Did you know that there are approximately 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide? Can you imagine all the different ways in which we all use the internet? Obasanjo’s Internet is our interview series where we speak to some of our internet favourites on how they relate to the internet and what it means to them and their work. This week, photographer and visual artist, Fifo “Fifographer” Adebakin talks to us about how he uses Obasanjo’s Internet.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
I check my phone for my messages, I guess. I think I usually check my iMessage first and then I probably check my Snapchat next. Maybe Instagram much later but I check Twitter when I’m fully awake cause I don’t think there’s anything of value for me on Twitter when I wake up.
How do you use the internet for work or pleasure?
I use the internet for both. I would say it’s usually very segmented because my work requires me to use the internet a lot, especially in terms of communicating with people. I always find it very interesting when people say, “oh I’m taking a social media break” and I’m just like, “lol, I wish” because I cannot do such or I would not earn any money at all.
I differentiate my use. For example, I use Snapchat and Twitter majorly for personal use. And then I use Instagram and sometimes TikTok a lot for commercial use – work stuff. Obviously, emails is work stuff. But yeah, a lot of my consumption is usually more work related, than personal. Just by the nature of the work I do.
What moment or episode in your life would you say captured the essence of the internet?
Honestly, I was one of the very, very early internet users. So like when there was Bebo, Myspace, when Instagram just came out, I was one of the first people to go on that. Same with Twitter and Facebook as well. I’m someone who is naturally a very curious person so the early days of the internet for me was probably my fondest days because you could see how things were evolving naturally and everyone was still figuring stuff out.
Now you just know that when you go on Twitter, you either see someone saying some useless stuff or somebody fighting another person or some weird gossip. It feels a lot more templated now. It’s less fun. Same for Instagram, everybody is trying to be an Instagram baddie. Everybody is trying to be a content creator, do content in a specific way. Back then, it was just people posting pictures of their dogs, a nice landscape and just be honest and open. I think being able to see actual natural stuff was really good because it really helped me morph how to photograph people. It helped me understand people who were not trying to put up a fake reality. So yeah, early days were definitely my best days I think that especially because I started photography really early. It really helped me connect with people in a very non superficial way.
Your favourite social media platform and why?
I have two. Pinterest and Behance. I’m not sure lots of people know what Behance is because it’s a lot more on the creative side of things. But I find that my favourite social media platforms now are platforms where I don’t see too much talking. The less talking there is, the more I enjoy it. Behance is pretty much like Pinterest, but it’s just more creative – like “these are the projects I’ve worked on” type of stuff.
What was the last meme you saved?
I actually don’t save memes, funny thing. But I use a lot of gifs because you know now on the internet you can just upload a gifs straight from the social media platform you’re on. I don’t save memes. I take a lot of screenshots tho.
Do you remember the first time something you posted went viral? What was it? How did it make you feel?
The only ones I probably remember would be photos. I’m more of an observer on the internet, right? So I don’t post too much of my thoughts. I feel like my friends are the ones who, for the most part, know what that is.
When I was in high school and I started photography, I used to take photos at parties but I was very incognito. People knew my brand name (XLT) but they didn’t really know who I was personally. I remember taking photos at a house party, the photos going viral and everyone asking, “who took these photos?” “How did you even see all these things happening in that dark house party?” I guess that was kind of how more people found me. Everyone was just like, “oh my God, this guy is so good.” The photos were always very candid and obviously it’s a house party so, you know, some stuff be going down. I used to catch people in candid moments, some, very compromising but I always made sure I didn’t show people’s faces. People were always trying to find out who the people in the photo were. I went viral a couple of times because of that.
What’s the most outrage you have ever generated over something you posted? How did you react to it?
I’m a peacemaker. I don’t generate outrage. I think at most I would make smart comments. I don’t think I’ve said anything that has generated outrage and I guess that’s really because I’m visual, right? So like, writing stuff for me is not my go to. I would need to sit down and think about what I’m saying because it’s not natural for me to just open my mouth and talk. I wouldn’t say there has been anything controversial.
What rules do you live by on the internet?
One of the rules I live by is that I never post as it is. I have a personal Instagram page that I post as it is there. For example, if I’m at Good Beach right now, I would most likely not post that, even if other people tag me in pictures, I wouldn’t repost it when I’m still there. I guess it’s just because I don’t really like people knowing where I am. It’s the same thing I do when I travel. I always start posting on the last two days or on the last three days. It’s even very much similar to me being in Nigeria right now. I came to Naij December 1st, but I didn’t post that I was in Lagos until December 31st. So that’s definitely one of my big rules.
What is your guiltiest online pleasure?
I really like science and it’s such a weird thing because people don’t really know I’m into science shit. But I’m really, really deep into science shit. So like Nat Geo Wild stuff, animal stuff, the whole animal kingdom things, those things really fascinate me.
I’m also very much interested in something called noise design which is like arranging noise in really weird ways. It doesn’t create music but it’s just noise. I really got into it last year and I’m just so fascinated by noise generally. Really weird stuff.
