Social media has started on a high in 2014 and like everyone else, we always get locked into the weird, the funny and the outright outrageous things that happen in our world as expressed on social media. However, there are times when it’s so hectic that social media becomes a too expensive distraction that although you want to take a peep, you cant afford to do so because of a deadline or some other time issue.
This is why we have thought a new weekly feature on Techzim that’s basically a compilation of the top 5 trending stories on social media throughout the week. This compilation will be complete with brief story backgrounds, screenshots of what people said and anything else that will help you stay in the loop.
We start today. Here’s the top stories from social media throughout this week.
1. #PastorLesego says eat grass to get closer to God
South African Pastor Daniel Lesego dominated media throughout the world when photos of his congregants eating grass under his instructions went viral on social media. Although the people who follow Pastor Lesego were quick to defend his rather awkward methods to “connect with God”, people took to social media to ridicule and condemn the methods. On his part, Pastor Lesego said there is more coming.
2. Prophet Makandiwa waiting for instructions to raise people from the dead?
Although this strory was missing in mainstream media, #Makandiwa was trending on social media over claims allegedly made by his Aide that he (Prophet Makandiwa) was “waiting for a few instructions from God” to start raising people from the dead. Here’s how the story played out on Twitter.
If Prophet #Makandiwa is “waiting for a few instructions from God” to begin raising people from the dead, who should he start with?
— Lance Guma (@LanceGuma) January 14, 2014
@byo24news ‘Waiting for instructions from God” basically means we are still working on the act, we are still polishing it up #makandiwa
— Baynham Goredema (@bayhaus) January 15, 2014
#Makandiwa chill on reviving e dead how about resuscitation &revitalization of #Zimbabwe economy which died an excruciating death along ago
— Sanele (@seluleme) January 14, 2014
3. HerZimbabwe VS. Newsday over Tin Tin
Her Zimbabwe took exception to the way Newsday described Tino Katsande as “battered” in a story about her own revelations about a condition she has.
Dear @NewsDayZimbabwe, your use of the word ‘battered’ in the article about Tin Tin is really uncalled for. We are concerned.
— Her Zimbabwe (@herzimbabwe) January 15, 2014
Newsday saw nothing wrong with the description maintaining that their description was “fact” as Tin Tin’s image was damaged, by well, you know what.
@herzimbabwe We are just dealing with the facts :Her image has been ‘battered’ after the leaking of the sextape and her dismisal from work.
— NewsDay (@NewsDayZimbabwe) January 15, 2014
Prominent #Twimbos particularly @SirNige and @joeblackzw weighed in with their own opinion (supporting Her Zimbabwe of course) and soon, Newsday faced an unexpected backlash from both man and women expressing their disappointment at how they had described Tin Tin. It seems they did not know how to deal with it and just disappeared under a rock.
#broken……….
— mkSwtLemonade (@TinTin263) January 15, 2014
Tino tweeted #broken apparently suggesting her state after the Newsday’s “error of judgement” but eventually #GirlPower seemed to have carried the day.
4. ZRP’s transfer policy on corrupt officers
Twitter was abuzz with disgust over ZRP’s lack of will to deal with corruption. However, with the ZRP not on Twitter, most messages were directed to The Herald who broke the story, with the sensational headline “33 Traffic Cops Sent Packing” which gave the impression that the corrupt cops were sacked.
How ZRP deals with corrupt cops: Don’t arrest or fire them. Send them to be corrupt elsewhere –> http://t.co/aktcU1e9Ze @HeraldZimbabwe
— Cynic (@CynicHarare) January 17, 2014
It’s quiet apparent from the headline that The Herald wanted to give the impression that the cop bosses were doing an sterling job in fighting corruption.
RT @tonysedz: @HeraldZimbabwe thats not the solution why not fire corrupt ones.what they’re doing is harboring fugitives.it promotes…
— The Herald (@HeraldZimbabwe) January 17, 2014
5. Devil Baby Attack Prank
In a well executed stunt to promote a new movies called The Devil’s Due, Thinkmodo created a mechanical devilish baby doll to literally scare people in New York. The hilarious You-Tube video has close to 30,000,000 views in just three days.
Rubbish and pointless article.. Limbikani – you started well mate. TechZim could soon run into a need to restructure dead wood like this one before u know it.
pointless?? how?
this article belongs to the Zimbojam blog. not here!
I like it mate! It summarises social media trends in Zim quite well, looking forward to the next instalment.
Too harsh though the type of articles in recent times leaves a lot to be desired
IT is a vast field, there are new sub-sectors in IT such as Digital Marketing (Internet Marketing), Social Media Management that have revenues totalling billions of $USD.
This is a very relevant article to marketing departments more specifically those responsible for digital marketing,
Although i must say i find the comment pointless . If you are going to offer criticism, let it be constructive criticism explaining why you think what you think & what can be done in your view to remedy the situation.
Not what I expected but if some like it,happy them.
Like the new feature……….
Good for us in the diaspora and not on twitter. Thanks guys for the updates!