Abstract

The moral fiber of the nation, Nigeria, has come under question lately as the political, social, family and
religious atmosphere has been at a very low ebb level, leaving the youths with no moral compass to fall
back on. Despite the fact that a lot of people have attributed all the aberrations to the rise and spread of
social media, the authors of this study believe that social media can be used as a tool of redemption to
correct aberrations, particularly those of the youths. This push comes as an obvious reaction that has been
long overdue because the traditional paths of moral instruction—schools, religious institutions,
communities, families and conventional media—have not succeeded in communicating with, or even
connecting with today's youths, who are self-described "digital citizens". The study reports on a
TETEFUND-sponsored research project which focused on "Engaging Social Media in Remodelling
Character through Arts and Culture." The study involved dramatizing morally rich traditional folkloric
stories from four indigenous ethnic groups; Alago, Gbagyi, Ogu and Yoruba collected from the South West
and North Central regions of Nigeria into 52 episodes of five to ten minutes audio and filmic media with
the sole aim of using it to remodel the character of contemporary youth within the same interactive social
media spaces they occupy in their natural environment. A cross-platform social media campaign was done
through Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, which had high metrics of digital resonance with more than
77,000 video views on Facebook and 29,500 views on Instagram in a short span of a campaign. The study
has proved that the folklore can be adapted to digital media, and can be used to break generational barriers
and share traditional moral values for the benefit of society as a whole.