ABUJA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The inaugural summit on social media development in Nigeria kicked off in the capital city of Abuja on Monday, with scores of international and local social media experts and entrepreneurs in attendance.
The three-day summit was organized to address issues related to social media, which include ending the "fake news" phenomenon and using the internet productively.
Organizers told Xinhua some of the aims of the summit also include connecting people, content, and conversations around emerging trends in social and mobile media.
"Social media is a big growing space; nobody can ignore the space. If you want to stay away from social media, you will be lost in today's challenging world," said Malaysian Shahud Hameed Dawood, one of the international speakers at the summit.
"Our job is to educate the people of Nigeria using the social media programs and get them to use it effectively and even how to monetize social media," he added.
Participants at the summit, mostly young people below the age of 40, brainstormed on the way forward regarding social media, not only for engagements or entertainment but also for education and discovering money-making potentials.
Seven international guest speakers from Asia, Australia, and America shared their personal experiences in using social media to promote a shared culture and people-to-people interaction.
The summit seeks to create awareness on promoting political communications, improving corporate governance and creating a knowledge-based economy rather than "fake news" through social media, organizers said.
The Nigerian government says more than 50 percent of the country's social media users have not used it properly.
