By Chinyere Anyanwu
Arise TV’s host and On-Air-Personality (OAP), Rufai Oseni, has emerged winner in the maiden edition of the Social Media Awards (SMA) for the “Most Engaging Journalist on Social Media”.
The “Most Engaging TV Station on Social Media” was won by Arise News, while the “Most Engaging TV Presenter on Social Media” went to Dr. Morayo Afolabi-Brown, one of the presenters of the popular TV show, Your View.
Nollywood actress, Bimbo Ademoye, emerged the “Most Engaging Actress”, while Stan Nze won in the category of the “Most Engaging Actor”.
Popular rapper and musician, Falz, emerged winner for the “Best Use of Social Media in a Crisis” as Mark Angel Comedy clinched the award for the “Best Facebook Content Creator” with “The witch mother in-law”.
In his welcome address at the ceremony in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer of Alternative Adverts Ltd. and organiser of the awards, Mr. Emmanuel Nwafor, commended the awardees’ for their efforts at deploying social media for positive impacts in their various communities.
Explaining the vision that birthed the awards, Nwafor said, “this event is to honour individuals and organisations that are using social media in innovative and impactful ways.
According to him, “the Social Media Awards (SMA) aim to recognise those who are pushing the boundaries of what social media can do for good. Whether it is spreading joy, raising awareness for important causes or simply providing useful information and entertainment.
“We also hope that the award will help encourage those into nefarious activities on social media to see a reason to use it for good with the hope of being recognised one day.”
He added that, “aside the awards ceremony, we want to create an atmosphere where social media personalities, influencers, content creators and brands can meet in large numbers to network, share ideas and chart a new course for the future of the industry.”
Speaking on the future of the awards, Nwafor said, “I have a dream that by the 5th or 10th edition of Nigeria’s SMAs, we can stand and celebrate Nigeria’s own social media platform with at least 50 or 100 million downloads.”
Challenging the youths to make a mark in the social media terrain, he said, “I task the social media personalities, influencers, content creators here and even business people, to think of becoming social media landlords in another five to 10 years. But to achieve that, we need to be committed to it and deliberate about it as well.
“It is said that data is the new gold. Can you imagine the power you will have or the amount of money you can make if you have a social media app with 100 million downloads, which is instant access to 100 million people.”
Other awardees include Ify Mogekwu Kitchen, who got the “Food Influencer of the Year” award; Cool FM Nigeria was named the year’s “Most Engaging Radio Station”; Taaooma’s “E-Suli has Suffered” bagged the “Best Instagram Content Creator” award, while Odinaka Chukwueze bagged the overall “Best Social Media Content Creator” award.
In addition, ‘Who is Your Guy’ by Spyro emerged the “Most Viral Song of the Year”; Daddy Freeze won the “Most Engaging On-Air-Personality on Social Media”; Simply Tacha won the “Social Media Influencer of the Year”; Shank Comics – ‘mapa’mi naaaa’ bagged the Most Viral Slang Maker of the Year” award, while MTN Nigeria won the “Most Responsive Telecoms Company in Nigeria” award.
Also, Jeremiah Ogbodo clinched the “Fashion Influencer of the Year” award; Pharmsavi’s “Choose Health Always” won the Best Health Content Creator” award; khloes_gram (Leave them alone) won the “Best Tiktok Content Creator”; B.O.D @bod_republic emerged the “Best Twitter Content Creator”; Back in Uni by Blaqbonez & Perliks won the “Best Music Video on YouTube”, while @Brainjotter, “the trapped soul”, emerged the “Best YouTube Content Creator”.
TEEE Dollar bagged the “Best Dance Content Creator; Yabaleft Online won the “Blogger of the Year, and Betway was awarded for the “Best Use of Social Media in Sports”.
The “Best Entertaining Content Creator”, went to the audition by Josh2funny, “The Strongest Man in the World”; Indomie won the “Most Responsive FMCG Brand on Social Media”; Jumai emerged winner of the “Greatest Social Media E-commerce Company”; Lush Hair won the “Most Popular Beauty Brand on Social Media in Nigeria”; while TECNO CAMON 20, Steady Night Portrait Master, TECNOMobileNigeria emerged “Best Audience Engagement Campaign on Social Media”.