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You must have heard that saying “a picture is worth more than a thousand words”, or that “pictures speak louder than words”.
I confess that I have come to believe it more and have even gone ahead to postulate that videos speak louder than pictures and even much more, that “crazy videos speak much more than just any normal video” and even a higher grade of craziness like nudeness speaks louder than any loudspeaker.
The result came from my recent research which you have also been part of in terms of the number of “likes” from either facebook or instagram.
In my quest to match the Kardasians on number of likes, I have started inserting pictures as captions of my essay titles and have seen tremendous improvement in the number of likes to the tune of several millions, at least according to the latest data from Cambridge Analytica!
And I am ready to use it to swing the votes come 2019 elections where I hope to project the best candidate for Nigeria irrespective of party or ethnic lines.
But seriously, pictures can do amazing things in these days of so much news and commentaries on social media.
The truth is that people do not have the time to go through all the gossip in town, they would rather make do with the ones that are able to capture the essence in a unit the brain can process easily and move on to the next thing in town, be it the next person to be fired in the POTUS reality TV, or the next scandal in the white house or the latest corruption war déjà vu in Nigeria.
I had to key into that magic when I realized the effect on readers. I began capturing the theme of my essay in a picture as I publish same.
And it is interesting when you think of a picture to describe your essay. I had thought that I could leave the paintings to future scholars of my essays but never knew I would come around to doing so in my lifetime.
It started with my looking for the actual caption in my pictures collections but I realized quickly, as advised by my one and only, that Mr Google is actually better at options of such pictures, so I now default to him.
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Finding a picture that capture the theme of the essay is just as interesting as finding a captivating title for the essay that will make the readers want to take a peep! You will find out that titles can play a lot of role on whether the essay will get a hit or not.
Like my people say “ana esi na isi ahu ama uto nsi “(from the smell of fart you can deduce the taste of faeces), so the title can make people read hoping their time will be justified. But pictures play the same tricks in a better way.
The eye will take a look at the picture first before reading the headline. But then videos are “ekwuchaa ogwu” (the ultimate) and if you do not agree just take a look at your instagram handle and do the research for yourself.
But I still love my words all the same, the thing about words is that you can see the pictures, feel the videos but may not understand the full import of what is shown until you encounter the word descriptions. Words talk to you in a very personal way much more than the pictures or videos can talk to you.
In words you can express some affection no flowers or cosmetics can describe. Words are emphatic much more than pictures and videos, I will argue. In words you can live and be and feel, you are released to the air and no picture or video can do such. I am all for the words and what they can do.
Yes, pictures may speak louder than words but we all know that empty barrels make the most noise, so it will not be surprising that pictures may actually be making the louder noise while words have the substance and is more sustainable.
Pictures can be washed away but words get engraved in our hearts. Words are indeed more sustainable and they go hand in hand with spoken words which is why we have to be and are advised to be careful when we unleash them.
As you enjoy the pictures please also do a reflection on the meaning or simply read the accompanying essay and enjoy the works expressed in words. If you are here, you sure are one of the converted and we need to encourage more of us to go the extra miles beyond the “liking” and as well do the “reading”.
Obidike peter wrote from www.peterobidike.com and p_obidike@yahoo.com
