because, you know, education used to be in a classroom, but with social media, I still feel like teachers and students can still find a way to engage out of the classroom.
Speaker 2:To get what I mean. Like these I've, you know, I've seen on TikTok, like how to do specific things, how, like teachers give advice on different topics or preparing students for exams and so so many things. I feel like, yeah, social media is powerful in that aspect as well. I will talk about communication and networking, which is a main, one of the main things of social media, I would say yeah, it's a very broad white.
Speaker 2:You know big area of social media. Not only do you get to keep in touch with people that you don't see physically and you don't even they might be in different countries. So it's very good for communication, it's good to catch up with like friends and you know social groups that you are used to attending for.
Speaker 2:It's also fantastic for networking. So if you're looking to join, like, for example, if you're in a corporate world, or you're in, like you know, as I would do, photography, you can meet, like you can attend different events that are happening or, as well you can, you know, be online and engage with those different people. So, you know, I feel social media has the bad part, but the good part is also amazing. What else do you think you know that we can tell the people about social media that you know they might not be aware about? Oh, they are aware, but they just need some more information. And what?
Speaker 2:are the beneficial factors.
Speaker 1:I think social media can create what I call a comic relief.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because if you scroll through Twitter let's say Twitter or maybe Reels your Reels I can bet you you'll find one that will make you laugh.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Especially Twitter. You'll see a lot of crazy stuff like maybe jokes or somebody doing something funny. It could be on TikTok, it could be in Twitter, it could be on your Reels on Instagram. They have a form of content that I mean you can find like maybe five or six that you don't really enjoy, but you'll find one or two that just put a smile on your face.
Speaker 1:Maybe you'll be having a rough day and you've been in that bad mood and you just watch somebody's, maybe for like 10 seconds, 20 seconds, and you just start laughing, you see. So for me it creates a kind of sometimes a comic relief or something that just gives you some kind of relief to just laugh on that moment, laughing in that situation that you don't even believe you can't be laughing. But that is the effect of social media, because of what somebody has created that is funny. And we have a lot of comedians right now. We have a lot of internet comedians now that are doing like Reels and YouTube stuff, and a lot of them are funny, you know. And so, yeah, what do you think?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I would also talk about like social media being like a platform, or it can be used as a tool for crowdfunding and fundraising. So setting up like nonprofit organization causes, setting up startups Like, for example, if you look, you know things like GoFundMe pages. For some, for example, family has lost their loved one, or it's for like a medical course or financial funding for a particular case. I think that it's very powerful in that aspect and it also allows people to reach like a wider audience in order to raise money quickly and effectively. I would say it's good for empowering individuals, I mean, in social media.
Speaker 2:You can use social media for so many different things, so it's a thing of what you gain out of social media.
Speaker 2:That is important and it's not only just for you know, just not. You know going on social media for entertainment, but I think it also takes you out of the, the social like the norm of you know, for example, if you're doing a nine to five, you're just always in the office, but you know, scrolling onto social media and your break or something it just kind of creates your mind, gets you like just picking back on what you were saying about entertainment as well. It just gives you a bit of like laughter in the day and you can see something interesting, you can learn something new on social media. So I would say, you know I'm a big advocate for it. Although you know there's the negative aspect of you know the dark side of social media, I think the good side as well is very good. You know there's a lot. I feel like as the you know, the generations are going and coming along. Social media is now become the main source of like I don't know source of information source of like exactly.
Speaker 2:Anything that you, for example, if you're looking to know something that you don't understand best, believe you'll find it on YouTube, tiktok, instagram, it, you know Facebook there's so many and it just gives people also, like, an opportunity. On the aspect of empowering people, you can join certain groups like and that can help your mental health as well, because you know you have this, a particular group that you meet, like I. You know I joined like a praying group, right, and it's online so you can pray with different people. I mean, it just depends on exactly what you're. You know you're interested in what you're looking for, or are you just looking for, like, moral support, confidence and things like that? Everything that you are looking for is on social media, yeah, yeah, so you know it's. There's a lot of benefits for social media.
Speaker 1:Another one I wanted to add is it also give people the opportunity to have conversations. Now, if you're sweet, on Twitter, for instance, and even on, you see Instagram Live where by people who you know I, you know. This is one thing. I've known a lot of people who feels that you know who works in radio station and TV station, but they feel let down by the bureaucracy and the power of the people in those places.
