CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background of the Study

Political mobilisation is a massive effort in gathering citizens to achieve certain political

goals. It has to do with moving people to action, propelling them to strongly submit themselves
to set goals. Thus, political mobilisation is mass motivation of citizens that will spur them to
actively participate in political activities of their country. Political mobilisation consist the
process by which candidates, parties, activists, groups and prompt citizens participate in politics
to win elections, to pass bills, and to influence policies (Strandberg, 2016).

The essence of mobilizing electorates is to prepare them for political participation, registration,
and voting process along with proper follow-up to ensure accountability. Political mobilisation
and democracy are intertwined because there cannot be democratically government without its
citizens’ participation (Strandberg, 2016). Political mobilisation is sine qua non for political
participation. Thus, it is vital that the citizens are well informed about political processes before
the election proper to enable them participate as well as contribute in advancing the democratic
system. The electoral institution, political parties, party candidates and other political groups
have employed various media channels for mobilisation processes to enable the citizens to vote
and actively participate in politics. Thus, the mass media has emerged as the most common
source of information and central campaigns in democracies and societies in transition around
the world (Macnamara, 2018). Socio-political interactions amongst the public witnessed a
tremendous change with the advent of many online social media platforms such as Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and others. The utility of these platforms in driving change and
gaining competitive electoral advantages has been demonstrated in many instances and countries
across various domains. Social media platforms have been instrumental to campaign strategies
and orchestration of propaganda via online social media platforms. In the political arena, these
platforms play a significant role in attracting support from the electorates (Bello, Isa & Reiko,
2019). The Independent National Electoral Commission ( Electoral Body in Nigeria) and
political parties, as well as aspirants used various platforms to reach the widely dispersed
electorate for mobilisation, political participation or registration, voting process, politicking, and
to sensitize the people on the best conduct during the election exercise.

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The mass media is the tool of choice to reach the heterogeneous and widely dispersed
electorates. In the past, 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, while elites and literates can be reached via newspapers
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. 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 (2015) 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.
Many crucial discussions from civil activism to political campaigns have been successfully
coordinated on social media (Philip, Aiden, Deen, Muzammil, Will, & Marwa Maziad, 2015).
The past four US presidential elections witnessed a substantial use of social media as part of their
campaign strategies (Yu, Yuncheng, and Jiebo, 2016). The same is true in recent elections in
Germany and France and during the Brexit referendum (Caja, Alex, Jessica, Eric, & Mario,
2016).

Communication is at the center of all political activities, and the new internet technologies offer
various platforms where information and other socio-political communication can be constructed
and discussed. This has made the medium become a formidable one; the mobilizing structure of
the social networks and all resources necessary for popular mobilization, which in this case is
contained in social media as the fastest and cheapest way to mobilize (Stark, 2018). Increasing
use of the new media has extended interaction in time and space. The throng of population social
media has attracted in these years, as well as its unrestrained ubiquity and multimedia
capabilities have all contributed to the success of new media technology and its growing
popularity in political communication. It is an undeniable reality that the emergence of the
Internet and other social networking sites available to the people in this information age have
revolutionized and redefined the entire political communication process (Sunstein, 2015).

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Social media are “web based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into
interactive dialogue” (Agbanu, 2017). Social media are also regarded as consumer generated
media that enable users to interact and share information with others. Mullions of people round
the globe have access to social media and thus, it serve as potent tool to mobilise people for their
collective act. Since the adoption of Facebook as a political campaign tool by the former United
States president Barrack Obama, rules of electioneering has been transformed, making electoral
campaign more of social networking (Storck, 2011).

Social media were adopted into Nigerian politics during. the 2019 general elections, of which it
was reported to have contributed largely to the success of the elections. Okoro and Nwafor
(2016), state that social media played mobilisation roles as bulk text and audio voices were
disseminated by politicians in unprecedented numbers. They added that Facebook platform was
used by the political actors to woo electorates and support groups in other to achieve their
political set goals. Social media platforms are cost effective and they allow young people air
their views especially among their peers. Social media uses in politics are on the increase, thus
Stieglitz and Linh (2014) avow that social media platform like twitter, is increasingly becoming
effective tool not only to disseminate information generally, but to broadcast political opinion
widely. They added that political umpires have also embraced social media platforms to have
direct link with the citizens.

Social media are ubiquitous; however, its awareness and use rate are much lower among older
and less educated ones; just as study reveals that younger people make up the bulk of overall
internet users, (Bartlett, Krasodomski-Jones, Daniel, Fisher & Jesperson, 2015). Substantiating
this statement, a research conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 2015, reveal that 90% of
young adults make use of social media sites. The pervasiveness of social media makes it a key
tool for mobilisation, sensitisation, active political participation; giving citizens voice by making
their votes counts. Political dispensations have witnessed social media influence in the area of
influencing the political behaviour of electorates, changing their perceptions and opinion and
their choice of votes (Nwabueze, 2014). Thus, Lim (2012) notes that social media tools are not
only used for social movements, they rather influence how activists form and shape the social
movements.

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Social media are indispensable in electioneering in Nigeria today as the election umpire like the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) use social media platform to mobilise the
people for voter registration, collection of Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC), voter education
among others for effective political participation. The various social media platforms offer
politicians and political institution great advantage of reaching out to the teeming youth who are
the major users of social media. However, despite the fact that youth are the dominant users of
social media, Rossi (2018), stated that there is an increasing rejection of institutional politics and
its classic actors which has led to the assertion that youth are apathetic”.

The Nigerian youth makeup a substantial part of the Nigerian populace as well as eligible voters.
According to INEC chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Out of the total number of registered
voters in Nigeria, under-35 age group made up 51 percent of the 84 million registered voters
(Punch, 2018). This is a significant number that cannot be ignored by any politician or political
party. Therefore, the focus of this study is to examine the influence of the use of social media on
the voting behaviour of Nigerian youths that are of voting age in Ogun State.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

Nigerian youths are generally lackadaisical or even totally uninterested in electoral matters. This
often results in low voter’ turnout during elections (Nwabueze, 2014). The former head of
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Attahiru Jega made this known at
a workshop in Abuja sometimes in 2015 after the 2015 general elections. He stated: “There
exists voters’ apathy in Nigeria and this is no longer contentious. Voters turnout in the just
concluded 2019 general elections had provided a scientific and empirical evidence of the
existence of voter apathy and nonchalant of sections of the electorate in elections”. According to
Mahmood Yakubu, [NEC chairman, the national voter register for the 2019 general ‘election was
84,004,084 alter the continuous voter registration which ended in 2018. This low turnout could
be attributed to youth apathy (Adesola & Susan, 2019).

The youth apathy towards election obviously does not sound well for sustenance of democracy in
the country, hence the use of social media in the sensitization and mobilization drive to
encourage youths of eligible age to participate in the electoral process. However, the benefits of
social media attract malicious activities where trolls and automated accounts or social bots are
being used to skew or manipulate public opinion. Propaganda tools such as automated agents and

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blackmails are widely employed to win the support of the electorates which undermines the
positive influence of social media. The aforementioned has therefore necessitated the present
study to examine the role of social media as a veritable mobilization tool for electioneering
campaigns in general elections with a focus on Ogun State, Nigeria.

1.2 Objectives of Study

The main objective of the study is to examine the role of social media on the voting behaviour of
the youths in Ogun State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are as follows:

1. examine the influence of social media on political awareness in of the youth in Ogun State

2. identify the effect of social media on political mobilization of youth Ogun State

3. discover the challenges posed by social media as a tool for political mobilization of youth in
Ogun State

4. provide solution to the problem of youth political apathy through the use of social media

1.3 Research Questions

The study will provide answers to the following research questions:

What is the influence of social media on political awareness of the youth in Ogun State.

What is the influence of social media on political mobilization of youth Ogun State?

What are the challenges posed by social media as a tool for political mobilization of
youth in Ogun State?

What are the solutions to the problem of youth political apathy through the use of social
media?

1.4 Research Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses will guide the study:

H1: There is no significant influence of social media on political awareness in of the youth in
Ogun State

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H2: There is no significant influence of social media on political mobilization of youth Ogun
State

H3: There are no significant challenges posed by social media as a tool for political mobilization
of youth in Ogun State

1.5 Significance of Study

The findings of this study will add more knowledge to the existing literature on media effect on
youth’s political participation and address political apathy generally. It will also serve as a
reference for future researchers that may want to undertake a research on a similar study.

Government as the machinery of the state will derive benefits in so many ways to properly
harness the social media to engender effective campaign communications and cut down cost of
spending in disseminating electoral and political information. Policy makers will see the need to
make favourable policies that will advance further use of social media in Nigerian elections.

The result of this study would be of interest to all political parties that want to sell their parties,
manifestos, candidates, ideas to the youths in order to secure their votes. Political parties in the
21st century cannot afford to be technologically bankrupt in this information age.

The findings of this study will contribute to the sustainable development of democracy in
Nigeria. The youth are the future and drivers of any country, therefore conducting
researches/studies into their political, social behavior is of paramount importance. To the society,
the society is the primary beneficiary of democracy, thus this work will expose members of the
society to different ways the social media can be utilized to improve Nigerian electoral
processes.

The media industry, media professionals/ owners will learn various ways to tap into the new
online revolution. This study will enable them see better ways the mass of Nigerian publics can
be reached simultaneously in order to disseminate proper political communications to media
consumers through the social media.

Academics, this study will be an additional body of knowledge in the field of mass
communication and political behaviour. It will also provide researchers stimulus for further
research efforts in this area.

