JIS Social Media Workshop Inspires Teens

Dozens of teenagers across western Jamaca have benefited from a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) initiative aimed at guiding them in developing healthy and responsible social media habits.

The Social Media for Social Change workshop, held recently at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St. James, brought together students from several high schools for a day of learning, creativity and reflection on the role social media plays in shaping public attitudes.

Organised by the JIS Social Media Department and led by Social Media Manager, Shanique Thomas, the event was designed to address growing concerns about how young people use social media and the impact of the content they share online.

It aimed to encourage responsible digital behaviour among the youth, who are among the most active users of social media platforms.

“Now this initiative started because of the need that we saw, and young people are the focus. They are the main drivers of change. So, we decided that let’s host a workshop with schools, and we invited 15 schools – two students from each school,” Mrs. Thomas told JIS News.

“They had the opportunity to hear various presentations from members of our Social Media Department, as well as influencers or content creators within the space who were able to guide them,” she said.

“We wanted to start from the ground to educate the younger audience about how to… just have some social responsibility, to evoke some change in regard to the type of content that they’re posting on social media,” Mrs. Thomas added.

The schools represented included Montego Bay High School for Girls, Anchovy High School, Rusea’s High School, Manning’s School, Heinz Simonitsch School and Frome Technical High School, among others.

Among the guest presenters was Jamaican content creator Jermaine Watson, popularly known online as “Scottycuss”, who spoke about navigating the digital space and understanding the influence social media users have over their audiences.

The highlight of the workshop was the presentation of a one-minute video by each school demonstrating how kind acts and helping others can bring about positive change after a major disaster.

They had about an hour and a half to complete the challenge that involved planning, filming around the cultural centre and editing their videos.

When the results were announced, Montego Bay High School for Girls emerged as the winner, taking home two laptop computers sponsored by the Universal Service Fund (USF).

Rusea’s High School, which placed second, was awarded two Samsung tablets from Digicel Foundation, and content creator kits from Case Central went to third-place school, Frome Technical High.

For many of the students, the experience offered a new perspective on how they view and use social media.

Grade-10 student at Montego Bay High School for Girls, Kaira Bowman, said that the workshop helped her realise that social media can be used for more than entertainment and can instead, be a platform to raise awareness, stay informed and support others.

Kaira commended the JIS for staging the forum and was pleased that her team won the film challenge, noting the strong work produced by the other schools.

“Oh my gosh, it’s awesome. I was so happy and excited, and I’m just very grateful as well because they (JIS) didn’t have to do what they did,” the teen noted.

Her teammate, Grade-eight student Thaejadore Kerr, described the video challenge as both exciting and demanding.

She noted that the teams had to move quickly to record their scenes and complete the editing within the allotted time. Moreover, the experience showed the importance of being mindful about what is posted online since digital content can have lasting effects.

“I want to say thank you to our principal, the teacher in charge of our school’s Tourism Action Club, also my form class and just our school on a whole. Everything that we portray [here] is a representation of everything that they taught us,” Thaejadore said.

The workshop also received support from the Mayor of Montego Bay and Chairman of the St. James Municipal Corporation, Councillor Richard Vernon, who interacted with the students and spoke about the growing influence of social media in modern society.

He pointed out that while digital platforms allow people to access information quickly and even build careers as content creators, they also require users to be responsible in verifying and sharing information.

Several other organisations also supported the initiative, including the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Tastee, Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Hi-Lo Food Stores and Select Brands.