Speaker 1:They do not allow them to voice their opinion and to be able to do what they want to do. And what do those people do? They create their own channel through social media and they're just doing like, maybe Facebook Live, instagram Live, and they're pulling a lot of people into their conversation, and I also see a lot of these like newspapers, even sports channels. They have this what they call on Twitter, like. I think it's streaming stuff wherever everybody can join in and you can listen to the conversation and you can be.
Speaker 2:Follow the march, or something, or just listening to people.
Speaker 1:It could be on political. The last one I was listening to was, you know, people discussing about some political issues in Africa, and a lot of maybe like 200 people were on the conversation, and so these are things that could help us not just get informed but transform our society, you know, via this information, and learn our voices, even to the, you know, to whatever is going on in our society. So I think social media provides those platforms that we ordinarily would not have access to.
Speaker 2:Right, that's yeah, that's true, that's true. I just wanted to ask you a question, so, like how can we, we as a people using social media, how can we be better, how can we help other people and how can we be as well just aware of social media as a whole? And how do you understand what I'm saying? The question I'm asking, like how can we, you know, how can we help, how can we change certain narratives that out there about certain groups, certain races? Like, how can we do that through social media? Do you think?
Speaker 1:I think you know the awareness is like you've mentioned earlier you know, if we can use social media for a positive influence, a positive write-up, a positive post, it would be good. I'm not saying that every single post everybody will like it, because you know it's very subjective to say when sometimes a post is not good, do you understand? Or maybe is it because to some people there's certain posts that they don't see any problem in and other people some other people see problem in those. You know those particular topics. So I think it's about awareness. You know being aware of.
Speaker 1:You know when to stop, what to do, what not to do, you know when to hold back, because it's not everything that we should put on social media right so to be able to do that, we need to just learn that habit of saying okay, this is where to stop, this is enough, you know, and I will not share this misinformation. I will not share this incorrect information because somebody just says something. I will not put it on social media because then you, if you're spreading information that is not true and correct, and it just blows up and it just turns a lot of people to enemy and the issue just keeps going on and on and on and on yeah, I think as well, I would say, just to go on just what you were saying.
Speaker 2:So, basically, for us to to just be able to spread awareness through social media by, you know, educating people that are on our platforms and encouraging them to get involved in, like if you're, like you know, just spreading awareness of a great cause, but also just to not to kind of like to like counter mis-, mis-coming, misinformation, so like what you were talking about, where people you know spread, like, you know, false information about individuals, like as as, as a people, I think we should take responsibility, not only like be sharing or, you know, resharing information, that is like fact, fact check, information, like you, just for the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people were just spreading false news about, about COVID. You know, we don't even I got to one point. We don't know, you don't even know which one is which, we don't know what is true anymore. So it be, it was becoming a rather even you know bad information, so bad situation for a lot of people.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I mean it's very important that we don't get into that trap yeah, and just also being as an individual, just to be promoting like positive content.
Speaker 2:So like if you come across like, for example, maybe it's like mental health awareness month, and you come across like a platform or you know a page that promotes like good you know affirmations or regarding to mental health, or just encouragement messages, or you know like a, maybe a group they, you know they just help people regarding things like mental health or any other stuff that you'll cut, people actually struggle with this. I think it's also important as as as individuals, just to like be providing like the right information and sign posting people. That's the word I was looking for just sign posting people to the right platforms and just also being as a people, just being aware of our responsibility was using social media. I'll go on to say like, celebrate and amplify voices. Like we should always try and use our like platforms to uplift people, to celebrate diversity, to just, you know, share stories and things that are just positive just because there's so much negativity going around.
Speaker 2:Like you be that person every way exactly be that person that promotes and celebrates and amplifies is like good stuff, like positive things that happen around us, not saying that you know horrible things are not happening. Yes, they are happening, but you know you just don't know who can come across your posts. You don't know who can come across your platform and what they're actually looking for. You know you might say make a comment that you might think that obviously that's something that's not serious, but then it can set somebody off the edge just by what you've said.
