Trending in Zambia this Week: The Facebook Trio and Alangizi Video

In all fairness, as a follow up to the global trends we covered today, we had to balance things by discussing what is trending on social media in Zambia this week. And honestly, we couldn’t resist covering two particular events that have taken Facebook by storm and sent tongues viciously wagging.

First, there was the Alangizi video which went viral via Whatsapp, Facebook and eventually made it’s way to Youtube with close to 9000 views. Newspapers also helped in fuelling the fire by vividly depicting the contents of the video. In fact, the expectations from the newspaper article were set so high that the actual video clip was disappointing.

And then there is, Amanda Chulu, Clara Ngoma and Ashley Maxwell, the trio of Zambian “teenage” girls who are apparently posting naked pictures of themselves on Facebook. Reports state that these girls have shocked the country through the public exhibition of immoral images of themselves. A quick perusal of  one of the girls’ Facebook profile, Clara Ngoma, reveals her sexually provocative photos; although clad in underwear.

Like an axed tree hanging from a thready bark of fibre, social media’s credibility in Zambia couldn’t be getting any weaker. Or isn’t it? Social media is receiving a lot of attention from the government as well as non-governmental organisations (mostly local ones).  There has been an outcry about how social media is a danger to society. Apparently, Zambia’s moral fabric is in danger of fading away due to gossip and malicious posts. Going back to the days before social media, parents had the internet to worry about and pornographic websites which were believed to corrupt kids morals. It’s like nobody even remembers the internet exists any more, they are more worried about social media. If Youtube has all kind of things, what more the abysmal world wide web? It is significant to always look at the bigger picture.

Talking about the benefits of social media might actually turn it into something positive. Most Zambians have found an effective avenue to sell and advertise goods and services using Facebook rather than spending any money at all on conventional methods of marketing. We couldn’t agree more that social media is indeed a disruptive innovation, and the internet is its birthplace.