Social Media and Political Participation among Youth in South-Eastern Nigeria: A Case Study of 2015 and 2019 General Elections (original) (raw)
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JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION, 2020
It has been argued that social media in the contemporary world now occupies a top agenda of many business executives, political players and analysts, social engineers, decision makers and consultants. As a growing phenomenon, the contemporary colouration of politics around the world is such that it has made the deployment of social media seemingly inevitable and political victory appears to be largely tied to the effective use of the social media. Similarly, the role of the youth in political participations and electioneering processes in societies of the world has now been a major force in the direction of political pendulum at a given point in time. Therefore, the strategic positions of both the youth and social media in electioneering processes define the aim of this study. Specifically, this study surveyed the youths of Ilorin South on the use of social media for political participations during the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria. Anchored on the Uses and Gratification theory, this study found that, through social media, the Ilorin South youths showed great concern and participation during the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria and, by extension, to the political development in the country. This is demonstrated through the use of social media, notably the Facebook, to share political/electoral information among themselves, in order to increase political awareness and to influence voting decisions. It is recommended that politicians, political administrators and political office holders should strategically deploy the social media for social engineering, politicking and electioneering processes, and give the youths a rightful place in the scheme of things, particularly in politics.
International Journal of Advance Study and Research Work, 2019
The global expansions in the use of social media accessed on mobile technologies have brought about extraordinary opportunities in society and enabled a new trend in political communication, especially among youths. Interestingly, a new public sphere of social connectedness and discussion is apparently developing, with the dawn of social media in Nigeria. The political participation of Nigerian youth and their presence on social media via mobile technologies was, therefore, put on scholarship radar in order to determine how much influence it exerts on the polity. Using survey research method and hinged on the Technological Acceptance Model, this study investigated how young people in three states of Enugu, Anambra and Ogun states were politically stimulated to participate during the 2015 Presidential Elections with respect to their social media presence accessed on mobile technologies. After a survey of 300 youths, purposively selected from the three selected states, results indicate that numerous mobile text messages and social media updates sent by politicians during the campaign influenced their voting decisions, though with a minimal effect. The study, thus, recommends that media educate the polity on the potentialities of mobile technologies in governance so that they can effectively utilize it as a political communication tool for political development in Nigeria.
2018
The global expansions in the use of social media accessed on mobile technologies have brought about extraordinary opportunities in society and enabled a new trend in political communication, especially among youths. Interestingly, a new public sphere of social connectedness and discussion is apparently developing, with the dawn of social media in Nigeria. The political participation of Nigerian youth and their presence on social media via mobile technologies was, therefore, put on scholarship radar in order to determine how much influence it exerts on the polity. Using survey research method and hinged on the Technological Acceptance Model, this study investigated how young people in three states of Enugu, Anambra and Ogun states were politically stimulated to participate during the 2015 Presidential Elections with respect to their social media presence accessed on mobile technologies. After a survey of 300 youths, purposively selected from the three selected states, results indicate that numerous mobile text messages and social media updates sent by politicians during the campaign influenced their voting decisions, though with a minimal effect. The study, thus, recommends that media educate the polity on the potentialities of mobile technologies in governance so that they can effectively utilize it as a political communication tool for political development in Nigeria.
Undergraduate Project , 2019
This study titled “The Impact of Social Media on University Of Ilorin Undergraduates’ Level of Political Participation in the 2019 Nigeria General Elections.” was undertaken after the 2019 Nigerian general elections held in March 2019. The objectives of the study were to determine the impact of social media on youths’ political participation in the 2019 Nigeria general elections, with undergraduates of the University of Ilorin as case study; to examine the perceptions of Nigerian youths about Nigerian politician’s image on social media; to examine the believability level of political news Nigerian youths read on social media and to determine the level of credibility Nigerian youths attach to political messages on social media. The study was guided by the agenda-setting theory. The research methodology adopted was the survey method with questionnaires as the data collection instrument. Findings from the study revealed that social media did have a positive influence on youths’ participation in the political and electoral process, especially the 2019 Nigeria general elections. Social media influenced youths’ choice of political candidate and party but, quite amazingly, did not actually guarantee that youths voted for any political candidate just because he or she has a social media account. Youths also regard social media as a credible medium for political discourses and majority also testified to the social media as making them become more politically active. This does not come as a surprise if one considers how often and how much time youths spend on social media daily. KEYWORDS: 2019 Nigeria general elections, social media, political participation, political messages, Nigerian youths.
