Asberth Williams – using social media to mobilize for positive change

The availability and growth of social media has opened many vistas of communication for millions of people across the globe. Many use assumed names and handles to hide their identity. Not so Asberth Williams, who prefers to see himself as a social media enthusiast, who makes use of social media to catch up with the latest news and sports, and chat on Facebook with his thousands of ‘friends’ on a daily basis.

“Who dey up” is a favourite question, to which many of his ‘friends’ respond in the wee hours of the morning, when Williams puts in one of many appearances for the day on Facebook.

“First, I started posting jokes,” Williams tells SEARCHLIGHT, noting that he is quite a humorous character. He soon branched off into food and the number of persons who would respond continued to grow.

“I love to cook, so every time I cook, I would post a plate of food or the pot cooking or something and some persons may like it; some persons get angry.”

Friends living abroad are particular targets, as they may not easily obtain fish or seasonal fruits such as mangoes, which he will post to his page. Just for the fun of it, Williams may decide that he is “going terrorize them” with his posts.

Voted Best Social Media Personality in the Best of SVG 2017 Awards, Williams revealed that he has maxed out on the 5,000 friends which Facebook allows, and there are some 2,200 others waiting to ‘friend’ him.

With his popularity, Williams notes that people expect him to know about whatever is happening in the state. In fact, he claims that often when there is a vehicular accident, he “may be the first person to know because somebody will feel Asberth should know that,” and, sometimes when he makes a post, his police friends will call and ask “what’s the scoop,” as they too feel that he has information.

A chance, morning encounter on his way to work with two youngsters and their grandmother at the start of one school term has led to what has now become Asberth’s School Fund, where, for the past four years, his Facebook friends in the USA would supply school bags, pens and pencils, which are given to needy children returning to school.

Williams has been also using his social media presence to mobilize community discussions around issues of domestic violence with support from friends on the ground who have readily responded to his request for their input.

“One of the most positive things I think coming out from [me] being popular on social media – I am now going to do my own news site,” Williams disclosed.

“Because of my popularity, I think that I could do well in that area.” The website is almost complete and he has already lined up persons to write and vet submissions.

“I basically will probably just be uploading stories,” explained Williams, who currently is employed as assistant librarian at the Villa-based SVG Community College.

Since he “basically will just be posting and monitoring,” Williams is confident that this new project, which he expects to roll out before year-end, will not interfere with his college duties.

He acknowledges that social media “has its good and its bad” and he has had to block persons who have been disrespectful to others on his page, but overall, social media has been a positive medium for this ardent football and cricket fan.

“Persons think that Asberth can’t live without Facebook, but I could live without Facebook,” Williams contends, especially if it becomes a choice between social media and football.