Former Oppostion Leader Mia Mottley, is suggesting that Barbadians use social media as an avenue to create change in the society.
She made the call during a social media summit today, staged by Flying Fish Studios Inc. at the Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Mottley said social media should be used as a democratic forum to evoke change.
“We have the perfect opportunity now to use that technology but marrying it to the essence of who we are as Bajans in terms of our commitment to social justice and the other values that made us who we are over the centuries…” she said.
Mottley called on young people to start tackling issues they felt passionate about since “democracy is about the people”.
The politician further urged people to use Facebook and Twitter for “meaningful activities that effectively expands our opportunities for success”.
She suggested that young people were more interested in issues that affected them and not a political party. She said social media gave the ability for people to “feed information to allow people to make up their minds”.
“ . . . Young people, predominantly under 40 years, are less interested in Bee or Dee . . . they are not into the alphabet but they are interested in causes,” she said.
Mottley cautioned, however, that while social media had “effectively made everyone an author, a critic or participant” there was a special responsibility which accompanied that.