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1.6 Scope of the Study

This study will primarily focus on the influence of social media on the voting behaviour of the
youth in Ogun State, Nigeria. This, therefore, means that the study is targeted at eligible literate
voters who made use of social media during elections. However, due to time and financial
constraints, the study will focus on the three senatorial districts of Ogun State, Nigeria. Ogun
Central will be represented by Abeokuta South; Ogun Last will be represented by Ijebu ode
while Ogun west will be represented by Yewa South.

1.7 Definition of Terms

Social media: Social media includes the various online technology tools that enable people to
communicate easily via the internet to share information and resources. It can include text, audio,
video, images, podcasts, and other multimedia communications.

Youth: The period or time when someone is young especially the period when someone is a
teenager (Longman dictionary). For the purpose of this study youths shall be persons from the
voting age of 18 years through to 35 years only.

Voting behaviour: This has to do with youth response towards voting. There could be low
voters turnout, average of large voters’ turnout.

Influence: The power to affect the way someone or something behaves, thinks without using
direct force or order.

Election: Elections can be described as a crucial component of a democratic government or a

political process. Going by this words, elections then can mean a tool for selecting
representatives in modern democracy.

1.8 Organization of the Study

This work is organized into five chapters. Chapter one which is title introduction consist of the
background of the study, statement of the problem, objective of the study, research hypothesis
and the significance of the study. Chapter two on the other hand deals with literature review and
conceptual analysis. The chapter three focuses attention on research procedures and methodology
while chapter four deals with data presentation and discussion, chapter five which is the last
chapter deals with the summary, conclusion and recommendations.

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CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEWS

2.1 Conceptual Review

2.1.1 Concept of Social Media

According to Kaur and Kaur (2013), the rise of the internet in the early 1990s, has led to the
increase in the world's networked population. The networked population has greater access to
information, more opportunities to engage in public speech and a better ability to undertake
united action. Social media has become a fact of life for individuals, involving many actors -
regular citizens, activists, non-governmental organizations, telecommunications firms, software
providers, and government agencies and governments at large. Social media has emerged as a
major tool where citizens are able to talk about the issues of day to day life and also of national
importance. In 21st century, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are not just innovations in the
internet world, but are fast emerging as influencers and opinion creators (Ibid).

Social media could be defined as "a group of internet based applications that build on the
ideological and technological foundations of web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of
user-generated content"(Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). These applications that make up social
media are social networking sites dike Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Hi5), video sharing web
sites (You Tube, Vimeo, Photo Bucket, Meta Cafe) and web logs (Blogs) which are like personal
web pages.

The Associated Press Stylebook (2013) defines Social media as online tools that people use to
connect with one another including social networks. Adibe, Odoemelam and Orji (2012) describe
social media as “online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing
technologies to disseminate information across geographical boundaries, providing interaction
among people. Carr and Hayes (2015) define social media as “internet — based channels that
allow users to interact and selectively self present, either in real-time or asynchronously, with

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both broad and narrow audiences to derive value from user-generated content and the perception
of interaction with others.

Simply put, social media is an umbrella term used to describe the various types of internet based
applications that lend themselves-to content creation sharing, exchange, collaboration. and social
networking within a website. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) highlighted the various forms of social
media as collaborative projects (eg wikipedia), blogs and microblogs (eg Twitter), content
communities (eg YouTube, Picasso), social networking sites (eg Facebook, MySpace), virtual
game worlds (eg world of warcraft) and virtual social worlds (eg second life). Social media
emerged with the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web. They are usually associated
with the term “‘web 2.0” which is used to describe websites that provide opportunity for a user to
interact with the sender of a message. Nwabueze (2012) observes that “Web 2.0” refers to the
state of the web from 2004 till date; a period when interactive websites emerged as opposed to
“web1.0” which describes the state of the web prior to 2004. Web-based communities, social
networking sites video-sharing sites, Wikis, and blogs, are among examples of web 2.0 sites
(Allen, Ekwugha & Chukwulete 2011).

The social media provide means for users to interact over the internet, most times through the
use of email and instant messaging. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities,
events, and interests within their individual networks. Most of the information of the social
networking sites can be retrieved by thousands who have access to the internet connection
(Okunna & Omenugha, 2012). The transformation in the technology of information and
communication generation, processing, storage and dissemination witnessed in the 21% century
unprecedentedly opened-up new media platforms unmatched in history in terms of
interconnectedness, interactivity, multiplicity and accessibility (McQuail, 2015). Gevertz and
Greenwood (2010) conceptualized social media as information that is disseminated through
highly accessible publishing techniques (web and mobile), that transform people from content
consumers into content producers. Social media is a change from a unidirectional model of
communication to a multidirectional model of communication, where audience members are
actively engaged in the communication and are not just receivers of information (Thackeray &
Neiger, 2009). Those who access social media can be both consumers and producers of media, or

9
what Bruns (2009) has termed “producers.” This concept refers to “user-led”, collaborative
processes of content creation.

According to Spurgeon (2018), social media are considered the most interactive of all
communication media, because it is engineered to support all modes of interpersonal, mass and
computer-mediated communication. Spurgeon further notes that interactivity is a major criterion
of comparison between “old” mass media and “new” digitally networked media and the more
interactive a communication system is, the more flexible the system is in terms of the types of
communication and exchange such a system can support. Typical examples of social media
platforms include websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and the interactive
options on these websites, such as the “retweeting” option on Twitter. These instruments are
referred to as media because they are tools which can also be used for the storage and
dissemination of information, however unlike the traditional media like Television and Radio,
most of the social media tools allow their users to interact as “re—twitting” as it is on Twitter
and “comment” as the Options on Facebook. Looking at social media from a more practical point
of view, Sweetser and Lariscy (2018) conceptualizes social media as a “read-write Web, where
the online audience moves beyond passive viewing of Web content to actually Contributing to
the content”. The internet is seen as tool for knowledge building through communication and
information exchange, which has extended freedom to participate in economic, political and
social process (Okunna & Omenugha, 2012).

Social media aim to use the collective and self-organizing intelligence present in a social
network a network which is open to new participants, and their specific experiences, knowledge,
and ideas. Communication within these networks has an instant and many-to many character,
due to the use of instant messaging devices (for example, Facebook, Twitter, and MSN).
Moreover, communication is not restricted to text but also includes video and audio streaming
(Stanyer, 2009). As a matter of fact, social media introduced speed and interactivity that were
lacking in the traditional mobilization techniques, which generally include the use of leaflets,
posters, and faxes” (Eltantawy & Wiest 2011). Perhaps one of the most striking features of this
new method of communication is its ability to bypass the bias of official sources and the mass
media, and give a voice to ordinary citizens in transforming the political landscape of their

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country (Clark 2012). “This is an arguments for information abundance freed from the shackles
of a mass communication system that broadcast from one to many” (Downey & Fenton 2013).

The social media offer vast opportunity to enjoy user-to-user interaction which distinguishes it
from the traditional media which is characterized by top-down news dissemination arrangement
(Clark & Aufderheide, 2015). Another attribute of the social media which distinguishes it from
the traditional media is that it allows its users “free choice”. Choice enables people to access the
information they like to learn about through the social media, eliminating the gatekeeper role of
traditional media. One of the most revolutionary aspects of the use of social media in mobilizing
is that it trivializes the need for elite support. Through the use of social media, individuals are
able to connect with each other and organize at an incredible low cost. More than that, it is also a
resource that is available to most people, which means even uncommitted individuals might have
an Opportunity to join the cause (Shirky, 2018). Social media technologies take on different
forms including magazines, internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, podcasts, pictures, and video.
Considering that social media come in diverse forms, Kaplan and Haenlein (2018) tried to
classify social media into six distinct categories: Collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia), Blogs
and microblogs (e.g. Twitter), Content communities (e.g. YouTube), Social networking sites
(e.g. Facebook), Virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft) and Virtual social worlds (e.g.
Second Life).

It is good to note that out of these six categories of social media tools, three categories (blogs and
microblogs, content communities, and social networking sites) are the ones that are most relevant
to the application of social media in the electoral process. Deriving from the above definitions, it
could also be argued that the social media tools could be suitable for mass mobilization of the
Nigerian society, though with the recognition of certain challenges to the effectiveness of this
tool, due to the socio economic development context of Nigeria. According to Ifeoma &
Uzochukwu (2015), there are three key attributes of social media channels that are believed to
make them highly effective as social development communication tools which are
personalization content tailored to individual needs, presentation timely and relevant content
accessible in multiple formats and contexts and participation partners and the public who
develop and contribute content in meaningful ways.

2.1.2 Election

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Over the past two centuries, elections have played significant role in the choice of governments.
They have become an important element of modern day representative government. Today,
elections are so tied to the growth and development of representative democratic government and
they are now generally held to be single most important indicator of presence or absence of such
government (Okwudiba, 2013).

An election is usually brought about when people, in order to fill a position, collectively and
voluntarily put their consent tor the choice of a candidate through voting. Through voting, the
candidate with the highest vote gets elected. Elections are primarily mechanism for selecting
certain governmental leaders, as well as removing leaders from office, and preventing others
from gaining office through democratic means (Flanigan & Zingale, 2018). In some countries,
election brings about stability and instability. At the most abstract level, elections are mechanism
capable of translating the popular will into institutionally defined roles. At the concrete level,
elections are about the choice of individuals. The word election derives from a Latin word
“eligere“, meaning to pick out, to choose. Election constitutes the major process for instituting
governments and for holding public officials accountable for their actions and keeping them
responsive to the people’s needs and interests in democracies (Wayne, 2011).

