Abstract
Social media have evolved as the most common information source in the world. Currently, social media have gained more popularity in political communication and mobilization efforts. Recent elections in Nigeria witnessed the profound use of online platforms to mobilize and galvanize people for political actions. This study evaluates the effectiveness of social media as tool for political mobilization in 2015 presidential election in Nigeria. The combination of survey and focus groups were adopted to provide the study with quantitative and qualitative data. Five research questions were generated to provide answers to the key variables that make up this study.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page
Approval page
Dedication
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Table of content
CHAPETR ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statement of problem
1.3 Objective of the study
1.4 Research Hypotheses
1.5 Significance of the study
1.6 Scope and limitation of the study
1.7 Definition of terms
1.8 Organization of the study
CHAPETR TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPETR THREE
3.0 Research methodology
3.1 sources of data collection
3.3 Population of the study
3.4 Sampling and sampling distribution
3.5 Validation of research instrument
3.6 Method of data analysis
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introductions
4.2 Data analysis
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Summary
5.3 Conclusion
5.4 Recommendation
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
The emergence of the Internet as the new mass medium of the 21st century now changes the mass media substantially. Information can be distributed at high speed, low cost, and broad scope and as a result, there is egalitarian access to the production and the consumption of news (Prat and Strömberg, 2011).
The recent election of Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria has been hailed internationally as a historic transfer of power for Africa’s most populous nation with social media playing greater role or influenced the fairness of the election. Social media with all their flaws had the power of immediacy. They’re also very participatory. In an election where you have citizens who are participating, they were also providing the news and information surrounding the elections. It was an empowerment of people through their votes, and also through their ability to disseminate information. That is not to say that traditional media didn’t play a role. But the social media role was central. The world is becoming increasingly connected via the power of the Internet; Facebook launched internet.org an initiative to gain even the most remote parts of society access to the World Wide Web. Political movements have begun to see social media as a major organizing and recruiting tool and the reverse can be said for society. Social media (done right) gives you all this because it’s inherently a two-way communication system. Rather than getting brand messages, you get recommendations from friends in the form of re-shares and recommended posts, which de-commercializes the brand message.
Social media is that space, the many tools helping to amplify the voices of average Nigerians, taking ordinary voice sand making them extraordinary by bringing them to homes, offices, and places most of them would have probably never reached under different circumstances. It started out as a playground for mostly young jobless people. Today, it has become the battle ground of what would arguably be the most competitive election in Nigeria‘s history.
The advent of internet and technology has exposed majority of the global population to different interactive platforms on which different kind of information is exchanged which might significantly have effect on human behavior, decision and judgment (CES,2012). Social media are new information network and information technology using a form of communication utilizing interactive and user-produced content, and interpersonal relationships are created and maintained.
According to Eugene, 2015. The popularity of getting political news from social media platforms is greatly increasing. A 2014 study showed that 62% of web users turn to Facebook to find political news. This social phenomenon allows for political information, true or not, spreading quickly and easily among peer networks. Furthermore, social media sites are now encouraging political involvement by uniting like-minded people, reminding users to vote in elections, and analyzing users” political affiliation data to find cultural similarities and differences. As social media gains more popularity and scope, its impact on voters‘ political and cultural perceptions cannot be underestimated as social media practically influences the way users interact, communicate and make decisions on social, cultural, and political issues in today‘s world.
The social media has become a powerful medium which may affect voting behavior because of its potential to provide direct and cheap access to the production and consumption of current information at any part of the world without editorial filtering (Sunstein, 2001). Not only do social media provide information about political affiliations, candidates and their party manifestoes, it also provides a platform through which voters across cultural divides can relate and interact with themselves on issues about these candidates. Social media can help taint the reputation of political figures fairly quickly with information that may or may not be true. Information spreads like wildfire and before a politician can even get an opportunity to address the information, either to confirm, deny, or explain, the public has already formed an opinion about the politician based on that information. However, when conducted on purpose, the spread of information on social media for political means can help campaigns immensely. Open forums online have also been the root of negative and positive effects in the political sphere. Some politicians have made the mistake of using open forums to try and reach a broader audience and thus more potential voters. What they forgot to account for was that the forums would be open to everyone, including those in opposition. Having no control the comments being posted, negative included, has been damaging for some with unfortunate oversight. Additionally, a constraint of social media as a tool for public political discourse is that if oppressive governments recognize the ability social media has to cause change.
