THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VOTING BEHAVIOUR IN NASSARAWA WARD “ONE” IN CHIKUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KADUNA
ABSTRACT
The influence of the use of social media on people’s behaviour has recently become more visible than before. Stakeholders in several democracies have since harnessed the utility of social media in their electoral process. This study examined the effect of social media on voting behaviour in Nassarawa Ward “ONE” in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The study adopted voting behaviour theory as theoretical framework. This study also adopted both primary and secondary sources of data to explain the effect of social media on voting behaviour in Nassarawa Ward “ONE” in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. It was discovered that most of the respondents in the study area used social media for election purpose and they received messages directly from elections political campaigns during election which influenced their attitudes in favourable ways. It also showed that social media have a significant potential to promote political participation and a potential to influence the turnout of voters as it is a major tool which enable citizens to talk about the issues of day to day life and also issue of national importance such as election.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The prevalence of democracy as a political system of government among the countries of the world is indisputable. Democracy, over the years in history has come to replace other less popular systems of government like monarchy, theocracy, autocracy, military junta etc. Starting from the American Revolution of 1776, to the French Revolution of 1789, to the Russian Revolution of 1917, democracy swept across the world as the most preferred form of government.
Today, there are only a handful of countries practising monarchical/theocratic system of government compared to the vast majority of countries practising democracy. The popularity of democracy is undoubtedly attributable to its people oriented nature. As demonstrated by the French revolutionists, what the people wanted was encapsulated in their motto Liberté, EgalitéetFratenité (Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood). The French people wanted the freedom to choose their own leaders and their representatives. They sought a kind of government where everyone would be equal irrespective of their class or status in the society. Former President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, puts it aptly in his classic definition of democracy as “government of the people by the people and for the people”.
An online dictionary, thefreedictionary.com, defines democracy as “government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives”. The process of choosing representatives by the people to represent/govern them is known as ‘election’ which is a sine qua non in any democratic setting. Elections are at the very heart of democracy, and are indeed thevery essence of democracy. However, prior to the election proper, political parties, politicians, party members and other stakeholders engage in an equally important process called “electioneering”. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines electioneering as “speeches and other activities that are intended to persuade people to vote for a particular person or political party”. It is popularly regarded as ‘campaigning’ in this part of the world.
An ‘election year’ is like no other year in any country practising democracy. Politicians and their respective political parties go to a great length to reach out to eligible citizens with persuasive messages in order to convince the electorates to vote for them. No stratum of the society is spared from the barrage of electioneering: market women, working class, traders, artisans, students, professional bodies, youths, etc. are all targeted in order to secure their votes.
The mass media is the tool of choice to reach the heterogeneous and widely dispersed electorates. Massive funds are usually earmarked by politicians and their parties for electioneering in the traditional mass media i.e. television, radio, newspapers and magazines. The popularity of the mass media is due to its wide reach/coverage. Nomadic herdsmen can be reached via their transistor radios, elites and literati can be reached via newspapers, women can be reached via magazines and town/city dwellers mostly via the television. However, a very important component of the electorates – the youth – seem to be increasingly ‘unreachable’ through the traditional media, as they seem to be making a shift away from the traditional media to internet based applications like social media. The decreasing influence of traditional media was noted by Thomas, Allen and Semenik (2014): as “an important issue propelling this search for new ways to reach consumers is the slow but steady erosion in the effectiveness of traditional broadcast media”. Dominick (2011) also noted that: ‘The audience for network news, newspaper,and news magazines has been shrinking for the past 30 years. The same trend holds true for local TV news. The Nigerian youth make up a substantial part of the Nigerian populace as well as eligible voters. Ex-Finance Minister, Mrs.Okonjo-Iweala, at a conference in Lagos in 2010 cited 70 percent of Nigeria’s population of 150 million as “under 30 years old”. She further stated that the youth population (those between 12-24 years of age) was estimated at 30 million (Kolapo, 2010). This is a significant number that cannot be ignored by any politician or political party. The media shift of youths from traditional media to internet based applications like social media is traceable to a number of factors. One is the increasing internet penetration in the country. According to the latest statistics from internetworldstats.com, there are 92, 699, 924 internet users in Nigeria as at November 15th 2015, representing 51.1% of the population. In Nigeria today, information and communication technology (ICT) is now part of secondary schools’ curricula and students in their final year are required to register for their various examinations online. The results of the examinations are also accessible online. The subscriber base of GSM has grown to over 148 million representing a teledensity of about 98% according to subscriber stat 2015 report released by the Nigerian communication commission (NCC, 2015). Many Nigerian universities are now equipped with Wi-Fi which is available to students at little or no costs. Many students now own laptops/net books and other mobile devices like iPads, blackberries, iphones and other smart phones through which they access social media sites like Facebook, twitter, You tube, Hi5, 2go etc on the internet. According to the Interneststats, about 15, 000, 000 Nigerians have Facebook accounts (as at November 15th 2015) with the majority of them being youths under the age of 30 years. The number of Nigerian youths signing up toFacebook and Twitter keep increasing at an astronomical rate daily. This may be attributable to the “herd instinct” nature of youths wanting “to belong” or “be current” with the latest trends.
The focus of this study therefore is to examine the effect of the use of social media on the voting behaviour of youths that are of voting age in Nassarawa Ward One in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State
THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VOTING BEHAVIOUR IN NASSARAWA WARD “ONE” IN CHIKUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KADUNA