Fundamentally, elections are important in the life of a people; they provide an opportunity within
a certain clear limits for the people to choose their political leaders. This means that elections
reflect the choice of electorates and the will of the people; given that the result is to ensure that
only the true representatives of the people hold the reins of governmental powers (Godwin &
Abubakar, 2015).

Elections allow citizens to exercise their civic and constitutional rights to elect or appoint their
representatives and confer legitimacy on those who are responsible to rule or govern them in a
democratic society. The representatives could be endowed with the executive or legislative
powers by the electorates. Qualified citizens in a democratic society possess legal rights to vote
for politicians and the political party of their choice through free, fair and credible election based
on their coherently articulated policies. The political Significance of any candidate in a
democratic setting is measured through the quality of expression of the citizens that is not devoid
of free, fair and credible elections (Alemika, 2017).

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Since 1960, when Nigeria joined the comity of independent states, the conduct of elections held
so far have been generally marred and characterized with violence and other electoral flaws
based on several factors. Elections takes different forms in different societies. The form that they
take and the precise role that they play vary enormously from place to place and over time.
However it takes, elections serve primarily as instruments of mass mobilization and
legitimization for the government (Okwudiba, 2013). Okwudiba (2013) further identifies some
elements that constitute election no matter the context: An election usually entails the selection
of a few people by a larger number to fill predetermined political vacancies, elections imply an
element of choice in that electors have an opportunity to select either from a number of
individuals or a range of programmes and election also implies that each selector exercise his or
her right to choose independently of any other electors.

2.1.3 Voting Behaviours

Voter behaviour impacts upon the electoral process and its outcome. Any serious effort at
electoral reforms to bring about free, fair and credible elections must take into account the
challenges, especially of voter participation in the electoral process (Adejumobi, 2018). The
growth of academic interest in voting behaviour coincided with the rise of behavioural political
science. As the most widespread and quantifiable form of political behaviour, voting quickly
became the focus for new techniques of sample surveying and statistical analysis. The American
Voter (Campbell et al, 1960) cited in Heywood (2017), the product of painstaking research by
the University of Michigan, became the leading work in the field and stimulated a wealth of
similar studies, such as Butler and Stokes’ Political Change in Britain (1969) cited in Heywood
(2017). At the high point of the behavioural revolution it was thought that voting held the key to
disclosing all the mysteries of the political system, perhaps allowing for laws of mass political
psychology to be developed. Even though these lofty hopes have not been fulfilled, psephology
(the scientific study of voting behaviour) still commands a central position in political analysis.
This is because voting provides one of the richest sources of information about the interaction
between individuals, society and politics. By investigating the mysteries of voting behaviour, we
are thus able to learn important lessons about the nature of the political system, and gain insight
into the process of social and political change (Heywood, 2017).

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Voting is one of the cardinal principles of the democratic system of government and the
importance of political and election participations in democratic societies have increased
dramatically. This brings us to a sharper definition of voting; therefore, voting in this capacity
refers to aggregating individual preferences into a collective decision in an election, the action of
formally indicating one’s choice of candidate or political party at an election (Gerber, Green and
Shachar, 2016). Voting denotes the means whereby a number of persons are enabled to indicate
their agreement or disagreement with some prepositions or their preferences as between two or
more proposals or between two or more candidates for some offices. It is therefore a means of
aggregating individual preference into a collective decision. The term generally refers to the
process by which citizens choose candidates for public office or decide political questions
submitted to them.

According to Okolie (2014), voting denotes the means whereby a number of persons are enabled
to indicate their agreement or disagreement with some prepositions, or their preferences as
between two or more proposals or between two or more candidates for some office. It is
therefore a means of aggregating individual preference into collective decisions. As noted by
Okolie (2014), voting is not the sole means of aggregating individual preferences; other means
include market mechanisms and processes of informal interaction in many social and political
groups. Usually when a vote is taken the decision of the majority prevails; for some types of
decisions, it may be provided that there must be an absolute majority of those qualified to vote,
or some majority greater than half, either of all those qualified to vote or of all these actually
voting, for a particular decision to be valid. A voice vote, in which the voters shout “yes or no”,
is simple and quick, but acceptable as a final decision only if those declared to be in minority are
satisfied that they really are in a minority (Okolie, 2014). Voting in elections into public offices
is usually conducted using ballot boxes. Voting therefore takes the form of thumb printing in the
ballot paper provided. Voting processes have undergone transformations over the year in
Nigeria, from ‘secret ballot system; the electoral commission experimented with open-ballot
system, and modified open-secret ballot system (Okolie, 2014). The voting system varies from
country to country but one basic point that underlie all voting in a given socio-formation is
decision making. To vote is to make a decision about a particular issues or issues at stake.
However, the direction of the decision is determined by certain factors which shape voting
behaviour.

14
Voting Behaviour according to Heywood, (2017) connotes a collection of attitudes, values and
beliefs in which individuals of a given society have towards elections both at the local, national
and international level. While Harrop and Miller using a constructivist paradigm, explained
voting behaviour as a pattern of political participation mostly taking place in democratic
societies where people react to certain laid down values, principles and beliefs how they choose
their leaders. These set of beliefs could be based on age, sex, ethnicity, religion and education.
Voting behaviour is clearly shaped by short-term and long-term influences. Short-term
influences are specifics to a particular election and do not allow conclusion to be drawn about
voting patterns in general. The chief short-term influence is the state of the economy, which
reflects the fact that there is usually a link between government’s popularity and economic
variables such as unemployment, inflation and disposable income. Another short-term influence
on voting is the personality and public standing of party leaders. This is particularly important,
because media exposure portrays leaders as the brand image of their party (Heywood, 2017).

Furthermore, there are various models in explaining voting behaviour in human society such as
Party Identification model which is based on the sense of psychological attachment that people
have to parties (Ileywood, 2017). Electors are seen as people who identify with a party, in the
sense of being long-term supporters who regard the party as ‘their party’. Voting is therefore a
manifestation of partisanship, not a product of calculation influenced by factors such as policies,
personalities, campaigning and media coverage (Szwarcberg, 2016),

Sociological model-. links voting behaviour to group membership, suggesting that electors tend
to adopt a voting pattern that reflects the economic and social position of the group to which they
belong. Rather than developing a psychological attachment to a party on the basis of family
influence, this model highlights the importance of a social alignment, reflecting the various
divisions and tensions within society (Bratton & Van de Walle, 2017). Also, the rational-choice
‘model shift attention onto the individual and away from socialization and the behaviour of
social groups. In this view, voting is seen as a rational act, in the sense that individual electors
are believed to decide their party preference on the basis of personal self-interest (Heywood,
2017). Voting to this model is seen as essentially instrumental: that is, as a means to an end.

Finally, patronage, or clientelism model can also be an important determinant of voting

behaviour (Van de Walle, 2016). In a clientelistic relationship politicians tend to use their power

15
to provide economic privileges or other material favours to voters in return for their political
support at the polls (Szwarcberg, 2016).

2.1.4 Social Media and Political Mobilization in Nigeria: An overview

Political mobilization has been a key concept in political and social discourse bearing in mind
that it is quite central to political participation and social engineering. According to Nwoye
(2019) political mobilization is a process of initiating citizens into a desired political action by
focusing on their greatest political needs and expectations. Political mobilization is a group
activity designed to raise political awareness and consciousness in a desired political direction
(Winkler, 2015).

Political mobilization is an action and goal oriented behaviour geared towards a particular
direction, It is therefore crucial to all forms of political activity that seeks to achieve a definite
goal or in pursuit of ideology-driven course of purpose. This is why it is extremely useful as a
tool for social and political change (Nwoye, &Okafor, 2014). Enjolras, Johnsen and Wollebzk
(2011) explain that political mobilization refers to “the process by which candidates, parties,
activists, and groups induce other people to participate” in politics “to win elections, to pass bills,
to modify rulings, and to influence policies”. Political organizations may contact people and
provide a specific “opportunity for political action” In most instances; mobilization is a key
prerequisite before any participation can occur. From the foregoing we can take political
mobilization to mean the process of sensitizing the citizenry, increasing their cognition, political
consciousness as well as the latter’s efficacy. In other words, political mobilization could be
taken to means the determined process of emotionally bringing people together and making them
to internalize communality of societal values, altitudes and orientation in achieving
particularistic and specified holistic objective (Akindele, 2014). Expanding the same idea,
Mustapha (2009) definition of political mobilization becomes clearly discernible because
according to him: mobilization means the simultaneous engagement of large masses of people in
activities that have a predominantly social or collective objective. Huntington (2018) opined that
“political mobilization means a change in the attitudes, values, and expectation of people from
those associated with the traditional world; it is a consequence of literacy, education, increased
communication, mass media exposure and urbanization”

16
Marc, Sara, Dietlind, and Valerie (2010) assert that mobilization is an important precondition for
most forms of political participation and engagement: potential participants have to be informed
and recruited before they can participate. Rosenstone and Hansen (2013) state that empirical
research demonstrates that mobilization and recruitment processes are essential preconditions
before citizens can become engaged in any form of civic or political action. In recent years, these
mobilization processes have been transformed rapidly; instead of relying on face-to-face contacts
or print media, mobilization agents increasingly have adopted new electronic media and the
Internet to reach out to potential participants. Rosenstone and Hansen (2013) identify that
indirect mobilization occurs from this viewpoint when political leaders contact citizens through
social networks of friends, neighbors and colleagues. Social networks in this account are a
facilitator of political mobilization...Political and interest group mobilization has also shifted
onto the internet. The works of Bennet, Breunig, & Givens (2018) agree that internet based
mobilization is conducive to increase awareness and collective action.