Speaker 2:So I think us just always trying to, you know, just share good stories, achievements of individuals, especially from you know and our represented communities. It just gives us like a better life, like, for example, you know, like black community, if you find somebody that is like, got us a black business, you don't have to buy something from them. Just support their business. In a sense, like, just share it. You know, go through the work. If you like the work, share it. If you like something that they are selling, share it on your page. You just don't know who might even need that service. All my need that particular you know business for something in the future. So I think, yeah, it's important always to like celebrate and amplify voices for a good cause and just connecting and supporting communities.
Speaker 2:We also I forgot to say, like you know, social media it also helps like like create a community if you actually use social media for the right reasons you can be able to Create community around you and just choosing the certain people that you want Around you as well and things that you want to be watching on your platforms. So do you have any other thing that you would like to add? I think.
Speaker 1:Another thing you know, like what we are talking about, right, I think it's important for us to also Take responsibility. You know about other people to start caring about. Because you cannot see somebody doesn't mean that you should not care, because what happened on social media either? People just feel like, okay, I'm in here, maybe it's my source of living, or Sometimes we know the damage that we are causing when we are sending maybe eight messages, eight Messages and all these things that we are doing. We need to take responsibility and look out for one another. I know the world is against us doing that, but for us to get a better place for a living, we need to look out for one another.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I feel personally that there's a lot of good things about social media as well. It's just that the bad and the evil things have well magnified beyond any reasonable doubt and we we need to Do more in terms of getting the positive news out there, and I just feel like you know that that should be the case.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean, overall, like social media I believe in, like 2023 Serves us, as you know, a versatile tool. It there's a lot of numerous like benefits that we can. We can cater to our various aspects of life, and I think it's important to know that social media has so many advantages but it also has disadvantages. It's just, I think it's just finding the balance in between and just knowing what works for you and what doesn't work for you, and what you support and what you don't choose to support, and I think you know like a social media could Is. I believe it's useful. A lot of people use it for financial gain. A lot of people use it for spreading awareness, and it's just what you're looking for.
Speaker 2:What you're looking for is important. I mean, you know, I don't know what to say, but I think we've kind of like covered the main Benefits of social media. Yeah, so is there anything is there, and like like last, the last word you would like to.
Speaker 1:No, what I wanted to say is which I do, I remember is how to protect ourselves online right, which is sharing information.
Speaker 1:It is very important you know, you know, uh, protect yourself. You know, set up or maybe a two verification password, right and constantly logging into your social media, because do you know what the hackers do? Some of the hackers they prey on or social media of platform of people, personal people that don't use their social media for a long time. They go in there and they send messages to their friends and colleagues and acting the way they want. So you need to be, since the platform that you signed up for, you just need to log in, you know.
Speaker 2:I just not share, like your personal information. Like nobody on any social media platform should request for your personal information. And that can mean, like, if you don't want to give your full name, you shouldn't be disclosing your full name. Things like your date of birth, like um, I can't like your bank details and things like that, because there's a lot of Hiking going around, a lot of fraud and Different things. Although you see this, what I mean, like, their benefits are very, are very, you know, they're very high, but also the, you know the, the bad stuff about social media can be very dark, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, guys, it's been, it's been a minute, it's been great. It's been great. I mean, it's come as you know. That's social media.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it has, and I think I feel like social media is is going to be here for a long time, but I would encourage people to use it for the right reasons and just to yes, just always be you know. Ask yourself a question as you're posting something you know, is it going to affect or is it? Is it going to influence?
Speaker 2:or is it going to Kind of like make somebody feel sad and so? So I know you know it's your personal platform. You should do what you want, but just always think about the other person on the other side receiving that content.
Speaker 1:Guys, thank you for constantly listening to our podcast for download here from you guys. Yes, so you want to hear your opinion, you know. Tell us what we can do better. Tell us how you know what you want us to discuss, if you have any topic or not to discuss.
Speaker 2:You know yes, in the meantime, whenever we pull out like an episode, you can um Me, see, you know, find us or follow us on our tick tock, which is at thh H podcast. So that's their hybrid hub podcast. The thh is all in capital letters and then the word podcast. And you can meet us on our you know business page, gocca photography, where you can check out our work, see if you like it, leave us a like, a share, a comment and if you know somebody that is looking for A photographer, or someone's getting married, somebody's got a birthday, do signpost them on our page. Until next time, guys stay blessed.