Today‘s social media has made the world a ―global village‖, with the quick transfer of information overriding the challenges of time and distance (Friedman, 2007). Social media has gradually become one of the important means of influencing the society and this influence is based exclusively on its social aspects of interaction and participation. Nearly every political party in the country used social media to campaign and advance its plans, message and manifestos to supporters including advertising, mobilization and organizing in all the states of the federation, and even fundraising. Facebook, YouTube and especially Twitter were used to let voters know how each party or particular candidate felt about important national issues ranging from security to power. Hence social media became powerful enough to influence voter decisions and choices as many voters who had fixed their minds and conscience on voting a particular party or candidate began. Both mobile phones and the internet provide exciting new opportunities for one-to-one as well as one-to-many communication. The much reported rapid spread of mobile connectivity and services, as well as different forms of public and shared internet access like social media have allowed a growing number of people who may not have access to a computer or a fixed connection to take part in “the global conversation” (André-Michel, 2010, p.4). Thus, the use of social media in politics has continued to grow in many parts of Africa including Nigeria since the 21st century. For instance, 2011 general elections marked a significant milestone in the use of social media for political communication in Nigeria. Motivated by President Barrack Obama‟s successful use of Facebook to win the United States elections as the first black 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 (Omenugha, Ukwueze, & Malizu, 2011). More so, 2015 witnessed a massive use of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs in the general elections in Nigeria. Due to their participatory, interactive and cost-effective nature, social media have become veritable and significant instruments for political campaign planners in carrying out election campaigns and other electioneering activities, political engagement and mobilization among others. Thus, the place of social media in rallying political support is no longer in doubt. London (Prsync) November 04, 2010, as cited in Eledan (2011) stated that: Politics is not a spectator sport, and now people have more and easier ways to get involved. Nigeria voters have the opportunity to participate and potentially help design a new conversation at the political level, something that has not been possible for years in the political landscape in Nigeria. Social media has allowed people to go back to building communities on a much larger scale, making the world smaller in the process for many. The above assertion acknowledges a new media platform for politics in Nigeria. In the past, the politicking process has been dominated by the use of conventional mass media, regardless of the obvious disadvantage of providing one-way non-interactive messages to a large audience. However, the latest resort to the use of “old” and new media for political communication has added impetus to the electorate/candidate relationships due to the interactive nature of the new media. Just as social media has opened a dialogue between businesses and consumers, its value is apparent to those in political office, whose work and professional survival hinges on the needs and perceptions of their constituents. As it stands, the social web according to Farrell and Drezner (2008) is ripe with opportunities for candidates and office holders alike to connect with voters, foster transparency, and even spar with opponents in the same ways they have been in the conventional media for hundreds of years. As a result, the potentials of social media appear to be most promising in political context as they can be an enabler for more participation and democracy. According to Creighton (2005), public participation is the process by which public concerns, needs and values are incorporated into governmental and corporate decision-making. E-participation focuses not only on this process but also on using the Internet as an additional or exclusive instrument to create dialogs between the elected and the electorate. Related to that, Karpf (2009) introduces the notion of “politics 2.0”, which can be understood as the harnessing of the Internet‟s lowered transaction costs and its condition of information abundance, toward the goal of building more participatory and interactive political institutions. Thus, social media had been adapted by some political aspirants in Nigeria to contact and discuss with voters as well as to disseminate important information to them. Especially young people were inspired to political topics using social media as communication platform (Chen et al., 2009; Kushin & Kitchener, 2009).
- STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
When it comes to the young generation, numerous studies suggest that, by traditional measures, they are less engaged in politics (in terms of voting, contributing money, volunteering time, or showing up to a protest meeting) than older citizens (Bauerlein, 2008; Mindich, 2005; Wattenberg, 2007). Despite the fast development of the Internet, little attention has been paid to how young adults use social media to engage in politics (Baumgartner, Morris: 2010: 24). Do they use these social media platforms to gain knowledge and actually participate in politics? This question raises attention because young people, who are generally not involved in politics, have now the opportunity to be exposed to and to engage in politically-related subjects within their online networks, on which they are generally active (Baumgartner, Morris: 2010: 25). It in in view of this that the researcher intend to investigate the impact of social media in creating awareness during the 2015 general election in Nigeria.
- OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to investigate the role of social media in creating of awareness during 2015 general election in Nigeria. But to aid the successful completion of the study; the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objective;
- To investigate the impact of social media platforms in political communication in Nigeria
- To examine the role of social media in the electioneering process
- To examine the effect of social media in communicating political ideology in Nigeria
- To examine the relationship between new emerging media and the old media in the fort coming presidential election
- RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
To aid the completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher;
H0: social media does not have any significant effect on political communication in Nigeria
H1: social media does have a significant effect on political communication in Nigeria
H02: social media does not play any significant role in the electioneering process in Nigeria
H2: social media does play a significant role in the electioneering process in Nigeria
- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Being a relatively new field in the ever-dynamic field of communication in Nigeria, the study will provide additional knowledge on the subject matter. It is hoped that the study in its practical value will educate politicians and political parties on the importance of social media in contemporary political communication, since social media tools are yet to be fully explored for political campaigns in Nigeria. Also, this study will provide insights to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and civil society organizations in designing programmes that would promote the use of new media technologies in the political process in Nigeria. Lastly, the findings of this study would serve as a springboard for future research in the field of political communication
- SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The scope of the study covers the impact of Facebook, YouTube and twitter as emerging media of political communication in the 2015 presidential election. But in the cause of the study, there were some factors which militate against the scope of the study;
- a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
- b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
- c) FINANCE: The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the researcher has other academic bills to cover
1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Twitter is an online news and social networking service on which users post and interacts with messages known as “tweets
Facebook is an American online social media and social networking service company based in Menlo Park, California
YouTube
YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees.
Social media
Social media are computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks
- ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), statement of problem, objectives of the study, research question, significance or the study, research methodology, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlight the theoretical framework on which the study its based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding. Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.