Best and Krueger (2015) based on U.S data showed that the internet-based mobilization
significantly increased civic and political interests. Their overall findings suggest that online
media fosters popular participation and are very effective in mobilizing people.

The effects of the new communication channels on political participation and engagement during
election time. Some authors (Vromen & Gelber 2015) have seen vast possibilities open up as a
result of the technology’s diffusion, particularly in terms of the ability to mobilize new groups
into the political sphere and promote novel forms of civic activism. The mechanism through
which this civic rejuvenation would happen seemed deceptively self-evident — the Internet
reduces the costs of most political activities that normally také place during a campaign.
Information gathering becomes more convenient and cheap, political discussion (even if of a
“thin” nature) can take place over social networks, forum groups, or instant messaging services,
opinion transmission from party Supporters to the activists can take place in a virtual setting,
without the need to attend prolonged party precinct meetings. When costs are reduced, reasoned
the proponents of this view, political campaigns manage to reach a wider share of the population
than would have been possible exclusively through offline means (Constantin, 2014).

Gibson and McAllister (2011) convincingly show that use of Web 2.0 tools (social networking
profiles, YouTube campaign channels, personal blogs) has managed to produce electoral support

17
for smaller parties (the Greens) in the context of the 2007 Australian federal election. The impact
of tools such as these could be varied: the ability to reach potential supporters that are harder to
contact via traditional methods; increased public interest in the campaign (as a result of the novel
and cognitively less demanding nature of a campaign video, compared to a traditional flyer or
letter); higher levels of political information among supporters; an increase in the donations a
party manages to collect from supporters etc. The work of Dorothy Kidd in “The Global
movement to transform communications” recognized the role of social media in democratizing
communications challenging the top-down or vertical nature of mainstream media and allowing a
more reciprocal communications between ordinary citizens (Kidd, 2012).

Amandha (2014), mentioned five mobilizing structures which include: .communication,

organization, mobilization, validation, and scope enlargement as major components of social
networks and the old media in the formation of social movements. In fact, Shirky argues. that
social media replaced the old mobilization structures and became the new coordinating tool for
nearly all of the world’s popular movements in the recent years, because of its ability to
encompass all of these characteristics (Shirky, 2011). In Marc, Sara, Dietlind and Valerie-Anne
(2010), “the Potential of Internet Mobilization; an Experimental, Study on the Effect of Internet
and Face-to-Face Mobilization Efforts. The result of the experimentation shows that internet
mobilization is successful in stimulating participation. The findings from the controlled groups
and independent group reveal that online mobilization yielded more significant result than the
face-to-face condition. The growth of the Internet and its rapid expansion has led to extensive
researches of the possible implications it might have for democracy. The bulk of it has been
addressing interactivity as the main element to change the nature of citizens’ participation in
politics and public life in general. The advocates of the so-called ‘electronic democracy (Street,
2011) argue that the Internet may either improve the existing form of democracy or revive the
ancient form of direct democracy. Internet may offer solutions for the problems that have been
obstructing political participation ‘time, size, knowledge and access’.

The Internet has overcome the boundaries of time and space and it is no longer necessary for
citizens to be physically present to contribute to a discussion. The limited political knowledge of
ordinary citizens and the unequal distribution of resources, which has been hampering their
capacity to get involved in the process of deliberation may no longer be a problem. The Internet

18
has been recognized as a platform for public deliberation and the solution for other problems
modern democracy may encounter: ‘The net seems to provide a way around the practical
problems posed by democracy, whatever its form; citizens can exercise their vote, deliberate on
public policy or participate directly’ (Street, 2011).

Social media may be viewed both as technology and space for expanding and sustaining the
networks upon which social movements depend. The Arab revolts exemplify how online social’
networks facilitated by social media have become a key ingredient of contemporary populist
movements. Social media are not simply neutral tools to be used or adopted by social
movements, but rather influence how activists form and: shape the social movements (Lim,
2012).

The social media have been used to bolster democracies around the world, especially in
mobilizing people for political actions, For example, US President Barack Obama ran a Widely
popular election campaign in 2008 that employed social media to good effect. In the U.S., the
2008 election of Barack Obama as President reflected unprecedented use of Social media in a
political campaign. The Obama campaign served as a stunning demonstration of a skilled team’s
use of widely available tools. The Obama campaign participated actively in more than 15 social
networks and had 5 million active supporters through these media (Michael & Ajakaiye, 2017).

2.1.5 Social Media Use in Nigerian Elections

One of the defining features of the present civilization is the sophistication level of technology
and how it revolutionizes various aspects of our lives. Social interactions amongst the public
witnessed a tremendous change with the advent of online social media platforms such as Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat. The utility of these platforms in driving change and gaining
competitive advantages has been demonstrated across various domains (Bello, et al, 2019).
Social media platforms have been instrumental, where campaign strategies and propaganda are
being orchestrated via online social media platforms. In the political arena, these platforms play a
significant role in attracting support from the electorates. The Twitter social platform is
increasingly influential in shaping social phenomena. Users freely express opinions and engage
in discussions that generate a significant impact on society (Bello, et al, 2019).

19
Michael & Olanrewaju (2012) through their study found out that INEC used the social media
platforms to respond to more than 4000 queries in 2011 elections, and the active involvement
and interactivity that ensued between politicians, political parties and other groups during the
2011 election. The study revealed that by December 2010, Goodluck Jonathan had already won
more than 300,000 fans on his Facebook page. The 2011 general elections witnessed a
remarkable use of social media as a_ political communication tool in Nigeria. The role of the
social media in political mobilization and participation across the globe cannot be
overemphasized. The 2011 general elections offer a unique context and opportunity to examine
the use of social media in elections, especially the usefulness and application of social media in
the electoral environment (Oyesomi, Olusola, & Victoria, 2014). They further stated that, the
2011 elections demonstrated the extent to which the social media have penetrated the urban
populace in Nigeria. The benefits of the penetration of social media in Nigeria came to light
during the 2011 elections. Nigerian citizens of all ages, education levels and from different parts
of the country used and were mobilized through the use of social media to participate in the 2011
general elections. Furthermore, Michael and Olanrewaju (2014) research confirmed the heavy
use of social networking sites like: Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, BBM, YouTube, and others in
the 2011 election; the results revealed that Facebook and Twitter were heavy used to mobilize
the people. Related study that supports this claims is; Okoro’s study in 2013 (social media and
political participation in Nigeria during the 2011 general elections: the lapses and the lessons)

In research findings of Ojo, (2014), the study argues that the four key stakeholders in the
Nigerian electoral process (the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),
politicians/political parties, the electorate, and Civil Society Organizations) made extensive use
of social media during the 2011 elections. Each of these stakeholders used the social media to
achieve a number of interrelated objectives. INEC used social media basically to broadcast
messages on the elections and receive feedbacks from the public on their experience with the
process. Politicians/political parties used the social media to reach out to the voters and canvass
for support. The electorates used social media to report their experiences and receive election
related information, while the CSOs used the social media to mobilize and educate the electorate
as well as to cover and report their observation of the electoral process (PLAC 2011).

20
Shirky (2018) asserts that “one of the most revolutionary aspects of the use of social media in
mobilizing is that it trivializes the need for elite support. Through the use of social media,
individuals are able to connect with each other and organize at an incredible low cost. More than
that, it is also a resource that is available to most people, Which means even uncommitted
individuals might have an opportunity to join the cause. This words find credence in Okoro’s
study in 2013 which reveals that social media offer participatory democracy at its best, promotes
transparency and greater accuracy in the political process and facilitate speedy release of election
results. Social media served as a means of informing the citizens, the report of (Policy and Legal
Advocacy Centre-P LAC) 2011 states that the Reclaim Naija website serves as a one-stop online
resource for information on the 2011 elections. It features all the polling units, senatorial districts
and wards, the Nigerian Constitution, information on candidates, the 2010 Electoral Act, the
election timetable, electoral guidelines, certified voters’ registration figures, political parties as
well as civic and voter education modules.

Oyesomi, Olusola, and Victoria (2014) found out through the result that compared traditional
media of communication, ‘group communications, and face-to-face communication. They found
out that Facebook was a tool in the hands of the aspirants for mobilization of support for those
with internet access, since the mobilization function was limited to only the people who had
internet access (connectivity) or who had smart phones with Facebook applications. As high as
98% of the respondents believed that Facebook increased the political awareness of youths in the
2011 general elections. Indeed, social media have emerged as the new influencer in social,
economic and political settings. Research has shown that increasing use of social media for
political communication has led to declining newspaper readership and television viewership in
many countries (Australian Media and Communication Authority 2007). The research findings
of Bartlett, Krasodomski-Jones, Daniel, Fisher, and Jesperson (2015) who used a unique data
gathering software to gather more than 13,6 million tweets over the period 18 March - 22 April
2015, tweets posted by 1.38 million unique users associated with the Nigerian Presidential and
State elections held in March —April 2015.

2.1.6 Challenges of Political Mobilization through the Media

The role of (mass) media in contemporary political campaigns has generated much debate (Hall
Jamieson and Waldmann 2014), especially about the decision making process of citizens based

21
on information gathering. Bakir (2016) suggests one way media exposure impacts policy
influencing citizens’ policy expectations, thereby influencing politics itself.

It is generally argued that the media fail to serve the public well, because they do not provide
diverse, well-balanced political information. This might be true for entertainment-oriented media
such as most’ television and the tabloid press, but, as Page (2016) points out, extensive political
information is available elsewhere in the system. Furthermore, although afforded little attention,
a significant quantity of information is transmitted from opinion leaders and cue givers to
ordinary citizens, leading to deliberation on such information within their social surroundings.
However, Postman (2014) states that, while technology now permits a constant flow of unedited
and unrelated facts, this information has lost the overarching narrative that helped to guide
citizens on how to process such information. The media’s constant flow of information is
traditionally edited by journalists, the narrators of modern, times. Therefore, media act as an
opinion leader or cue giver, as many of the messages potential voters receive about campaign
issues do not come directly from political activists, but from the news media (Kepplinger 2017).

