How much is a digital information worth? How lucrative can a digital enterprise be? Exactly how life changing and career threatening can a new media information be? How expensive can a tweet be?
As for the penultimate question, Mr. Shem Obafaiye of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, fame is in the best position to comment! Long after Mr. Obafaiye embraces mortality, his digital footprints, courtesy of the now famous interview he granted Channels Television, which has since gone viral with the nomenclature – My Oga at the Top, would remain.
I am not attempting a post mortem of what went wrong and how the social form of the new media gave it wings.
Sometimes in February at the Social Media Retreat convened by the UNDP-DGD team, I first heard Tolu Ogunlesi hint at the ‘eEstate of the future’. Therein sits my interest. Any new media professional capable of erasing unwanted information in forms of pictures, videos or posts that are already viral would possibly rank in the highest earner of the future. Kim Kardashian would want videos of her ‘sexcapade’ expunged from the global village; Anita Hogan, back then, would want same with her pictures; ditto the more recent Commandant Shem. As the new media skills and knowledge continues to grow, more people continue to depend on it.
The growing enterprise of the social media is enough call to reflect on the future for individuals, groups and organisations making a fortune off and from it today. When a Twitter ‘celebrity’ dies, what happens to the handle? When a famous blogger becomes deceased, can his or her blog be inherited?
I called a friend to inquire how much a mutual acquaintance of ours bills for tweets? I was shocked to hear that a tweet (a mere 140-character) will cost a minimum of N10,000. Another famous Nigerian blogger charges N50,000 for a sponsored blog post. Basic knowledge of Mathematics will help any mind understand how enormous the social media enterprise is today. So, what happens to these digital estates when these folks inevitably wave good bye to the planet?
In 2004, about six years after the death of business mogul and winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun Moshood Kasimawo Abiola, his estates were still being contended for in court. More recently, the family of the late Eze Gburugburu of Igbo land, Odimegwu Ojukwu, also became submerged in controversies trailing the wealth sharing approach of the late Igbo leader’s extensive wealth. With several Twitter ‘warlords’, expansion of the clan of blog ‘landlords’ and individuals with colossal like figures on Facebook, I possibly will envisage that litigation of the future would be digital estate-related. Inferentially, the most popular and wealthy lawyers might be those with knowledge and specialisation around this.
As it stands, my profile pictures on Facebook would outlive me, that’s assuming Facebook exists for several more years! If Twitter stands the test of time and decides on preservation, our tweets would be there for our grandchildren to peruse! Even if they never met us, they would have a close up idea of what our thoughts were and what our interests were while we were here. Scary?
If it is to you, then you need to embrace this reality by preparing for your digital after life. About a year ago, I had meticulously composed and posted a birthday message on a friend’s wall. We were contemporaries years back as undergraduates. Sadly, he was dead and I had no fore knowledge. A mutual friend quickly inboxed me, asking that I check previous posts. Alas, it was that of commiserations; one alluding to the celebration that would have been if he was alive; needless to say that I quickly deleted my ‘insensitive’ post. There are currently a little more than 30 million dead people with accounts on Facebook globally.
The concept of digital estate and asset includes all files that are in the digital format. These include our documents, pictures, videos, emails, text messages and audio files. It however extends beyond online materials; it includes the digital tools we use to store our information. Our smart phones, tokens, tablets, laptops and desktop systems are also part of our digital estate. It is the worth that however differs from individual. Several parts of our financial life are now digital. That almost finished memoir or novel is also in digital form.
These tools and platforms have become a huge aspect of our everyday life. Active users have tonnes of information there. Imagine the worth of a journalist’s SIM with several contacts on it or that of a business man with numbers of thousands of viable business partners and contacts. What happens to our lines after our demise is not something we spare thought for. If truly academic courses are meant to be drawn from society concerns, then it’s time our academic institutions began courses in cyber anthropology to unpack this new paradigm. Despite the policies of several social media on how to access the accounts of dead ones, there is still the need for a digital will. We need to deeply understand that whatever we make available on the Internet has the capacity to outlive us. If a man has a million followers on Twitter with huge earning capacity and he dies, my theory is that it should be possible for such person to will the followership to an heir. Twitter would then ensure that no one can unfollow such account for a least a month. During this period, the new handler would pitch himself a worthy heir. Thereafter whoever wishes to unfollow can do so. Twitter then allows him merge the followership with his own already existing account if he so wishes.
The solution lies in listing all our digital assets and how to access them on a word document and have it passworded and thereafter emailed to a trusted friend/family member. The ‘super password’ can then left with another trusted person. That creates a two-level security for it. The bank safe deposit box can also be used for this. The solution to unlocking our digital empire lies in granting access. There is currently no serious legislation around this because the new media is ahead of the law especially given its constant evolution. Beyond the asset values of our digital life, we may love to have it preserved for memorial purpose.
No healthy person prays to die but it inadvertently will happen. When you begin to see posters on the streets and advertorials in the dailies inviting you to a digital death summit, then know that the emergent culture that is the new media now has deeper root than you can only best imagine.
* This article was first published in Punch Newspapers of Monday, March 18th, 2013. The writer maintains a weekly column on the i-Punch Desk
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‘Sola Fagorusi
Sola Fagorusi is a youth development advocate, freelance writer, accomplished debater cum coach. The Obafemi Awolowo University graduate has about 10 years experience in social entrepreneurship which straddles leadership, good governance cum anti-corruption and adolescent reproductive health. The Leap Africa alumnus is also a trained peer educator, a DESPLAY alumnus and co-facilitator. For 2 years now, he has been a technical consultant and lead judge on the Intra-Faith Peace Youth TV Debate Project facilitated by Youngstars Foundation and the British High Commission. To read his full profile, click here
