Unforgettable Managua: An Eye-Opening Social Media Experience from My Travels Abroad

Back during March of 2018, I had the honor of being invited by the U.S. State Department to present at multiple universities and entrepreneurial events in Managua, Nicaragua.

I was elated at the thought of spending several days with Latin American faculty and young academic students to present digital strategy lectures and hands-on workshops.

And for at least one full day of the trip, I'd also been scheduled to mentor tech startups founded by young Nicaraguan women. The goal was to answer their many questions about digital platforms and social channels for branding, awareness, and possible funding.

Ahh but the protests ...

As the wheels of my American Airlines flight touched Managua's landing runway, massive protests broke out across the city.

I remember being afraid the government might pull the plug on Internet, which would have prevented me from staying connected to family. This fear was cemented when the government shut down public access to the free press from local television and radio stations. Exacerbating my concerns were reports of police, loyal to the government, shooting at reporters during live broadcasts on Facebook (RIP Ángel Gahona).

And so I laid low.

And waited.

Day by day, hour by hour, I was glued to my smartphone, checking Internet connectivity, and pouring over Twitter for real-time updates.

In the hotel lobby and dining areas, staff and guests were just glued to their phones as well.

I was told the locals were getting all their news from Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

News gleaned from social media streams included:

• status updates informing civilians to avoid specific locations of national police activity (such as shootings at protesting civilians, riot police attacks on the population, pillaging of civilian establishments, and more)
• current and upcoming protests against the socialist government (included invitations to join, supplies to bring or needed, warnings of what to avoid)
• promotion of links to crowdsourced funding sites to monetize the civilian revolution (via MoneyGram or GoFundMe and the like; because traditional banking facilities were viewed with distrust by the masses)
• Facebook live broadcasts from local news organizations who had been shut down by the government; reporters went on reporting overtime-mode on social, impassioned to continue their news accounts in direct defiance of the Sandinista government
• Real-time video content of beatings, slayings, and assassinations of Nicaraguan citizens and students by government-backed police and armed units.

"Esto es una guerra."

Translation: "This is war."

Those were the whispered words I overheard the hotel staff murmur as I walked past, in search of lunch one afternoon.

I approached the hostess who'd been part of the whispering to ask for the latest news. In response, she kept showing me her Facebook feed. "Down here, we learn everything from our Facebooks," she explained. And any time I asked her a question, she'd pause and tell me to hang on while she searched across her Facebook feed for a specific post containing the information to provide a response.

When I asked her why Facebook (because I was curious to learn from a local how the community utilizes social media to organize), she said, "Well, because the government can't touch our Facebooks." To which I countered, "Yeah, sure, but if they disconnect the Internet, then what will you all do?" To this she replied, "The thing is that Facebook is an American company so the government can't touch our Facebooks because they don't have access."

"I understand that," I said, "but if the government shuts down the Internet, you won't be able to access your Facebook at all."

Silence ensued.

The hostess finally replied in a quiet defeat, "I guess I never thought about that."

The separation of Internet and social

On the one and only day I was allowed to leave my hotel, it was to visit the U.S. Embassy in Managua where I was told by personnel that the population at large does not associate the Internet with social media.

Many business owners and local entrepreneurs, they explained, believe they don't need a website. What's the point, they explained the thinking of the local business community, of having a website if you can just have a Facebook account (or a Facebook page).

The embassy press staffer chimed in as well, explaining that the Nicaraguan housekeeper she hired to work in her home is constantly on WhatsApp and Facebook. But if you ask the housekeeper, the press staffer pointed out, if she has Internet at home, she'll stare back at you like a deer in headlights. In short, most Nicaraguans tend to not associate the Internet and social media together.

I was so intrigued by these recounts.

As a social media strategist, such localized insights further my knowledge and understanding of social media usage well beyond U.S. borders.

And for the purposes of this trip, learning local nuances about Internet connectivity and social media trends was a great distraction from the erupting chaos all around.

Twitter was my lifeline.

In between my U.S. Embassy visit and multiple escapades to my hotel's dining facility, I spent 99.99 percent of my time in my room, keeping a low profile while endlessly scrolling Twitter for news.

Through Twitter, I witnessed horrific things.

Sightings I will never forget.

Minute by minute, the deluge of tweets pertaining to the protests were filled with traumatic, inspirational, and highly charged emotional content, including:

• government-backed shootings and attacks, both in real-time and via posted video content
• crying mothers and family members, sobbing hysterically for their injured or murdered loved ones
• the young and old rallying together in huddled, indigent masses
• everyday citizens scribbling "help us" messages on sheets of paper, then uploading those photos to social channels asking for support from the international community and begging everyone to RT
• heart-wrenching requests for medical aid and logistical support
• massive crowds of organizing citizens, side by side, singing and chanting peacefully and demanding justice, freedom of speech, and their liberty ... all the while many of them draped in their blue and white country's flag.

As an American citizen who enjoys endless freedoms of all kinds, I couldn't help but feel an immense sense of pride and sincere care for the Nicaraguan people fighting for their most basic constitutional rights.

As a social media strategist and digital marketer, my eyes were peeled wide open as to how social media platforms could be used not to only to promote commerce or increase conversions but to amplify the outcry for freedom as well.

As a human being, this experience has changed me forever.

Since this trip, life back in the U.S. feels a bit different.

Often, I can't help but ponder about the irony of my Nicaragua journey:

I went to Managua to teach; yet I'm the one that came back completely schooled.

#ThankYouNicaragua