December 14, 2020

In February 2014, local newspaper De Ware Tijd approached me to write a piece about Carnival in Suriname. In that article, two questions remained central to the discussion:

1. Why is Suriname, a country with strong Caribbean influence, not a Carnival country and why is this event only celebrated in small portions?

This June, the Social Media Conference Suriname 2017 will be held in the Banquet Hall of Torarica Hotel & Casino. This one day event will feature over 20 speakers that will focus on the importance of Social Media for organizations, individuals and society in general.

When I notified a couple of (work related) whats app groups that I was going to be on a desert island for 3 days, the first reaction I got was “A real one?”. Yes, a real one. No phone, no internet. That was the main goal. Aside from family time, relaxing and trying to get my mind of work for a while. A little added bonus, just one book that made the trip.

Yes, I fully understand the irony of this. Just weeks after hosting the Social Media Conference Suriname 2018, during which we highlighted and celebrated the power of Social Media for organizations and our society, I decide to go Social Media MIA. Now, before we get sentimental about, you decide to test me by tagging me

Video is the future of content marketing! Those have been the words of many mainstream media companies[1] and new age entrepreneurs[2] for the past couple of years. In a world where visual representation keeps growing these words have increasingly become reality. With teenagers viewing billions of Snapchat videos everyday[3] and tweens using their mother’s phone to send their

I consider myself lucky. I was raised by parents who both value education. My mom is a visual artist who studied art before making it her profession. My dad studied medicine and specialized in Occupational Health. I never really liked the concept of school and was a rebel throughout my Academic career. I did end up with two master degrees, with two studies which have indirectly impacted my life. However, it wasn’t the formal education that developed me as a person the most.

This article is part of Jean-luc van Charante’s annual research on the state of Social Media in Suriname. Research includes data from multiple publicly available sources and the advertising platforms of multiple Social Media platforms. Additional industry related comments are included to provide context and are based on observations in the field of Social Media in Suriname.