The challenges can be summarized under the following:

 Commercialization

Mass media are normatively expected to provide relevant, diverse, pluralistic, and carefully
investigated information to the public. Furthermore, the media should place relevant information
within a broader context, within diverse perspectives, and should provide commentary about its
various characteristics. In this respect, media play a vital sole in the functioning of democratic
societies, as they substantively inform citizens about politics (Picard 2018; Croteau and Hoynes
2011). However, media—especially privately owned media are also economically driven
institutions and need to behave in an economically rational manner. These two conflicting tasks
contributing to the functioning of democracy and being commercially successful challenge
media companies to find a balance “between the public interest and their own financial self
interest” (Picard, 2018). These two tasks are inextricably linked with each other; only financially
strong companies have the resources to act independently and to offer a wide range of
information.

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As Croteau and Hoynes (2011) put it, commercialization of the media industry is not a new
phenomenon, but it is one that has accelerated. In the scientific debate, there is a broad consensus
that media are increasingly oriented toward economic goals, rather than on their contribution to
the functioning of democracy (McQuail, 2012). Cost control is becoming more important:
outsourcing of parts of the production chain is expected to help to minimize costs, the number of
staff in newsrooms is shrinking, external sources such as Public Relation (PR) are becoming
more important, and costly investigation of topics is restricted (Siegert et al. 2018).

As a result, optimizing cost efficiency is gaining dominance over optimizing the quality of the
product. Or as Picard (2018) states, commercial pressure is coming to dominate content
decisions. “News that sells” has become ‘the maxim in many news rooms (Hamilton, 2014). This
leads to the “homogenization of information and ideas” (Picard 2018), and the range of opinions
reflected in media reporting shrinks (Entman, 2009). Media companies see their audiences
increasingly as consumers who can be targeted as different groups, rather than as citizens to be
kept informed (Gandy 2014). At the same time, media create advertising-friendly content to
attract more advertising. Boundaries between advertising and editorial content are fading, and
media are becoming increasingly dependent on advertisers. Consequently, they become
vulnerable to outside pressure (Picard 2018). Picard (2018) summarizes this situation, “in the
heavily commercialized environment of media, content increasingly marginalizes information
and discussion of community, national, and world, issues in the pursuit of entertainment and
diversion that may attract audiences and advertisers that can produce higher income.

 Framing

The concept framing is receiving increasing interest from communications researchers

(Tewksbury and Scheufele, 2017). However, most framing scholars agree that there is a
mismatch between the quantity of empirical studies and the quality of the theoretical and
conceptual work in this field (Entman 2013). Entman developed the following classic definition
of framing, which can be considered a point of reference: To frame is to select some aspects of a
perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to
promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and/or treatment
and recommendation for the item described. (Entman, 2013) This description encompasses the
following four key elements of a frame: problem definition, causal interpretation, moral

23
evaluation, and treatment/recommendation. The definition of frames can be operationalized in a
convincing manner, because it is both sufficiently specific to be used in content analysis, and
sufficiently open to be adapted to any issue of public controversy.

According to Entman (2013) political campaigns can be regarded as social learning processes:
When a new political issue is put on the public agenda, media use specific characterizations and
presentations of news that influence how the audience understands the issue, Media control the
selection of content and frame new information such that individuals are able to make sense of
the issue and to formulate a decision, Therefore, our second thesis is as follows: “Media use
different frames for the presentation of competing positions in a political debate.”

 Personalization

Personalization in terms of customization is widely used in a positive way when it comes to

customized marketing strategies, service commitments, knowledge management, and learning
practices, among the analysis of media influence and mass communication content with regard to
politics and political campaigning. The discussion of medialization and tabloidization especially
regarding political coverage by various scholars (e.g. Gunther & Mughan 2010) offers more than
a glimpse of a potential change in politicians’ “handling” of the media, or their efforts to
influence coverage conveyed by the media, and vice versa. Mazzoleni and Schulz (2009) even
assume that the language of politics has been married with that of advertising, public relations,
and show business. In addition, these authors argue that mass media attention rules, production
routines, selection criteria, and molding mechanisms are well known in the world of politics, and
political actors are able to adapt their behaviors to media requirements.

Personalization strategies are seen to be part of such processes and necessities. Personalization in
the media is often associated with the emergence of political television coverage. Analyzing the
democratic political process in Germany, Kaase (2014) argues that television, with its emphasis
on the individual, may depoliticize politics and the political process itself in the eyes of citizens,
in the long run. Boll (2015) states that intensive use of TV (and the new media) by parties-results
in increasingly personalized campaigns, projecting some politicians as the only individual choice
of competence and quality. Competing parties can either follow the path of the personalized
campaign, or passively lag behind it. However, strengthened by TV coverage, these trends are
also observed in “classical” newspaper reporting. Changes in the content and presentation styles

24
of news are an indicator of the way in which the public perceives the political process today.
Tabloidization, or the adoption of presentation styles used by tabloids and magazines, is
introduced as an operational concept to measure these changes.

Tabloidization tendencies can occur in content (decrease in policy coverage), form (e.g., more
personalization), and style (e.g., shorter sequences) (Donsbach and Biittner, 2015).

2.2 Theoretical Framework

This study is hinged on Social Marketing Theory (SMT): This theory will be used to put the
study in proper perspectives and practical directions. The term social marketing was first coined
by Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman in 1971. They realized that the same marketing principles
that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to sell ideas, attitudes, and
behaviors. Kotler and Andreasen explained the difference in the objective of social marketing
with other areas of marketing by saying that social marketer seeks to influence social behaviors
not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the society in general.
Marketing has been successful in encouraging people to buy products and use services. In the
same way marketing can also encourage people to adopt behaviors that will enhance their own
and others’ lives. Many social and health related problems have behavioral causes. Social
marketing provides a mechanism for tackling the problems by motivating people to adopt
healthier lifestyles. Social marketing is an approach aimed at changing or maintaining people’s
behavior for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole. This technique has been used
extensively in international health programs, especially for contraceptives, oral rehydration
therapy, drug abuse, heart disease prevention, and organ donation.

Social marketing theory is a theory of mass communication that promotes socially Valuable
information and socially accepted behaviors. It tries to integrate marketing ideas, principles,
tools, techniques and socially beneficial concepts to promote communication and benefit society.
The theory is an attempt to clearly understand how societal and psychological factors work to
successfully manipulate them in order to increase how effective mass media information
campaigns are. The theory focuses on helping identify the various social and psychological
barriers that hinder the flow of information through the mass media and offers ideas and ways to
overcome these barriers. These strategic range from being indigenous to the use of saturation
advertising. Social marketing is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the

25
analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary
behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of society of
which they are a part” (Andreasen, 2014).

Andreasen, (2014) suggests that to build an effective communication campaign to change the
behavior, understanding of the needs and perceptions of specific target audience is necessary. A
message designed and developed must be tailored to the needs, concerns, and interests of the
target audience (Lundgren, 2014). To make the communication successful effort must be put to
understand what people know and believe along with their expectation from communication
process (Jardine, 2013). Covello, (2016) suggests techniques like interview, group discussions,
information exchanges, toll free numbers, and surveys to understand what people think, know
and want to know about an issue. The key to effective message development is the recognition
that, individuals are unique and each individual respond to a message using his or her own filters
of knowledge and experience (Lundgren, 2014). McDermott (2013) suggest the communicators
to define the target audience so as to suggest appropriate channels for communication. World
Health Organization (2012) has observed that specific needs of a target audience are met by
selecting specific media preferred by that audience. Acceptance of message by an individual
depends upon the source of information. Hence, audience should be reached through trusted
channels of communication (Freimuth, 2010). A study by Buzby and Ready (2016) indicated that
40% of the respondents did not trust the information received from government publications and
food labeling on food safety as reliable. Rather people relies more on the information available in
cookbooks.

Social marketing theory can be used for promoting things like elections or just non tangible
awareness among a particular target group which is in need as a social campaign., other
communicable diseases, sanitation, environment pollution, corruption, etc. The principles of
commercial marketing are applied in social marketing. The main focus of social marketing has
been shifted from behavior change to change in attitude of target audience.

2.3 Empirical Studies

Bond, Buntins, Bedenlier, Zawacki-Richter & Kerres (2020) carried out an experiment titled “61
— million person experiment in social influence and political mobilization” and concluded that
social media messages do influence people to vote. They estimated that tens of thousands of

26
votes eventually cast (during U.S Congressional election 2018) were generated by a single
Facebook message. Gromark and Schliesmann (2010) in their study of the effects of politicians
social media activities on voting behaviour submitted that there is evidence that the total social
media activity has a positive effect on voter turnout. The result for effect of social media
messages on voter’s preferences was not conclusive. Akpoveta (2015) in his study assessment of
the impact of social media on the 2015 electioneering in Asaba, Delta State reached the same
conclusions as that of Gromark and Schliesmann by stating that social media increased the
turnout of voters by increasing information exchange and participation of the electorates”. A
similar study was carried out in Anambra State by Edegoh and Anunike (2015) and they also
concluded that social Media platforms present unique opportunities for mobilization of youths
for political participation.

