Etisalat Lanka to host 5th consecutive Social Media Day event in SL

Owning the sphere of social media in Sri Lanka, Etisalat Lanka has been the host and driver in organising the globally acclaimed Social Media Day (SMD) in Sri Lanka, including this year’s SMD which will be held on 16 July at Havelock City – Colombo 05 from 8:30 a.m. onwards. Held for the fifth consecutive year this year, SMD Sri Lanka has been previously listed among the top three SMD events to attend in the world due to the insightful and relevant topics discussed.

SMD is a way to recognise and celebrate social media’s impact on global communication. Celebrated annually, this year marks the seventh annual official global celebration. Mashable, the world’s leading information and resource platform for the Connected Generation, recognises SMD as a highly sought after event due to the credible and in-depth topics addressed at the event around the world.

This year’s event will be carried out in two sessions, first being a conference under the theme of ‘Social Commerce’ which will cover areas including what social commence is, social commerce driven businesses, how e-commerce is evolving into social commerce and how social data is used to drive sales. The conference will conclude with an elaborate panel discussion on how to receive ROI from social media marketing. The panellists include Indi Samarajiva (moderator), Umair Wolid, Lahiru Pathmalal and Shameel Bishri.

The second part of the event is the social meet-up. The meet up themed ‘Social Media for All’ comprises of special activities which include, the much awaited SMD Awards and will also see the attendance of some of Sri Lanka’s most recognised social media personalities such as Nawaran, Moron’s Vines & Stuff, Podda, Janai Priyai and Noise Project.

According to statistics released by www.internetlivestats.com, a data website which was voted as the best online reference website by the American Library Association (ALA) and catering to clients such as BBC and United Nations, 29.3% of the Sri Lanka’s population has access to the internet in 2016; this is an increased number from the 25.7% in 2015. Of this number, 3.9 million Sri Lankans are actively engaging on Facebook and approximately 120,000 on Twitter. These are clear indications of a Sri Lanka that is making large strides towards an empowered and able social media culture.

Social media is a dynamic platform which complements Etisalat’s view on the 072 network’s pioneering services to the nation as well as enabling its customers to a boundless world of connectivity, which especially contributes to intensifying the social media users’ experience through continuous innovations in their sustainable network.