Online businesses banking on the use of Twitter for sales and promotions of products and services have started experiencing severe loss due to the ban of the microblogging platform.
Of course, we can’t easily forget how recent it was that the Nigerian Government suspended the use of Twitter over the incident that the management erased tweets of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The natural consequence of this action is already manifesting in the revenue losses steadily witnessed in our economic activities daily.
Reports making the rounds have highlighted areas where serious income generated by businesses online have dropped drastically. This is Nigeria losing up to two billion naira just within 24 hours.
Some in-depth analysis by an International Internet Monitor popularly known as Netblock revealed this financial setback that Nigeria is presently undergoing.
Netblock, which is also considered a digital rights advocacy medium, takes out time to calculate revenue losses triggered by certain disconnect from the world wide web, mobile data issues or even limitations to the usage of certain application features.
But in case you’re wondering what yardsticks the researchers utilize to generate factual data regarding online businesses and the financial estimates, they subscribe to study of Indicators from the World Bank, Eurosat, International Telecommunication Union, and other reliable sources.
Other sources have recorded immense revenue loss since the ban of Twitter in Nigeria. For the past three days now, the country was estimated to have lost 12 billion dollars on Electronic-Commerce Marketing.
According to Business Analyst Vladimir Zwass, E-Commerce entails maintaining relationships and conducting business transactions that includes selling information, services, and goods through computer telecommunications networks.
Twitter, on its part, is a medium Nigerians have been conducting various forms of transactions that also involves the application of e-commerce business concepts and models to engage followers who translate into customers once services or goods have been successfully exchanged.
Twitter Ban is Making Online Businesses Suffer
To understand how the Twitter ban is making business suffer in Nigeria, you need to comprehend how most sales and customer relations marketers established for years will be going down the drain. Study how their products/services, contacts, emails, addresses on display will need to be migrated to another social media platform.
The sudden and painstaking nature of transferring advertising messages to another microblogging medium will involve new financial implications and a shortage of target customers.
We all know how strenuous it is to get followers on social media platforms. The whole idea behind one man’s rage to completely shut down the blogging environment’s commercial space is seen by many Nigerians as unnecessary.
Over time, individuals who have become media influencers would have to consider an immediate porting to similar social networking environments like Facebook or Instagram.
Meanwhile, the question remains unanswered whether or not Nigerians will regain their followers or start all over again and reconnect with families, friends, business associates, among other persons, that is if Government will ever reconsider its action to lift the ban on Twitter.
The reality of the situation is that the Federal Government did not weigh the economic implications of shutting Twitter down. To date, no question has arrived regarding the settlement of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. Their primary point of sales/purchase has been dependent on marketing and advertising services provided by Twitter.
Besides, the period we’re presently encountering is unfavourable to the businessman. The coronavirus pandemic hit businesses hard and created unemployment as many employers couldn’t cope with the financial crisis witnessed from the shortage/lack of funds circulating.
Most businesses collapsed, and while others had to move online required major scenery adjustments that also cost money to operate.
Not to discredit the Government, there have been various impact programmes organized to sustain Nigerian citizens, including the palliative initiative, registration of businesses for free, sustainable fundings for struggling entrepreneurs to pay workers salaries, among other ideas.
Though citizens heavily scrutinized the programmes mentioned above for various shortfalls because corrupt officials within the Government compromised the purpose of creating the outreach programmes.
As an alternative to the ban of Twitter, the only option Government has presented to ease the tension is a proposal to create a Nigeria-owned internet space that would grant supreme control to the present administration.
