PICTURES: TRANSCEND SOCIAL MEDIA FRIENDSHIP: SEE WHAT JOURNO DAVID MAWULI AND FRIENDS DID ON BOXING NIGHT

Many are those whose followers on twitter, friends on Facebook and other social media sites never come closer to them. That is virtual friendship. The real deal sets in when one breaks the boundaries of virtual friendship on social media and meets them in person.

Little do people know that apart from guys baiting ladies on social media and meet them in person to 'chew' them (engage in a s3x act), there are many other goodies social media friendship brings to the table, which is neglected. There are about millions of people across the globe who got their first jobs through the encounter with connected people on social media.

The night after Christmas saw many people throng to beaches and parties with friends and family members to cool off and also wash off stress, but one young, talented Entertainment journalist, David Mawuli, whose enormous influence on the Arts Industry is indescribably colossal, chose to meet his social media friends at Dansoman to interact with them and explore. #THEHANGOUTWITHMAWULI it was.

Apart from the friendship people found coupled with dances to the good music that serenaded the guests at Afro-canadian Inn, there were some thrilling rap battles from various up-and-coming rappers whilst the Beer lovers 'broke the bottles'.

Some big names in the circles of Ghana Showbiz were present to grace the occasion. Musician Cabum, AJ Nelson, popular blogger fiifi Adinkra, and some other Accra- based DJs were in attendance.

The MC, Anderson Abeka, a popular blogger also held the crowd spell-bound with his duty of the night which was interlaced with humour as he led a discussion on various issues surrounding the country's celebrities including our own Rashida Black Beauty of the 'malafaka' fame'

Anderson in a discussion section

When the Sikamannews.com team caught up with the revered Entertainment bogger on the motive behind the hang out, he said "The #TheHangoutWithMawuli idea came to me when I was thinking about creating a platform that would eradicate the idea of 'ghost friendship'. So, instead of claiming you have a friend that you interact with all the time but you haven't even seen in real life, the platform or the event would serve as an opportunity to meet them and interact better. Also, it's in line with the global village's major goal on connecting people or strangers around the globe."

In business sense, Mawuli had this to share: "Some of the benefits I have gained so far are that, I was able to meet people I have been friends with in years on social media for the first time. I was able to network with others and most importantly, I know their real faces. It's a great social experience."

The Pulse GH team also came to add some beauty to the party.

Nhyiraba Henry frimpong, manager of gospel musician Lady Kess, also saw the hang out as a way to boost his business.

"There was a beautiful merger of ideas and networking which hopefully will generate into a mutually beneficial business among entertainment players As an-up-and coming artiste manager, I leveraged on this to network some high end industry players as far as promotion of my artiste is concerned

Most of us has been virtual friends or acquaintances through social media with a mutual interest which is Ghana entertainment industry. However corroborating our ideas was a challenge due to some protocols between the high end and low end entertainment players. Now I can easily call Ghana ndwom with little or no protocol to promote my songs just by making Mawuli a reference for a discount."