The Use of Social Media and Participation in Political Communication in the 2019 General Election in Nigeria

Research findings have shown that the social media are very active in promotion of citizens’ participation in political and electoral procession in many countries. However, the Nigerian voters before the advent of the social media have been mainly receivers of information on election without being active participants in the electoral information flow. The voters did not have access to the mainstream media which had hitherto been the main conveyors of electoral information. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine how the electorate in Delta State, Nigeria used the social media for participation in political communication during the 2019 Nigerian general elections. The study is guided by the Technological Acceptance Model which explains how users come to accept and use a technology. The study used survey and questionnaire as method and instrument respectively to gather the data. We used both simple random sampling technique and purposive sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results show that the voters are highly exposed to political communication in the social media; they have favourable perception of the social media usage for political communication; they prefer the social media to the mainstream media in participation in political communication; and they participate more actively in political communication during the said election through the social media more than they did previous elections through the mainstream media. We recommend that that the voters should sustain their exposure to the use of the social media for political participation so that can also be kept abreast of the happenings in the political terrain and they should continue to use the social media to interrogate political leaders, election candidates during elections and after the election period. Keywords: Silenced electorate; Nigerian general elections; social media and elections; political participation; participation in political communication, participation in political discourse.DOI: 10.7176/IKM/10-3-03 Publication date: April 30th 202

Generation i-Pod: from apathy to engagement

Youth political participation is a topical issue in 2010. Not only are politicians and political scientists alike interested in whether younger voters will turn out in the 2010 General Election; there is an ongoing debate as to whether the voting age should be lowered. In part this drive to lower the voting age is driven by a desire to re-engage young people with the political process. A recent survey by the Children’s Society stated that Stephen Fry is the most popular choice for Prime Minister and that fewer than one in ten young people (9 per cent) think that politicians can be trusted

Obama’s election campaign and the integrated use of social\ud media

When Barack Obama won the 2008 US Presidential election he\ud did so partly as a result of harnessing the power of social media to\ud communicate with, and enlist the support of, millions of Americans who\ud had never previously been active in the processes of an election campaign.\ud As a result of Obama‘s invitation and his use of new media, some of the\ud poorest members of the world‘s wealthiest nation found themselves able\ud to make a critical contribution through a myriad of small activities starting\ud from seemingly inconsequential choices such as the selection of a mobile\ud phone ring tone. Although ‗people power‘ is not a new force in politics,\ud the Obama campaign set a fresh benchmark for inclusive ways in which to\ud communicate to and with a holistic cross section of the American people,\ud including many who would not have been previously seen as a critical\ud ‗target market‘. This paper examines Obama‘s use of integrated\ud communications and considers the potential implications for other\ud campaigns which may have an inclusion agenda

Democratic engagement in the digital age: youth, social media and participatory politics in Kenya

As the communication world becomes more complex and participatory, social networking sites (SNSs) have emerged as a platform with the potential to invigorate democracy and political engagement. However, the value of SNSs in politics remains contested among researchers. The study reported on in this article was based on a survey of 600 university students, aged between18 and 35, to examine the relationship between social media use and political engagement among the youth in Kenya. The study focused on the extent to which SNSs facilitate consumption of political information and the role of SNSs in influencing political interest, knowledge and behaviour among the youth. The study found that reliance on SNSs is positively associated with political participation; however, this influence is limited, and though useful, it does not radically transform political engagement. Therefore, the capacity of SNSs to shape opinion and influence political preferences is limited but internet based political activities like posting and distributing campaign information and consumption of political content have a bearing on political participation. The study concluded that while SNSs do not seem to have a major direct impact on political choices among users, politicians and other campaign actors cannot ignore the opportunity provided by these platforms in the voter mobilisation process

Anti-apathy approaches in representative democracies: e-governance and web 2.0-facilitating citizen involvement?

