Social media promote Valentine celebrations more — ICT experts

Information and Communication Expert (ICT) stakeholders in Abuja say  the social media have promoted the observance of Valentine’s Day more than ever.

They said that the various social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Tweeter, among others had made the celebration of Valentine easier for lovers to reach each other.

An ICT Expert, Mr Mark Woji told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday that through the social media, the celebration of Valentine had gone viral as people were informed and educated on the essence of the day.

Woji, who is the Project Partner North-Central of “mindthe-gap’’, an ICT company, said that the social media was in the fore-front of sharing information.

“In today’s world and we are in the 21^th Century, social media drives everything and information has gone digital, social media is in the fore-front of sharing such information.

“Today, valentine has gone viral on social media, in those days, not many people really knew what Feb 14 was.

“But now whether you want to know or not, you will see something on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram or a group post telling you happy valentine,’’ he said.

Woji said that Google had made everything easy, adding that you can always Google to know who Saint Valentine was and the story of how valentine came about.

According to him, the social media has made Valentine a tradition like Christmas, New Year and other celebrations, adding that “the social media can magnify anything no matter how small’’.

Another ICT expert, Mr Christian Agu said that the social media as a platform was where everyone could be informed of  happenings in the world.

He said the that social media also served as a reminder of the day, adding that he was also informed of Valentine Day when he received a post from a friend on WhatsApp.

“To me social media has become an avenue for interaction and information not only for Valentine celebration but for every other events.

“As you know the world is going digital and through the social media a lot of interaction is going on, especially for our youths,’’ he said.

Other Nigerians also explained how digitisation had influenced the celebration of Valentine.

Miss Mirian Oguh, a Corps member said that social media had gone a long way in making communication easy for the celebration of Valentine.

“For those that stay apart from their spouses, instead of travelling down to see each other, video calls can be made via social media to communicate for as long as you want.

“Instead of taking the risk of travelling from one place to another just to see each other, with applications like IMO,  Skype and messenger on our phones, we can make video calls, send pictures and share gifts online,’’ she added.

Another youth, Miss Mercy Chekwas said that the social media including the mobile phone had helped to reduce the cost of celebrating Valentine.

“The money I would have used to buy many gifts for different people and start going from one point to another to deliver it to them, with little airtime on my phone, I can call as many people as I want.

“And if I still feel like giving out gifts, I can also forward airtime to a few of my loved ones from where I am instead of going out to purchase anything that will cost so much money,” she said.

Chekwas added that social media this season helped to unite  friends from different parts of the world and animated gifts online can also be exchanged to create that feeling of excitement and love.

She therefore advised that churches should put in more efforts to teach young people what the season really meant and how it should be celebrated in order to avoid abusing it.

“Some churches are beginning to organise special programmes during valentine to educate the youths.

“Other churches should do same so people, especially the youths will have better understanding on the original idea behind the Valentine,” she said.

A computer analyst, Mr David Olawumi warned that in celebrating valentine, youths should be careful.

According to him, through social media a lot of youths have been deceived on Facebook and other platforms.

“Some youths have been lured by unsuspecting characters through the social media platforms and some have even been killed in the name of celebration.

“We have heard of cases where some girls had be lured by some boys through Facebook and other platforms and they ended up being killed, raped or kidnapped,’’ he said.

The Feast of Saint Valentine originated from the third century with an oppressive Roman Emperor, Claudius and a humble Christian martyr Valentinus.

Claudius ordered all Romans to worship 12 gods and made it a crime punishable by death to associate with Christians.

However, Valentinus was dedicated to the ideals of Christ and no death threat could deter him from practicing his beliefs.

He was arrested and imprisoned, later killed and on the eve of his death, he wrote a letter to his daughter Julia, urging her to stay close to God.

The content of the letter was carried out on Feb. 14, therefore, annually, messages of affection, love, gifts, devotion were being exchanged around the world since then.