ABSTRACT
This study examines the effects of social
media on the voting behaviour of voters in Nigeria; a case study of Ughelli
Metropolis. The research focuses on the; various types of social media
platforms used in Ughelli Metropolis, influence of social media on voter’s
behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis, effect of social media on voter behaviour in
Ughelli Metropolis, and other factors that influence voter behaviour in Ughelli
Metropolis. It also discovered in repeated studies
that not much has been done in the aspect of linking social media with voting
behavior of voters. Studies have shown that social media have
greatly influenced the voting behavior of voters in Nigeria hence it has little
or no attention in educational discourse and consideration. A total of 100
questionnaires was administered to the respondents in the study area using the
simple random sampling techniques. The
research questions designed to guide this study were also answered and the
hypothesis tested accordingly. The
result of the findings indicates that there is significant difference in the
various types of social media platforms used in Ughelli Metropolis. The result
of the findings also shows that social media has significant influence on
voter’s behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis. The study concluded that other factors
have significant influence on voter’s behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis. It was
recommended that Social media should be used to create positive awareness and
campaign opportunities on voter’s participation in electoral processes.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE - - - - - - - ii
DECLARATION - - - - - - - - iii
CERTIFICATION - - - - - - - - iv
DEDICATION - - - - - - - - v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - - - - - - vi
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
1.3 Purpose
of the Study
1.4 Research
Questions
1.5 Research
Hypotheses
1.6 Significance
of the Study
1.7 Scope/Limitation
of Study
1.8 Operational
Definition of Terms
CHAPTER
TWO
LITERATURE
REVIEW
2.1 Social
Media and Types
2.2 Social
Media and Voter Behaviour
2.3 Influence
of Social Media on Election Outcomes
2.4 Social
Media and Politics
2.5 Media
Effects in the Process of Information Dissemination
2.6 The
Rise of Social Media
2.7 Other
factors that influence voters behavior
2.8 Summary
of Reviewed Literature
CHAPTER
THREE
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research
Design
3.2 Population
of the Study
3.3 Sample
and Sampling Technique
3.4 Method
of Data Collection
3.5 Validity
and Reliability of Instrument
3.6. Method of Data Analysis
CHAPTER
FOUR
DATA
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Data
Presentation and Analysis
4.3 Hypothesis
Testing
4.4 Discussion
of Findings
CHAPTER
FIVE
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendations/Suggestions
For Further Studies
References
Appendix: Research Questionnaire
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Social
media are interactive technologies that allow the creation or sharing/exchange
of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via
virtual communities and networks (Marris, 2020). The social media platforms
include; Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube. Facebook is an
American technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California. It was
founded by Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is a popular global social networking
service. It is one of the world's most valuable companies. It is considered one
of the Big Five companies in U.S. information technology, with Google, Apple,
Microsoft and Amazon (Zuckerberg, 2004). Facebook offers other products and services
beyond its social networking platform, including Facebook Messenger, Facebook
Watch, and Facebook Portal. It also has acquired Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus,
Giphy and Mapillary, and has a 9.9% stake in Jio Platforms (Zuckerberg, 2019).
Telegram is a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging software
and application service. The service also provides end-to-end encrypted video
calling, VoIP, file sharing and several other features (Eduardo, 2020).
WhatsApp Messenger is an American freeware, cross-platform centralized
messaging and voice-over-IP service owned by Facebook, Inc. It allows users to
send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share
images, documents, user locations, and other content. YouTube is an online
video platform owned by Google. It is the second most-visited website in the
world. In 2019, more than 500 hours of video content were uploaded to YouTube
servers every minute (Wikipedia, 2021). Twitter is an American microblogging
and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages
known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like and retweet
tweets, but unregistered users can only read them (Wikipedia, 2021).