I don’t know if it’s just me but relationships shit gets me gassed. Anything love related, I’m there. And I guess part of it is because I also like how cute people curate love shit. Nobody posts themselves on the bed with their spouse looking raggedy. Everyone is like, oh yeah, you have to look cute. So yeah, I like shit like that.
Would you say you have an online persona?
100%. I definitely do have an online persona. I find that maybe a couple years back it was so different from who I was as a person, but I’m trying to merge that more. Before, I would say that I was very serious, formal – not the most formal but as formal as you can get without it being robotic. I used to be really calm and collected. I didn’t really use slangs or emojis back then and that’s just because I grew up understanding what an internet image looked like and how it could either fuck you up or make you grow. I was very conscious of that.
I would say that now my internet persona is getting very similar to who I am as a person offline. A lot more playful, jovial, that type of stuff. People thought I was very stuck up based off my internet persona and then they met me in person and they’re like, “oh, you’re actually a very cool person” or “you actually play a lot.” I feel like there’s people who don’t rationalize the fact that I actually love playing and that’s just because of what they know about me from the internet. So yeah, I definitely did have one that was very different, but now it’s pretty much like becoming similar to who I am as a person.
What’s your favourite emoji and why?
My favorite emoji is definitely the laughing emoji. The straight laughing one, not the rolling over one. I just feel like that emoji represents me laughing to lots of things because I genuinely find a lot of things funny. It’s so wild because I have different friends I send different reels, TikToks and videos to which are funny to them. I know that oh this thing will not be funny to this person, so I send it to this other person. So I have at least seven or eight different types of people that find different things funny. Which means essentially, I get a lot of funny shit as well. So I would say the laughing emoji is probably one of my most used emojis.
Are you particular about your feed?
No, I’m actually not. I’m very ‘not particular’ about my feed anymore. I used to really care about colour coordinations, planning, all that stuff, but I’m the most unplanned social media user right now. I don’t even be knowing what I’m about to post. I have periods of time in the day where I get more engagements so if by mistake I check the time when it’s that period, I’ll be like, “oh, maybe I should post today” and then I just go to my drive and look for a picture to post.
YouTube or TikTok? Which do you prefer and why?
I use YouTube primarily for music. I love live music so sometimes listening to MP3s on Spotify is irritating to me. So I use YouTube a lot for music. I use TikTok a lot to just see cool stuff. I would pick – this is very hard. For background sound, I would always pick YouTube for sure. In terms of a number of hours, I’ll say I use YouTube more than I use TikTok. I still feel very millennial with TikTok because whenever I hear people say, oh they’re looking for this cool thing and they go on TikTok to search it, I would not go on TikTok to search for some shit. I will Google it. So in that way, I’m still very much YouTube, but I really love TikTok because I think it probably has the best algorithm out of all the social media platforms now – that is not overly rigged.
Which Nigerian creator do you think the world needs to see and hear more of?
This is hard. Honestly, I would say Enioluwa because I find the level of what he does for each video very inspiring. I say this because I make videos, I take photos and I know how much work goes into doing that stuff. I can tell you for a fact that every video he does is a whole production. And he also has this animation thing on the side, Lip Gloss Boy – I think. I can’t remember what it’s called – and then he does his lifestyle and then he does funny, inspirational things and I just feel like he really takes his time. He does a really good job of that.
I like Layi Wasabi. Honestly speaking, I feel like he really reflects what our culture feels like in a very interesting way and he uses rally nice puns. I don’t know how much of his stuff can go global based on the fact that it has Nigerianess in it, but I think he’s a really, really brilliant content creator. Yeah, I think those two guys are one of my faves.
Who is the coolest person you follow and the coolest person who follows you?
Jesus Christ. That’s too hard. The thing is I follow way too many cool people. I’m one of those people who never has complaints about my Instagram or my Twitter because I follow a lot of cool people. So yeah, this is extremely hard.
What is your favourite Nigerian podcast?
Without any drag, I Said What I Said. It’s funny because I don’t really like podcasts, but the reason why they are my best podcast is because I’ve worked with them on multiple occasions and I can say that they are 100% authentic. Everyone talks about how Jola is a troublemaker and how FK is supposedly not a troublemaker but I personally feel like both of them are the same thing just manifested in different ways. Also tackling all the stories and all the narratives that they do on like their podcast for me, is very interesting. I like that they also put in a bit of serious stuff in between. I stan them every single day. I think they are very hard working as well.
Have you ever hooked up with someone you met online? Did you regret it?
100% Yes. I didn’t regret it because first of all, I usually meet people online and then meet them in person. I feel like you need to pass the physical vibe check. I think meeting someone online is cool and then meeting them in person is like, oh, you passed by check.
But yes, I have hooked up with someone who I met online. I didn’t just hook up with them once I met them online, I physically have to meet you and feel your vibe in person. But I feel like I’m also a really good judge of character, so I’ve not really hooked up with anybody that I regret.
5 people you’d love to see answer these questions
Ogaga, Cliff, Ena, Gabby