Revolutionising the Communications Industry A-G Paves the Way During Disasters
In the last few years, Fiji has faced a myriad of natural disasters, most notably, Tropical Cyclone Winston which wiped out a third of our Gross Domestic Product within a few days. With climate change becoming an ever-growing threat, the frequency of natural disasters is set to increase, leaving the whole world at the mercy of Mother Nature.
Now, more than ever before, there is a need for Government to build a strong communications platform to ensure vital information can reach a large number of Fijians and keep us informed.
Communications, globally, is one of the most essential components of disaster response, however, in Fiji, this is something that is often given less of a priority.
The fact remains that during any situation such as a cyclone or virus outbreak, Fijians need to know what to do, what not to do, who to call for help and what’s going on around the country. The A-G and Minister for Communications, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, is one of the few people who recognise the lifesaving importance of communications.
Social and online media
Hundreds of thousands of Fijians are online and use popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and TikTok every day. Companies like Telecom Fiji are reporting as much as 90 per cent increases in bandwidth usages since the COVID-19 pandemic and Cyclone Harold.
10 years ago, this would be very different as people would call each other and congest the mobile networks - however, the latest trend makes it quite clear that the internet is how people are staying connected and consuming the news.
Reaching the Fijian people with strong and engaging messaging is crucial to achieving cogent and effective dissemination of critical information. The Attorney-General has very quickly identified the need for the Fijian Government to have a strong presence and expertise.
There has been a tremendous shift in both the frequency and quality of the content of Government’s social media assets in the last few months.
The Fijian Government’s Facebook page in particular, since January 2020, has revolutionised the way social media is used by Fijians.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an excellent example of this shift.
The Fijian Government’s Facebook and Twitter pages gave Fijians updates on nearly an hourly basis and advised us on the status of the virus, tips on how to keep safe, toll-free numbers, location of fever clinics and even short catchy animated videos telling Fijians to wash their hands and stay indoors.
The Fijian Government’s Facebook page became a strong point of all COVID-19 related information.
The live-streaming of the press conferences, the budget announcements were followed up with regular snapshots of information and the use of infographics.
By our calculations, hundreds of thousands of Fijians engaged the Fijian Government’s social media assets on a daily basis.
Under the leadership of the A-G, the Fijian Government has shown innovation and set unprecedented standards on the way social media should be used in disaster response.
The A-G’s COVID-19 supplementary budget announcement was not only live-streamed, but also live-tweeted. This allowed many Fijians to engage on each particular item and give their thoughts directly, generating a sense of involvement amongst Fijians.
Speaking of feeling involved, the Fijian Government Facebook and Twitter pages undertook revolutionary public consultations on the supplementary budget, creating portals where we understand hundreds of Fijians gave their input on what they wanted to see in the budget, effectively making us all part of the policymaking process. Tropical Cyclone Harold was no different.
TC Harold
Even as the cyclone formed, many of our attentions were still on COVID-19. The Fijian Government was, however, on point and from day one started putting out content for Fijians to prepare for the impending cyclone.
The Fijian Government, through its social media assets, gave us regular updates on the cyclones position, strength and more importantly, urged Fijians to prepare – even going so far as to provide detailed information on how they can prepare.
The Fijian Government is now even trending on TikTok, a popular social media app used by many young Fijians to create cool short videos.
The Ministry of Communications is quickly adapting to the rapidly changing global landscape and effectively leveraging the technology around us to create strong and effective solutions to assist the Fijian people.
The communications industry in Fiji has completely been revamped in the last few months, forcing many users to evolve or be left in the dust.
The Fijian Government puts up encouraging and emotive content on a daily basis to inspire young Fijians to work harder and reach even greater heights.
More importantly, they are targeting young Fijians by going straight to the medium they use and engaging them directly.
One thing is for sure, more and more Fijians are understanding the importance of communications in a rapidly advancing technological world.
And the Ministry of Communications has set a very high standard for us all to live up to.