In their own study carried out in Ondo State Okioya, Talabi and Ogundeji (2015) concluded that
social media actually stimulated voters to participate in the electoral process in Akure
metropolis. Similarly, Onyike, Ekwenchi and Chiaha (2015) in their study in Enugu state reveal
that a substantial number of respondents were influenced to a Jarge extent by cxposure to social
media in the way they participated in the 2015 general elections”. Sanni (2018) reported that the
majority of respondents in her study in Oyo State agreed that the use of social media as a
political awareness tool positively influenced them in voting for the candidate(s) of their choice.

Nwaolikpe and Mbaka (2017) examined the role of social media in shaping public opinion of
Nigerians in the 2015 election. The study concluded that the social media are influencing the
public on issues that are important to them especially politically. The verdict of Okoro and
Nwafor (2013) in their study titled “social media and political participation in Nigeria during the
2011 General elections: the lapses and lessons” was that whereas many used the technology
(social media) to make vital input in the political discourse, others used it to spread hate and
inciting messages.

Acholonu, Onyebuchi & Obayi (2015) in their study of the influence of social media on the
political knowledge and participation of electorates in 2015 electioneering campaigns in Nigeria
concluded that there are low knowledge levels on the use of social media for political learning
and use of social media has different levels of influence on electorates political participation.

27
Cozma & Postelnicu (2017) study of political uses and perceived effects of campaigning on My
Space concluded that in general social network sites may not have much influence On political
attitudes and behaviour. Another study by Zhang, Johnson, Seltzer & Bichard (2010) titled ‘the
influence of social network sites on political attitudes and behaviours’ also reached a similar
conclusion as that of Cozma & Postelnicu's study.

Adesola & Susan (2019) investigated the usage and impact of social media on the 2019 general
elections. Their findings from the study revealed that social media was used to inform and
mobilize voters by various stakeholders during the 2019 elections and also that the social media
has the potential to add value to subsequent elections in Nigeria.

Another study "Social networking sites and our lives" carried out by Hampton, Goulet, Rainie &
Purcell (2011) for renowned research organization Pew Internet revealed that . Facebook users
are much more politically engaged than most people. According to survey conducted over the
November 2010 U.S. Presidential election, it revealed that "10% of Amcricans reported that they
had attended a political rally, 23% reported that they had tried to convince someone to vote for a
specific candidate, and 66% reported that they had or intended to vote.

A study by Hanson, Haridakis, Wagstaff, Sherma & Ponder (2017) entitled "The 2008
Presidential campaign: Political cynicism in the Age of Facebook, MySpace and You Tube
examines the relationship between political cynicism and use of social media. The study reveals
social media users tend to have lower political cynicism the more they utilize social media. The
authors suggest the reason for this could be the strong interpersonal nature of social networking
sites, as many people tend to regard their friends/family's/contacts opinions more highly than
those from politicians or media.

Richey (2016) in his study "The Autoregressive influence of social network political knowledge
on, voting behaviour" concluded that: Social network have a large influence on vote choice. In
particular, discussants' knowledge affects vote choice. Karin, Urs, Patrick, Matthias & Gabriele
(2018) identified commercialization, framing and personalization as three key challenges to the
way the media face political campaigns.

Zekeri, (2019) examine the impacts of social media on electioneering campaign in Nigeria’s
2019 general elections. This study revealed that social media like Twitter, Facebook and

28
YouTube has facilitated the direct political interactions between political aspirants and voters
during the Nigeria’s 2019 general elections. Social media encourages the speedy dissemination
of information to large audience within a short time. Also, this study further revealed that social
media remain unregulated and many newsfeeds or stories emanating from it are unreliable as
many “fake news” have emanated from it during the Nigeria’s 2019 general elections. Therefore,
this study suggests that despite the advantages of the social media on electioneering campaign in
the Nigeria’s 2019 general elections, most newsfeeds from the social media should be verified
through fact checkers (like Full Fact and First Draft) in order to prevent misleading information
that are detrimental to human society.

Pinky, Princess, Eduardo, Reynaldo & Rosaroso, (2017) Carried out a study on the influence of
Facebook to voters’ political practices. The findings revealed that Facebook had an undersized
connection to voters’ practices in terms of social demographics and work affiliation in
government. Voters in a rural village had limited access to Facebook because of low level of
education and simple way of life, though, Facebook created voters’ personal choice of a trusted
candidate during the casting of votes. Bello, Isa & Reiko (2019) Study on social media campaign
strategies analysis of the 2019 Nigerian elections revealed that that while both the ruling party
and minority parties concentrate on promoting their candidates, the top opposition party plays a
two-way strategy of promoting their candidates while attacking the ruling party and its candidate.

29
 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the design and specific of procedures used to gather information and
how they were analysed.

3.1 Research Design

Research design gives the research the strategy of how to integrate the different components
and phases of the research in a coherent and logical manner to address identified research
problem. Hence, it guides the collection, measurement and anzlysis of data (Creswell 2013).
The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Descriptive research is defined as a research
method that describes the characteristics of the population or phenomenon that is being
studied.
30
3.2 Population of Study

The population for this study comprised of all the youths who are active in political activities
in Ogun State, Nigeria.

3.3 Sample Size

The sample will comprise 150 youths (50 youths from each selected senatorial districts)
selected from three senatorial districts of Ogun State. The study focused on the the Senatorial
districts of Ogun State, Nigeria. Ogun Central was represented by Abeokuta South; Ogun
East was represented by Ijebu Ode while Ogun West was represeoeed by Yewa South.

3.4 Sampling technique

Purposive sampling technique was used in sampling the respondents. This means that the
respondents were selected on their knowledge and awareness of the subject.

3.5 Research Instrument

The instrument for data collection is a structured questionnaire with a four point rating scale
used for the purpose of gathering data for the study. The instrument consists of two sections,
Section A contained items that sought information on demographic data of the respondents
and Section B of the instrument is of Likert Scale type which contained salient questions that
is intended to elicit response on the topic on a four scale ratings ; (Strongly Agreed, Agreed,
Disagreed, and Strongly Disagreed).

3.6 Validity of Instrument

The instrument was validated by giving a copy to the researchers supervisor for vetting and
approval. The inputs from the Supervisor were incorporated into the final draft before field
work.

3.7 Reliability of Instrument

Reliability is the consistency of the test in measuring whatever it purports to measure. Test
re-test reliability was used. It is a measure of reliability obtained by administering the same
test twice over a period of time to a group of individuals. It is used to indicate the suitability

31
 of the scores, The instrument was administered to selected suinple (20 youths) twice at
interval and from the result generated the reliability co-efficient of 0.86 was established.

3.8 Method of Data Collection

The data to be used in this study were collected by the researcher using questionnaires. The
researcher adequately explaincd the instrument to the respondents before administering it. A
period of one week was planned for administration of the research instruments. The
instruments were collected back immediately after filling by the respondents.

3.9 Data Analysis

Data generated in this study were analyzed using descriptive statistics such frequency count,
standard deviation, and hypothescs were tested using Chi square at 0.05% probability leve!
with the aid of statistical software called SPSS version 23.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

This chapter dealt with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of the data collected with the
aid of a questionnaire, in accordance with the research questions. The data was analyzed using
Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS) and interpreted.

4.1: Demographic Data

Table 1: Demographic Data of Respondents

Items Frequency Percentage %

32
 Gender
Male 83 55.3
Female 67 44.7
Total 150 100
Age Frequency Percentage %
20-25 45 30
26-30 78 52
31-35 27 18
Total 150 100

Table 2
Marital Status Frequency Percentage %
Single 88 58.7
Married 62 41.3
Total 150 100

Table 3
Academic qualification Frequency Percentage %
NCE/OND 41 27.3
HND 30 20
BA/BSC 68 45.3
M.Sc 11 7.3
Total 150 100

Table 4
Occupation Frequency Percentage %
Civil Servant 29 19.3
Private sector 76 50.6
Others 45 30
Total 150 100
Source: Field Survey, 2024

33
Table 1 showed that 55.3% of the respondents were male while the 44.7% were female. This
showed that the majority of the respondents were male. The table revealed that majority of the
respondents 52% were between the ages of 26-30years, 30% were between the agc ranges of 26-
30 years, while 18% of the respondents were between the age ranges of 31-35ycars. This showed
that majority of the respondents were-within 2630 years. it also showed that 58.7% of the
respondents were single while 41.3% were married. The academic qualifications of the
respondents revealed that 45.3% were Ba/ B.Sc holders, 27.3% had NCE/GND, 20% had LIND,
while 7.3% had M.Sc as their highest academic qualifications, this showed that majority of the
respondents were well educated. Majority of the respondents 50.6% works in private sector, and
19.6% were civil servants; this suggests that they are exposed enough to make meaningful
contributions to the subject.

4.2 Analysis of Research Questions

Response opotions:

Strongly Agree: 4

Agree: 3

Disagree: 2

Strongly Disagree: 1

Average mean rating = 4+3+2+1 = 10/4 = 2.5

Therefore, the mean rating of 2.5 and above indicates agreement with the options, while below
2.5 indicates disagreement with the options.

Research Question One: What is the influence of social media on political awareness of the
youth in Ogun State?