The
influence of the use of social media on voting behavior has recently become
more visible than before. Stakeholders in several democracies have since
harnessed the utility of social media in their electoral process. Marris (2020)
noted 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. Adebayo (2021)
discovered that most of the voters in Lagos State used social media for
election purpose in which they received messages directly from elections
political campaigns during election which influenced their attitudes in
favorable ways.
According
to Stephan (2021), social media can reduce political participation and thus
affect legislation in labor and other areas. Social media has transformed the
way voters access and receive political information, such that it has
circumvented the filtering of information previously undertaken by editorial
offices. Consequently, consumers have had to learn how to filter relevant
information themselves. The introduction phase of the social media coincided
with a decreasing voter turnout, possibly due to “information overload” or
less-focused political information. However, the subsequent rise of social
media may help reverse the negative effect on turnout. But this poses
challenges for regulatory policy. Understanding the internet’s effects on the
consumption of information is also relevant for how voters view labor policies.
The emergence of social media has created new participation and dissemination
platforms. More competition in the media market might imply less filtering by
editorial offices and less pre-selection of information since the social media
can provide direct and cheap access to a large pool of information (Brader,
2016).
Social
media had change the way people communicate with each other. In previous years
traditional media play a significant role in creating awareness among people
but over period of time social media become important marketing tool which not
only aware people but help to attract them. Politicians are becoming more and
more active on social media. Electoral system of any given country plays a
fundamental role in sustaining and shaping the political conduct of its
citizens. The manner of conduct of election in a country goes a long way to
determine the level of political culture, political participation, good
governance and sustainable development in the country. Adebayo (2021) asserted
that electoral system must be reformed to have good governance and sustainable
development in Nigeria and that there is need for the establishment of
electoral offences court.
Faber,
et al. (2015) noted that, social
media is the new mass medium that affects many aspects of everyday life.
Empirical evidence during the initial phase of the internet suggests that a
“crowding-out” of political information occurred, which affected voter turnout.
The introduction of interactive social media and “user-defined” content appears
to have reversed this, but there is a downside: voters can now be personally
identified and strategically influenced by targeted information. Regulating the
internet may be necessary, but it can also stifle innovation. Therefore,
policymakers should consider introducing measures to educate voters to become
more discriminating in their use of social media. Furthermore, social media has
made voters privy to any kind of information about politicians and their lives
as there are no longer any isolated places or hiding holes. The private and
public lives of society’s most influential figures including politicians have
been made public online. This is because in today’s world, once a politician
declares for a post, his entire life including his educational background, his
family, his job and any past mistakes or excesses are made public on social
media platforms for people to comment, discuss and publicly judge. Many
politicians have been found in compromising positions with their words or
phrase taken out of context and magnified to huge proportions by opposition
parties in order to discredit them (Prat and Strömberg, 2013).
Many
atimes, people go to the extent of recording private conversations or actions
of these candidates and make the recorded audio or video public on various
social media platforms such as Youtube quickly, with a view to elicit response
and vicious backlash from voters and other online users. The belief is that it
will go a long way in influencing voter’s behaviour and turning such voter against
the candidate since the voter can now judgmentally make decisions about the
candidate based on what he said, did or other information about him or her.
Even though, such information are refuted sometimes by the concerned party or
individual, it remains valid in the minds of many voters who may have made up
their mind already or simply are not aware of the true situation (Stromberg,
2014).
The
rise of social media, such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Telegram, and
Youtube in the later 2000s, along with politicians actively using social media
to disseminate information, re-connected voters to the political debate.
Previous studies have shown that social networking has a powerful influence on
voters, but much is not known about the mechanisms of network influence
especially on how social media can affect voting behaviour. It is against this
background this study is conducted to examine the effect of social media on the
voting behaviour of voters in Nigeria (A case study of Ughelli Metropolis).