Social Media As A Political Platform In Nigeria: A Focus On Electorates In South-Eastern Nigeria
IOSR Journal of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 2016
The place of social media to rally political support is no longer in doubt. To advance the conversation and mobilize political supports, social media has become a critical political tool for campaign planners. The 2011 general elections in Nigeria arguably marked a significant milestone in the use of social media for political communication in the country. Motivated by President Barrack Obama's successful use of Facebook to win the United States elections in 2008 as the first black American president, Nigerian politicians are indeed, gradually taking their campaigns to the social networking sites and other online platforms. Within the election period, political aspirants were disposing of all means to gear up their support base, following the realization that electioneering requires more than just handshakes and physical persuasion. This study is anchored on the theoretical frameworks of technological determinism and social judgment theory which suggest that exposure to Political campaigns encourages people to "assimilate" or equate their feelings about related target attitudes. Using electorates in the SouthEast of Nigeria, the paper explores the extent of youth involvement with the social media for electioneering process. The data generated were analyzed using frequency distribution and simple percentage. The findings indicate that the political campaigns through the new media had significant effect on the electorate's decision-making and participation in Nigerian elections. The study therefore recommends the embracing of social media for successive political campaigns that grants the electorate the interactive opportunity with the political candidates.
This study sheds light on the impact of social media in electioneering campaign and political participation amongst Nigerian youths. This study is anchored on the Agenda Setting Theory in order to tests its applicability on social media. The researcher employed survey research method and simple percentage was used for the analysis. In the survey, a sample size of 400 respondents made up of youths was selected through convenience sampling in Benin City, the capital city of Edo State. This study found that social media during electioneering campaign is used in promoting aspirants and their political parties to the electorates. The study also found that social media has been largely successful in their agenda-setting function on political issues in Nigeria especially as the race for 2023 general elections kicks off. This study recommends that social media information about politics, political parties and their candidates should be verified by users before engaging them. It also recommends that political parties and aspirants should refrain from spreading falsehood in their electioneering campaigns on the social media.
The Role of Social Media in Enhancing Political Participation in Nigeria
2018
The use of social media in politics has continued to grow in recent times. Since Barack Obama broke the world record in the history of social media use for political purpose during the 2008 US presidential elections, many nations and politicians across the globe have continued to embrace the platform to mobilise their citizens and candidates towards active participation in the political process. Nigeria had the first real test of social media use for political participation during the 2011 General Elections. This study examines the experiment of social media use for political participation in Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Uses and Gratifications Theory. Findings show that the use social media has grossly affected the participation of individual in the day to day political process. As a developing country, Nigeria must embrace this platform in other to ensure greater participation of her populace in government activities.
Social Media, Nigerian Youths and Political Participation
International Journal of Civic Engagement and Social Change, 2017
This article is a study of the influence of social media on political participation of youths in Nigeria through a review of the methodology, research themes and theoretical trends. The research method was a content analysis of forty-four relevant empirical articles. Findings showed that the predominant themes were political participation, social media and ethnicity. Most of the reviewed studies employed surveys, desktop research or critical review of literature as their research method. Most reviewed studies either adopted quantitative or qualitative research method and without a theoretical framework. It was evident that many studies in the global north did not link political participation to ethnicity, unlike those that were carried out in Nigeria. In addition, there were few studies on the influence of social media on the political participation of youths. Consequently, research in this area has to contextualize the Nigerian experience, adopt a triangulation of quantitative and ...
Digital Media and Political Participation among Nigerian Youths in the 2019 General Elections
Addaiyan journal of Arts Humanaties And Social Sciences, 2020
Every era in life throws up its own opportunities and challenges, and here we are, in a digital era made possible by advancements in information and communication technologies. That being the case, it will amount to self-deceit for anybody in this era to pretend that the advancements in information and communication technologies do not have any effects on the political, social, cultural and religious lives of the people. At the political arena, the advent of digital media has brought about an entirely different type of politicking and campaigns referred to as digital political campaigns. This type of campaign permits politicians to reach out to the electorate through digital platforms without necessarily embarking on rallies. As a matter of truth, the technologies of those digital media and their resultant online platforms have not only bridged the communication gap between content-creators and content-consumers; but have even gone a long way in turning the communication process into a more interactive, participatory and democratic dialogue. Thus, the public communication sphere has been flung wide-open for public participation without restrictions. By the very nature of the digital media (interactive, participatory and democratic); it could be assumed that anybody with an internet-enabled device can become a partaker in the communication process. But such an assumption may forever remain conjecture until it is connected or experimented upon. To that end, this study investigated the use of digital media for political participation in the 2019 general elections in Nigeria. It adopted the survey method of research to determine: (i) the mostfrequently-used digital media for political participation of Nigerian youths in the 2019 elections (ii) the amount of time Nigerian youths spent on the digital media for political participation in the 2019 elections (iii) the number of times Nigerian youths visited the digital media for political participation in the 2019 elections (iv) the gratifications which Nigerian youths sought from the digital media and (v) the relationship between use of the digital media and political-needs gratification among Nigerian youths.