News / National
Prof Jonathan Moyo opens Twitter, Facebook accounts
10 Feb 2015 at 10:40hrs | Views
INFORMATION, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo yesterday opened a Twitter account and a Facebook Page and then declared: "Let's get started!"
Prof Moyo once vowed never to join any social network "in a thousand years", but his Damascene flash was not long in coming after President Mugabe named him Zanu-PF's new secretary for science and technology in the Politburo last December.
"The bottom line that you can ignore to your own peril," the minister said in a statement yesterday, "is that social media have become so ubiquitous and so pervasive that it is no longer possible to be relevant in any human endeavour without using them.
"Those who don't use social media in one way or another and those who want to ban their use are doomed.
"And so it is that while I still strongly believe in the epistemological proposition that nothing beats human speech as an expression of rational communication, I have decided to not only follow social media but to also for the first time participate in them as an active contributor.
"As such, I have decided to open Twitter and Facebook accounts from today and I intend to use these accounts like nobody's business."
Prof Moyo's Twitter handle is @ProfJNMoyo and he opened a Facebook Page using the name Prof Jonathan Moyo.
Prof Moyo said his decision to join Twitter and Facebook would also deal with impersonators who often post inaccurate information pretending to be him.
"All phoneys out there who have been running fake social media accounts in my name should take note that their criminal game is up," he said.
"My decision to be active on Twitter and Facebook, which I had previously vowed never to use in a thousand years, has been influenced by my recent appointment by President Mugabe to head Zanu-PF's Department of Science and Technology, which has combined very nicely with a long-standing push from my kids whose lives revolve around social media.
"Let's get started!"
By late yesterday, Prof Moyo's Twitter page already had over 450 followers after just one tweet which announced: "Just setting up my Twitter #MyFirstTweet."
While welcoming technology as a "cool thing", Prof Moyo suggested social media had its "limits", urging vigilance.
"Like everyone else, I think social media are really cool as digital platforms and I acknowledge their amazing power in facilitating interactive communication beyond the boundaries of space and time and in ways that can improve lives and livelihoods.
"But of course every cool thing has its limits and that is particularly true of technological products," he warned.
"In any event, there are some fundamental questions whose answers still remain elusive about the space and use of social media in human civilisation.
"The abuse of social media witnessed in fake revolutions such as the so-called Arab spring coupled with the vulnerabilities of these media to cybercrime should give society enough reasons to be inquisitive about the virtues of social media."
Prof Moyo once vowed never to join any social network "in a thousand years", but his Damascene flash was not long in coming after President Mugabe named him Zanu-PF's new secretary for science and technology in the Politburo last December.
"The bottom line that you can ignore to your own peril," the minister said in a statement yesterday, "is that social media have become so ubiquitous and so pervasive that it is no longer possible to be relevant in any human endeavour without using them.
"Those who don't use social media in one way or another and those who want to ban their use are doomed.
"And so it is that while I still strongly believe in the epistemological proposition that nothing beats human speech as an expression of rational communication, I have decided to not only follow social media but to also for the first time participate in them as an active contributor.
"As such, I have decided to open Twitter and Facebook accounts from today and I intend to use these accounts like nobody's business."
Prof Moyo's Twitter handle is @ProfJNMoyo and he opened a Facebook Page using the name Prof Jonathan Moyo.
Prof Moyo said his decision to join Twitter and Facebook would also deal with impersonators who often post inaccurate information pretending to be him.
"My decision to be active on Twitter and Facebook, which I had previously vowed never to use in a thousand years, has been influenced by my recent appointment by President Mugabe to head Zanu-PF's Department of Science and Technology, which has combined very nicely with a long-standing push from my kids whose lives revolve around social media.
"Let's get started!"
By late yesterday, Prof Moyo's Twitter page already had over 450 followers after just one tweet which announced: "Just setting up my Twitter #MyFirstTweet."
While welcoming technology as a "cool thing", Prof Moyo suggested social media had its "limits", urging vigilance.
"Like everyone else, I think social media are really cool as digital platforms and I acknowledge their amazing power in facilitating interactive communication beyond the boundaries of space and time and in ways that can improve lives and livelihoods.
"But of course every cool thing has its limits and that is particularly true of technological products," he warned.
"In any event, there are some fundamental questions whose answers still remain elusive about the space and use of social media in human civilisation.
"The abuse of social media witnessed in fake revolutions such as the so-called Arab spring coupled with the vulnerabilities of these media to cybercrime should give society enough reasons to be inquisitive about the virtues of social media."
Source - the herald
