Staff Reporter
Experts at workshop believe it is high time for social media platforms to play constructive role in narrative building of a country. We are blessed with talented youth but they need to channelize their energy in influencing the better image of Pakistan. This was stated in an opening ceremony of a 3 day social media influencers workshop in Islamabad titled, “Multiplying Thoughts: Narratives and Story Telling in a digital world”, organized by Pak-Afghan Youth Forum which will continue from 29th January till 31st January, 2021.
Social Media or digital platforms are not something new for internet users. It has now the power of giving voice to the voiceless and potential to impact a mind in a most subtle manner. With text, visuals and statistics, these digital platforms are fast becoming an extensive battlefield for narratives. So to train and groom professionally, Pak Afghan Youth Forum brought social media influencers from all over Pakistan under one roof in order to discuss and make them understand what power they wield, improve the expertise to utilize multiple platforms simultaneously, and make sure that messaging to their content following is responsible, and well chalked out.
Director, PAYF Salman Javed in his opening remarks said participation of influencers from all over Pakistan show an effort by PAYF to bring hearts and minds together and highlight how much visible clout we have for this digital media and there are people who can multiply different positive thoughts to win over the negative elements in the society and beyond.
In one of a session of first day of workshop, Former Diplomat Amb. Ghalib Iqbal discussed how in the age of digital diplomacy, a young scholar can play a critical role in expanding the narratives. Participants in the first day of this three day workshop were also briefed about ten C’s of Strategic communications and how digital media and human stories impact our narratives was also discussed by eminent speakers.
In an inaugural ceremony dinner, Chairman Kashmir Committee, Shehryar Khan Afridi delivered a motivational talk as Chief Guest and mentioned how this war of narratives on social media play a critical role in effecting any country’s image.
He asked youth that while following narratives, must not fell prey to any foreign agendas. Senator Faisal Javed, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Information & Broadcasting as Guest of Honor of an event, said that such trainings and workshops on digital media are very important to make people understand the potential what they contain, as well as the danger they hold in this new age of information, where everyone has access to this media to their fingertips.
