And so millions of Nigerians who would normally tweet and register their discontent as the trending topics of Nigeria, were now registering the issues on the trend list of the United States. 

Americans woke up today confused by terms such as ‘IPOB’, ‘Buhari’ and ‘Malami’.

If the Nigerian government had not banned Twitter, the displeasure of Nigerians would have been localised.

In the wake of the ban, the displeasure of Nigerians was being broadcast to the center of the world through VPNs, creating global awareness for a matter that would have otherwise remained local.

Most Nigerian VPN users didn’t plan for this effect. It was just an unintended consequence of using VPNs, albeit a welcome one. 

Another unintended consequence here is that Nigerians may have now learned how to ensure that topics of agitation are registered on the trends lists of the United States – by mobilizing Nigerians to tweet via VPNs with the US as their virtual location.

The Law of Unintended Consequences can be avoided by utilizing a thinking tool called Second Order Thinking.