Table 2: The influence of social media on political awareness of the youth in Ogun State

Item Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Mean S.D

Agree Disagree
Nigerian 49(32.7%) 47(31.3%) 32(21.3%) 22(14.7%) 2.82 1.04
youths of

34
all
educational
levels were
mobilized
through the
use of
social
media to
participate
in elections
The 41(27.3%) 44(29.3%) 46(29.3%) 19(12.7%) 2.71 1.00
awareness
created on
the social
media
during
elections
are usually
effective
Youths 35(23.3%) 54(36%) 28(18.7%) 33(22%) 2.60 1.07
make use
of social
media to
get election
updates
Youths 47(31.3%) 33(22%) 46(30.7%) 24(16%) 2.68 1.08
make use
of social
media to
know about
parties,

35
 campaigns
and
candidates
popularity
Social 47(31.3%) 43(28.7%) 44(29.3%) 16(10.7%) 2.80 1.00
media aid
help the
youths with
the right
political
information
Source: Field Survey, 2024

Table 2 revealed the influence of social media on political awareness of the youths in Ogun
State. The result showed that Nigerian youths of all education levels were mobilized through the
use of social media to participate in elections (2.82), social media aid help the youths with the
right political information (2.80) and the awareness created on the social media during elections
are usually effective (2.71). Furthermore, the result indicated that youths make use of social
media to know about parties, campaigns and candidates popularity (2.68) and make use of social
media to get election updates (2.60).

Research Question Two: What is the influence of social media on political mobilization of
the youth in Ogun State?

Table 3: The Influence of social media on political mobilization of youth in Ogun State

Item Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Mean S.D

Agree Disagree
Social 67 (44.7%) 50 (33.3%) 27(18%) 6 (4.0%) 3.18 .86
media
generally
influenced
political
mobilization
36
of youths
The 71 (47.3%) 37 (24.7%) 27(18%) 15 (10%) 3.09 1.02
political
messages
youths are
exposed
influence
their
decision
during
elections
Social 58 (38.7%) 33(22%) 29 (19.3%) 30 (20%) 2.79 1.16
media was
very useful
in
mobilizing
youths
during the
2023
general
election
Social 66 (44%) 39 (19.1%) 23 (15.3%) 22 (14.7%) 2.99 1.08
media
influences
youths
decision for
voters card
registration
Social 60 (40%) 34 (22.7%) 50 (33.3%) 6 (4%) 2.98 0.94
media
influences

37
 youth
decision for
voters card
collection
Social 36 (24%) 55 (36.7%) 42 (28%) 17 (11.3%) 2.73 0.95
media
influences
youth
decision to
vote
Source: Field Survey, 2024

Table 3 revealed the influence of social media on political mobilization of youth Ogun State. The
result showed that social media generally influenced political mobilization of youths (3.18),
political messages youths are exposed to influence their decision during elections (3.09),
influences youths decision for voters card registration (2.99) and influences youths decision for
voters card collection (2.98). More so, social media was very useful in mobilizing youths during
the 2019 general election (2.79) and influences youths decision to vote (2.73).

Research Question Three: What are the challenges posed by social media as a tool for
political mobilization of youth in Ogun State?

Table 4: The challenges posed by social media as a tool for political mobilization of youth
in Ogun State

Item Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Mean S.D

Agree Disagree
Commercialization 64 28 42 (28%) 16 2.93 1.06
of the media (42.7%) (18.7%) (10.7%)
industry makes
electoral messages

38
 favour the highest
bidder
It can be used to 62 49 29 10 (6.7%) 3.08 0.93
spread hate and (41.3%) (32.7%) (19.3%)
inciting messages
in form of
negative framing
Low knowledge 56 13 (8.7%) 69 (46%) 12 (8%) 2.75 1.04
levels on the use (37.3%)
of social media for
political learning
Use of social 34 48 (32%) 49 19 2.64 0.97
media has (22.7%) (32.7%) (12.7%)
different levels of
influence on
electorates
political
participation
High cost of 45 (30%) 60 (40%) 39 (26%) 6 (4%) 2.96 0.85
internet access
Poor technological 56 32 49 13 (8.7%) 2.87 1.01
know-how (37.3%) (21.3%) (32.9%)
Source: Field Survey, 2024

Table 4 showed the challenges posed by social media as a tool for youth’s political mobilization
of youth in Ogun State. The result indicated that social media can be used to spread hate and
inciting messages in form of negative framing (3.08), high cost of internet access (2.96) and poor
technological know-how (2.87). Furthermore, low knowledge levels on the use of social media
for political learning (2.75) and use of social media has different levels of influence on
electorates political (2.64) were all identified as challenges posed by social media as a tool for
youth’s political mobilization of youth in Ogun State.

39
Research Question Four: What are the solutions to the problem of youth political apathy
through the use of social media?

Table 5: The solutions to the problem of youth political apathy through the use of social
media

Item Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Mean S.D

Agree Disagree
Education on 48 (32%) 41 (27.3%) 30 (20%) 31 (20.7%) 2.70 1.12
technological
know-how
encourage
the use of
social media
will help to
improve
political
behaviours
of the youths
Reduction of 70 (46.7%) 43 (28.7%) 26 (17.3%) 11 (17.3%) 3.14 0.95
high cost of
internet
access will
help the
youths to
explore
social media
for voter
education
Youths can 47 (30.5%) 32 (20.8%) 43 (27.9%) 32 (20.8%) 2.61 1.10
be easily
mobilized

40
 politically
through the
use of social
media
Source: Field Survey, 2024

Table 5 revealed the solutions to the problem of youth political apathy through the use of social
media. The result showed that reduction of high cost of internet access will help the youths to
explore social media for voters education (3.14), education on technological know-how
encourage the use of social media will help to improve political behaviors of the youths (2.70)
and youths can be casily mobilized politically through the use of social media (2.61)

4.3 Test for Hypotheses

H01: There is no significant influence of social media on political awareness in of the youth in
Ogun State

The result of the chi-square analysis is therefore presented below to test whether the null
hypothesis should be accepted or the alternative hypothesis.

Decision criteria:

The rule of thumb guiding the acceptability of a particular hypothesis in chi-square states that
when the X2 calculated is greater than X2 critical, we are to accept the alternative hypothesis and
reject the null hypothesis. On the other hand, if the critical value is greater than the calculated
value, we accept the null hypothesis and reject the alternative hypothesis.

Table 6: Hypothesis One

Item Observe Expected Df X2Cal X2 Tab P-value Decision

dN N
Strongly 22 37.5
Disagree

41
 Disagree 32 37.5 3 13.14 7.814 0.04 Reject
Agree 47 37.5 Null
Strongly 49 37.5 Hypothesis
Agree
Total 150

IMPLICATION

From the above chi-square summary table, it shows that the calculated X2 statistics is 13.14
while the critical value is 7.8 14 at 5% probability level with 3 as the degree of freedom.
Therefore, since the first condition is certified as the calculated value is greater than the critical
value i.e. X2cal> X2 critical, hence, we have to accept the alternative hypothesis which states that
there is significant influence of social media on political awareness in of the youth in Ogun State.

H02: There is no significant influence of social media on political mobilization of youth Ogun
State

The result of the chi-square analysis is therefore presented below to test whether the null
hypothesis should be accepted or the alternative hypothesis.

Table 7: Hypothesis Two

Item Observe Expected Df X2Cal X2 Tab P-value Decision

dN N
Strongly 10 37.5
Disagree
Disagree 29 37.5 3 41.62 7.814 0.00 Reject
Agree 49 37.5 Null
Strongly 62 37.5 Hypothesis
Agree
Total 150

42
IMPLICATION

From the above chi-square summary table, it shows that the calculated X 2 statistics is 41.62
while the critical value is 7.814 at 5% probability level with 3 as the degree of freedom.
Therefore, since the first condition is certified as the calculated value is greater than the critical
value i.e. X2cal> X2 critical, hence, we have to accept the alternative hypothesis which states that
there is significant influence of social media on political mobilization of youth Ogun State.

H03: There are no significant challenges posed by social media as a tool for political mobilization
of youth in Ogun State

The result of the Chi Square analysis is therefore presented below to test whether the null
hypothesis should be accepted or the alternative hypothesis.

Table 8: Hypothesis Three

Item Observe Expected Df X2Cal X2 Tab P-value Decision

dN N
Strongly 6 37.5
Disagree
Disagree 27 37.5 3 56.77 7.814 0.00 Reject
Agree 50 37.5 Null
Strongly 60 37.5 Hypothesis
Agree
Total 150

IMPLICATION

43
From the above chi-square summary table, it shows that the calculated X 2 statistics is 56.77
while the critical value is 7.814 at 5% probability level with 3 as the degree of freedom.
Therefore, since the first condition is certified as the calculated value is greater than the critical
value i.e. X2cal> X2 critical, hence, we have to accept the alternative hypothesis which states that
there is significant challenges posed by social media as a tool for political mobilization of youth
in Ogun State.

4.4 Discussion of Findings

The findings showed that Nigerian youths of all education levels were mobilized through the use
of social media to participate in elections (2.82), social media aid help the youths with the right
political information (2.80) and the awareness created on the social media during elections are
usually effective (2.71). Furthermore, the result indicated that youths make use of social media to
know about parties, campaigns and candidates popularity (2.68) and make usc of social media to
get election updates (2.60).

This is in agreement with Bond, et al., (2020) carried out an experiment titled “61 — million
person experiment in social influence and political mobilization” and concluded that social
media messages do influence people to vote to a large extent. Gromark and Schliesmann (2010)
in their study of the effects of politician’s social media activities on voting behaviour submitted
that there is evidence that social media activity has a positive effect on voter turnout.
Macnamara, (2018) opined that the media has emerged as the most common source of
information and central campaigns in democracies and societies in transition around the world.
Sunstein, (2015) stated that it is an undeniable reality that the emergence of the Internet and
other social networking sites available to the people in this information age have revolutionized
and redefined the entire political communication process. Bello, et al, (2019) noted that uses of
social media freely express opinions and engage in discussions that generate a significant impact
on society and Stieglitz and Linh (2014) reported that social media platform like twitter, is
increasingly becoming effective tool not only to disseminate information generally, but.to
broadcast political opinion widely.