Apathetic citizens disenchanted with conventional channels of participation in democratic processes are a predicament for mature representative democracies, as it reflects in the depleting voter turnouts in elections and participation in community associations. Recognising the reverberations of this apathy on governance, economies ostensibly search for anti apathy approaches. Recently E-governance using the pervasive power of the internet/Web 2.0, during the election has been instrumental for democratic engagement. We considered Australia and France, applying a historiographical view exploring the pre-election scenarios, attempting to evaluate the use of the Internet/Web 2.0 as valid benchmarking anti-apathy approaches of e-governance, to facilitate citizen participation.<br /

A Study on Youth´s Political Satisfaction: The Case of Portugal

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Marketing IntelligencePolitical brands have taken their campaigns into social media, in an effort to keep up with the times and connect with younger users. Obama and Trump are examples of successful cases where their online presence translated into the ballot boxes. The present study aims to address the youth engagement and satisfaction with Portuguese political brands on Twitter and their likeness to vote for candidates and parties considering the sentiment results of the last 3 election periods – presidential, local and legislative. The conducted sentiment analysis demonstrated that the various types of users allocate a negative sentiment for most political brands. No positive sentiment was identified within the 29 analysed actors and parties. Most political brands with a neutral sentiment were part of the left-wing, in which youth showed more voting intentions. Liberal Initiative (IL) presented itself as an exception from the right-wing with the same results. Furthermore, it was also conceived that it is not possible to predict election results through Twitter, but this social medium gives a close idea of the users’ collective mind

Twitter and Election Campaigns: Measuring Usage in Nigeria’s 2015 Presidential Election

This study put the effectiveness of Twitter on the radar in Southeast Nigeria with regard to the 2015 presidential electioneering campaigns of the two leading candidates. The need existed to understand if the online platform used by the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples‘ Democratic Party (PDP) and challenger Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC), as part of a complimentary media strategy, was effective in shaping voter behaviour in that part of the country. Data generated from 200 respondents showedthat although Twitter provided the information needed via voters‘ interaction with political candidates, it did not significantly alter voter interest nor affect voting decision. Voters could not recall their use of Twitter as a factor in casting their ballot owing to post election time lapse

Can e-voting improve Youth Voter Turnout?: Experiences from the Kenya 2022 General Elections

Over the years many youths have been targeted by politicians for votes in general elections due to their large numbers However they youths have always scored dismally in terms of turning up to elect leaders of their choice in various political positions Existing voting patterns have shown that the majority of the youth participate in political campaigns both on social media platforms and in the field but rarely in the voting process Notwithstanding the numerous civic education campaigns organized to foster voter registrations prior to elections less than 60 of the youth turn up for registration as voters Using Roger Hart 1992 conceptual model on level of participation and the normative democracy theory this paper used a critical review of existing literature interviews and observations for the just concluded 2022 Kenya s general elections We examine how e-voting can be employed as a strategy to influence the youths voting processes during general elections Document analysis and interviews were done and the findings are presented in the inform of narratives and excerpt

Twitter and Election Campaigns: Measuring Usage in Nigeria’s 2015 Presidential Election

This study put the effectiveness of Twitter on the radar in Southeast Nigeria with regard to the 2015 presidential electioneering campaigns of the two leading candidates. The need existed to understand if the online platform used by the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples‘ Democratic Party (PDP) and challenger Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC), as part of a complimentary media strategy, was effective in shaping voter behaviour in that part of the country. Data generated from 200 respondents showedthat although Twitter provided the information needed via voters‘ interaction with political candidates, it did not significantly alter voter interest nor affect voting decision. Voters could not recall their use of Twitter as a factor in casting their ballot owing to post election time lapse

Mitigating Electoral Discontents in Nigeria: A Case for SMS Enabled Vote-Casting System

Two decades into the 4th Republic has witnessed 6 elections fraught with varying kinds of anomalies that all 3 electoral reforms within the period have been unable to subdue. Electoral violence has summarily led to countless loss of lives and continued low voter turnout. Borrowing however from the resounding success of e-banking the country can rewardingly procure an e-resuscitation of the electoral sector that is not only guilty of consistent fraud but also liable for continued loss of lives. Nigeria ranked atop as the most improved country in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Mobile Connectivity Index as at 2019 and the seventh most improved globally. This progress was driven by a range of improvements like enabling regulatory framework espoused by the country in this direction and as a result the country now has one of the most affordable handset costs in the world besides a mobile penetration of 187 million active cell phone users of the country’s 212 million population as of 2021. In addition, up from 31% in 2014 to 52% in 2019, Nigeria’s Online Service Index score for e-government shows glaringly that the country is robustly ready for an SMS enabled vote casting system and would do well to rapidly implement same. SMS voting is premised on familiar technology and the use of a single ballot box (single computer Server) is not only fraud-proof but also guarantees eradication of violence and frequent loss of lives associated conventional vote-casting system while also improving political participation and voter turnout