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
It
has been discovered that social media has helped in increasing the popularity
of candidates and their parties. However, it is pertinent to note that social
media has the capacity to make or mar their chances and voter’s perception of
the party or candidates. Rumors, falsehood, propaganda and derogatory
information about individual candidates or parties are commonplace online and
spread faster than anticipated, often with disastrous outcomes. This is largely
attributed to the lack of editorial filtering, and the anonymity of most online
users. The internet encourages anonymity of its users, which means that those
who write and comment often use nicknames or aliases. Hence, anonymity provides
an excellent opportunity for writing false stories or spreading rumors about
candidates and their parties and this often leads to rancor fear and anxiety of
opposition parties.
This
has a huge influence on voter behaviour, as most voters who read stories online
have a tendency to believe such stories without crosschecking facts and take
decisions based on this propaganda. This is a widely known fact among political
parties and they use it to their advantage in bringing down their opponents.
Previous research (such as; Prat and Stromberg, 2013, Stromberg, 2014, Faber, et al., 2014, Brader, 2016) has found that it is possible to influence a
person’ attitudes toward a political candidate using carefully crafted
information about such candidate online, which in turn may influence the voter’s
behavior towards the candidate. Social media can also be used by various
parties to propagate false news and propaganda about the opposition in order to
disfavor such party or candidate in the eyes of the electorates while
exonerating theirs. This has a huge influence on voter behaviour as many voters
make decisions based on such news they read online. This study therefore seeks
to address the numerous problems associated with the effect of social media on
voting behaviour of voters in Ughelli Metropolis.
1.3 Purpose
of the Study
The
general objective of this study is to determine the effect of social media on
the voting behaviour of voters in Nigeria (A case study of Ughelli Metropolis).
The specific objectives are;
i.
To identify the various
types of social media platforms used in Ughelli Metropolis.
ii.
To find out if social
media influences voter behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis.
iii.
To determine the effect
of social media on voter behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis.
iv.
To find out other factors
that influence voter behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis.
1.4 Research
Questions
i.
What are the various
types of social media platforms used in Ughelli Metropolis?
ii.
What are the influence of
social media on voters behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis?
iii.
What other factors
influences voter’s behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis?
1.5 Research
Hypotheses
In
order to achieve the above stated objectives, the following hypotheses will be
tested:
i.
There is no significant
difference in the various types of social media platforms used in Ughelli
Metropolis.
ii.
Social media has no significant
influence on voter’s behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis.
iii.
Other factors has no
significant influence on voter’s behaviour in Ughelli Metropolis.
1.6 Significance
of the Study
This
study will help beam the searchlight on the effect of social media on the
voting behaviour of voters in Nigeria. It will provide useful information on
the impact of social media on voter’s behaviour, the decisions they make and
elections as a whole based on the information available to voters on the social
media. It will also enlighten relevant stakeholders such as political parties,
candidates, and even the civil society on how social media can bring about
awareness and campaign opportunities if properly utilized. This research study
will help stakeholders understand that maintaining a good and healthy profile
online with a cordial relationship between the party and voters can positively
influence voter’s behaviour. Lastly, this research work will add to the body of
knowledge on the already existing scholarly materials on the impact of social
media on voter’s behaviour.
1.7 Scope/Limitation of Study
This
study will examine the effect of social media on the voting behaviour of voters
in Nigeria (A case study of Ughelli Metropolis) with special reference to the
actual influence it has on vote’s behaviour either positive or negative and the
factors determining the behaviour and attitudes that an ordinary voter adopts
based on available information gotten online.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
Behaviour:
is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals in conjunction with
themselves or their environment.
Campaign:
an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within
a political group.
Election:
the formal process of selecting a person for public office or of accepting or
rejecting a political proposition by voting.
Internet:
an interconnected group of computer networks allowing for electronic
communication.
Social media:
are computer mediated tools that allow people to create, share or exchange
information, ideas and pictures/videos in virtual communities and online
networks e.g Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and Telegram.
Voter:
a person who has attained the voting age and has the right to vote for a
candidate in an election.
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