The result showed that social media generally influenced political mobilization of youths (3.18),
political messages youths are exposed to influence their decision during elections (3.09),
influences youths decision for voters card registration (2.99) and influences youths decision for

44
voters card collection (2.98). More so, social media was very useful in mobilizing youths during
the 2019 general election (2.79) and influences youths decision to vote (2.73).

The findings are supported by Okoro and Nwafor (2016) who stated that social media played
mobilisation roles as bulk text and audio voices were disseminated by politicians in
unprecedented numbers. Bello, ef al, 2019) opined that in the political arena, social media
platforms play a significant role in attracting support from the electorates. Bennet, Breunig, &
Givens (2018) agree that internet based mobilization is conducive to increase awareness und
collective action. Best & Krueger (2015) based on U.S data showed that the internet-based
mobilization significantly increased civic and political interests.

Edegoh and Anunike (2015) concluded that social media platforms present unique opportunities
fur mobilization of youths for political participation. Sanni (2018) reported that the majority of
respondents in her study in Oyo State agreed that the use of social media as 1 political awareness
tool pesitively influenced them in voting fur the candidate(s) of their choice. Adesola & Susan
(2019) who investigated the usape and impact of social media on the 2019 gencral elections
revealed that social media was used to inform and mobilize voters by various stakeholders during
the 2019 elections and also that the social media has the potential to add valuc to subsequent
elections in Nigeria.

The result indicated that social media can be used to spread hate and inciting messages in form
of negative framing (3.08). high cost of internet access (2.96) and poor technological know-how
(2.87). Furthermore, low knowledge levels on the use of social media for political learning (2.75)
and “use of social media has different levels of influence on electorates political (2.64) were all
identified as challenges posed by social media as a tool for youth’s political mobilization of
youth in Ogun State.

The findings are in line with Okoro and Nwafor (2016) observation that whereas many used the
technology (social media) to make vital input in the political discourse, others Used it to Spread
hate and inciting mesoayes. Pape (2016) argued that the media to serve the public well, because
they do not provide diverse, well-balanced political information. Postman (2014) stated that,
while technology now permits a constant flow of unedited and unrelated facts, this information
has lost the overarching narrative that helped to guide citizens on how to process such
information.

45
The findings are also in agreement with Acholonu, ef al., (2015) who in their study concluded
that there are low knowledge levels on the use of social media for political learning and use of
social media has different levels of influence on electorate’s political participation. Karin, ef al,
(2018) identified commercialization, framing and personalization as three key challenges to the
way.the media face political campaigns. Zekeri, (2019) revealed that social media remain
unregulated and many newsfeeds or stories emanating from it are unreliable as many “fake
news” have emanated from it during the Nigeria’s 2019 general elections. Gandy (2014) noted
that media companies see their audiences increasingly as consumers who can be targeted as
different groups, rather than as citizens to be kept informed.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Summary of Findings

The study was designed to examine the role of social media on the voting behaviour of the
youths in Ogun State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to examine the influence of social
media on political awareness, identify the influence of social media on political mobilization,
discover the challenges posed by social media as a tool for political mobilization and provide
solution to the problem of youth political apathy through the use of social media among the
youths in Ogun State. The study adopted descriptive research design of survey type and
purposive sampling technique was used in selecting the sample which comprised 150 youths
from the three senatorial districts of Ogun State, Nigeria. A set of structured questionnaires were
used to elicit response for the study. The data collected were sorted, coded and analyzed using
descriptive statistics and Chi Square to test the hypotheses.

46
The findings showed that Nigerian youths of all education levels were mobilized through the use
of social media to participate in 2019 general elections; social media aid help the youths with the
right political information and the awareness created on the social media during elections are
usually effective. Furthermore, the result indicated that youths make use of social media to know
about parties, campaigns and candidates popularity and make use of social media to get election
updates.

It was observed that social media generally influenced political mobilization of youths, political
messages youths are exposed to influenced their decision during elections, influences youths
decision for voters card registration and influences youths decision for Voters card collection.
More so, social media was very useful in mobilizing youths during the 2019 general election and
influenced youth’s decision to vote.

The findings indicated that social media can be used to spread hate and inciting messages in form
of negative framing, high cost of internet access and poor technological knowhow among the
challenges associated with social media. Furthermore, low knowledge levels on the use of social
media for political learning and use of social media has different levels of influence on
electorates political were all identified as challenges posed by social media as a tool for youth’s
political mobilization of youth in Ogun State.

The findings further showed that reduction of high cost of internet access will help the youths to
explore social media for voters education, education on technological knowhow encourage the
use of social media will help to improve political behaviors of the youths and youths can be
easily mobilized politically through the use of social media.

5.2 Conclusion

The results of this study reaffirm some of the findings noted in research associated with role of
social media in political mobilization in election. Social media aid help the youths with the right
political information and the awareness created on the social media during elections are usually
effective. Social media generally influenced political mobilization of youths, political messages
youths are exposed to influence their decision during elections, influences youths decision for
voters card registration and influences youths decision for voters card collection. The study

47
agreed that the social media was effectively used during election and ascertained that the social
media drew more online support which culminates in the huge success of elections.

Therefore, despite the perceived challenges that are inherent in the used of social media in
getting credible, genuine, and even more sensitive election information; majority of the
respondents were optimistic that social media can be more viable in subsequent elections it can
be concluded that social media are more than communication platforms, they have become
strong forces of political mobilization and means through which true democracy and mass
participation can be attained. It is the belief of the researcher that social media can place
Nigeria’s electoral processes in higher pedestal as witnessed in some Western countries and as
displayed in earlier 2019 general elections that adopted social media use in Nigeria.

5.3 Recommendations

Social media has become the latest trend in developing and building civic engagement and
sensitization as well as drawing the masses for mass participation. Going by the findings of this
study, the following recommendations are made:

1. The use of social media should be encouraged to foster more political engagement and
increase mass enlightenment through the use of social networks to educate and inform Nigerian
electorate for informed political decisions.

2. Government should look beyond some of the challenges of social media and concentrate on
the positive impact that can be derived from the social media.

3. It is very necessary therefore, that all stakeholders should engage in periodic public
enlightenment on the use of social media platforms for political purposes.

4. Efforts should be made towards monitoring, moderating or regulating the various social media
platforms in order to minimize the observed weaknesses and maximize the intrinsic values of the
technology in the electoral process.

5. It is however necessary that social media should be used more in some important Political
activities preceding elections; such as voter’s registration, party registration and membership
registration, selecting party candidates and in Conducting primaries.

48
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 APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
TAI SOLARIN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION IJAGUN
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VOTING
BEHAVIOR IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF OGUN STATE YOUTHS
Dear Respondent,

We are undergraduate students of the above named institution, conducting research on the
above topic, hence your cooperation in this regards is highly needed. However, you are
hereby requested to complete this questionnaire objectively.

Please note that this research is purely for academic purpose and the information obtained
will be treated with utmost confidentiality. Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours faithfully,

The Researchers,

1. Aduleye Oluwatoyin Mary 20200403293

2. Esun Felix Oluwasegun 20210493034

SECTION A [DEMOGRAPHIC DATA] Instruction: Please tick ( ) as appropriate to you

1. Sex: (a) Male[ ] (b)Female[ ]

2. Age: (a) 20- 25yrs [ ] (b) 26-30yrs [ ] (c) 31-35yrs [ ]

3. Marital Status: (a) Single [ ] (b) Married [ ] (c) Divorced [ ] (d) Widowed [ ] 4. Level of
education: (a) OND/NCE [ ] (b) HND (c) Bsc/BA/B.ED [ ] (d) Msc/M.A/M.ED [ ]5.
Occupation: (a) Civil Servant/Public Servant [ ] (c) Private sector [ ] (c) others [ ]

SECTION B (Items on the topic) Instruction: Kindly put a tick () in the appropriate
column that expresses your choice. Note that Only one of the columns should be marked at a
time. KEYS: SA = Strongly Agreed. –4 points

55
 A = Agreed. --3 points

D = Disagreed. –2 points

SD =Strongly Disagreed --1 points

S/N The influence of social media on political awareness of the youths SA A D SD

in Ogun State.
1. Nigerian youths of all education levels were mobilized through the use
of social media to participate in elections
2 The awareness created on the social media during elections are usually
effective
3 Youths make use of social media to get election updates
4 Youths make use of social media to know about parties, campaigns
and candidates popularity
5 Social Media aid the youths with the right political information
The influence of social media affects the political mobilization of youth in Ogun State
6 Social media generally influenced political mobilization of youths
7 The political messages youth are exposed to influence their decision
during elections
8 Social Media was very useful in mobilizing youths during the 2023
general election
9 Social media influences youths decision for voters card registration
10 Social media influences youths decision for voters card collection
The challenges posed by social media as a tool for youths political mobilization of youths in
Ogun State
11 High cost of commercialization can be a challenge in mobilizing
people during elections
12 It can be used to spread hate and inciting messages in form of negative
framing
13 Low knowledge levels on the use of social media for political learning
14 It can be used to pose fake results of election which can lead to
violence
15 Use of social media has different levels of influence on electorates
political participation
The solutions to the problem of youth political apathy through the use of social media
16 Education on technological know-how encourage the use of social
media will help to improve political behavior of youths
17 Government regulations of social media will help to improve youth
participation and regulate their behavior
18 Reduction of high cost of Internet access will help the youths to
explore social media for voters education
19 Youth can be easily mobilized politically through the use of social
media
20 Most of the youth violence demonstration start from social media

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