Network Components and Social Media
Senior 2 · ICT
Network Components and Social Media
Lesson 4 of 4
22 min
Rwandan ministries, the police and hospitals post announcements on social media. Small businesses sell clothes, crafts and avocados through WhatsApp and Instagram. Your class probably has its own WhatsApp group. Social media is often where news appears first, and it is also where rumours and scams appear first. Using it well is now a basic skill, as reading a newspaper was for earlier generations.
Radio Rwanda broadcasts a news bulletin. One station sends the same programme to thousands of listeners, and the listeners cannot answer on air. This is one-to-many communication, the model of traditional media such as radio, TV and newspapers.
Now take an S2 class WhatsApp group with 45 members. Any member can post a question, a photo or a voice note, and any member can reply. This is many-to-many communication, the model of social media.
Social media are websites and mobile apps on which users create and share content (text, photos, videos) and interact with each other in online communities. Three features set them apart:
| Type | Examples | Main use |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging | WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal | Private chats and groups |
| Social networking | Facebook, LinkedIn | Keeping in touch; professional profiles and jobs |
| Microblogging | X (formerly Twitter), Threads | Short public posts and news |
| Photo and video sharing | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube | Pictures, short videos, tutorials |
| Collaborative sites | Wikipedia and other wikis | Writing and correcting shared articles |
URGENT!!! The Ministry of Education will send 50,000 Frw to every student by MoMo. Reply with your MoMo PIN to register before Friday. Forward to 10 groups!
Conclusion: it is a scam. Do not reply and do not forward it. Report it, and warn your group that it is fake.
Tip
Two rules prevent most trouble: THINK before you post (True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, Kind), and never share a PIN or OTP. In exam questions on social media, give each benefit or risk WITH an example. One-word answers rarely earn full marks.
Classify each as one-to-many or many-to-many: (a) a TV news bulletin, (b) a Facebook group for S2 parents, (c) a printed newspaper.
Solution: (a) one-to-many; (b) many-to-many, because every parent can post and reply; (c) one-to-many.
Give two ways a cooperative of basket weavers could use social media to grow its business.
Solution: Any two of: post photos of new baskets on Instagram or Facebook to reach buyers in Kigali and abroad; use a WhatsApp Business account to take orders and answer questions; share reviews from happy customers; post short videos showing how the baskets are made.
A classmate posts an embarrassing photo of Keza in a group chat. Give two sensible steps Keza can take.
Solution: Any two of: ask the classmate to delete it; report the post to the platform; tell a trusted adult or teacher; keep a screenshot as evidence; do not reply with insults.
Use THINK to decide whether this should be posted: "Look at this video of our teacher falling over, he is useless."
Solution: No. It is not Kind, Helpful or Necessary. It could count as cyberbullying, and it would stay in the poster's digital footprint.
Summary
Sources and credits
The THINK checklist, the viral-message worked example and the practice items were written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
