Raipur A workshop was organised on June 30 under the joint aegis of Public Relations Department of Chhattisgarh Government, UNICEF and Chhattisgarh Alliance for Behavior Change to mark the “World Social Media Day”. Social media influencers of the state, social change makers, social workers who have effectively used social media tools to drive behavior change within communities, representatives of voluntary organizations, volunteers and students of various educational institutions participated in the workshop.
The theme of the workshop was “Social Media 4 Social Good”. UNICEF Chhattisgarh head Job Zakaria said that the potential of social media as a catalyst for positive change should be recognized and used. Public Relations Department Director Soumil Ranjan Choubey guided the participants on the topic of Social Media for Good Governance and said that social media is being better used by the Public Relations Department for wide publicity of important schemes of the state government. As part of its moral responsibility, it is the department’s endeavor to keep warning the public about misinformation. He said that, the way the influence of social media is increasing today, all have to decide what is their social responsibility. He said that for the state government social media has been helpful in solving the problems of the general public.
Today any person can convey his message to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel through social media, he said. Vicky Roy, renowned documentary photographer listed as Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 in 2016, spoke on the topic “Photography a Mirror to the Society”. He said how better use of photography and social media can help the needy people of the society. He also discussed the effect of social media for better promotion of his art. The workshop had two panel discussions. The first panel discussion was on the topic “Behaviour Change using Social Media”. Artists Pramod Sahu, Satish Bhuwalka of “Bunch of Fools”, Richa Goswami of Radio Jockey, and Jeet Singh Arya of Unexplored Bastar spoke effectively.
The second panel discussion stressed on the systematic use of social media for social problems and its solutions. International model Veena Sendre, Akash Gupta of Human of Chhattisgarh and food blogger Mayank Karra shared their experiences as panelists. UNICEF SBC Specialist Abhishek Singh guided the participants on behavior change on social media. Aamna Khatoon, Assistant Director, who is responsible for social media in the Public Relations Department, spoke about the efforts to be made at the state and district level through social media. SBC Consultant Niyati Raj, Chandan Kumar, General Manager from Chhattisgarh Samvad, Vinayak Sharma, along with a large number of youth volunteers participated in the workshop.
