Social Media and Governance in Africa

There is a debatable notion that nothing big and relevant happens in Africa without the influence of social media. While this assertion may not be absolutely correct, we are reminded of series of events that have unfolded mainly through and on social media platforms across the political, health, commercial and developmental landscape of the continent. 

Fresh on many minds is the role of social media in curtailing the spread of Ebola in the Western region of Africa, the widely-reported resignation of Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore on social media, the Occupy movement which trailed across the Northern and Western regions of the continent, amongst other citizen led campaigns driven almost solely first on social media platforms before taking root in the offline society.

Accordingly to recent statistics released by We Are Social  – a global digital outfit, Africa, has about 293million active internet users , and about 103million active social media users across the continent.  While the latter figure may seem very large, it only represents 9 percent of the continent’s over 1.1billion offline population.

This year, about fifteen African countries will be at the polls. Only last two weekends, Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, held its presidential and national parliamentary elections, and expectedly, social media played a remarkable role in defining and redefining the concept of politicking and campaigning in a digitalized world as political parties and aspirants had a good run for their money online.

Prior to the general elections, which saw the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the contest, several opinion polls were conducted on social media on the likelihood of whom will emerge Nigeria’s next president. 

Interestingly, about 70 percent of the polls reported that the General will most likely win. Today, General Buhari is the President-Elect. This is a testimonial that social media cannot be undervalued in any political contest or social context. To say the least, social media is here to stay!

The place of social media in Nigeria’s politics

Politics just as social media is a game of numbers. Nigeria has a huge population of young people constituting about 70 percent of the country’s average as well as the voting demography. Nigeria’s online population is also dominated by young people with varying degrees of interest, hence, to connect, engage and win young people, politicians saw the need to join the social media which is perceived to have an uninhibited communication process.

If anything, social media created an atmosphere of real-time communication flow, thus, allowing candidates to directly interact with voters and key influencers. In the Nigerian case study, we saw series of TweetChats, Hangouts, amongst other virtual events as audience engagement strategies. Whether or not the conversations were in most cases valid and successful remain an exploration for the nearest future.

The influence of social media on mainstream media is yet another reason political actors joined the social media conversation. In order to compete in a fast-paced media-based network of communities, journalists increasingly relied on political blogs, twitter conversations and various video and photo content as sources for their stories. Features such as iWitness reporting, citizens’ journalism on traditional media created a connection point for both the traditional and new media.

Comparatively, social media afforded stronger and better message delivery at relatively lower rates when compared to the cost of advertising on traditional media.

Given the extensive and multiplier effect of social media, there is no doubt that social media has clinched a formidable spot in nascent democracy and advancing politics and governance in Nigeria.

For one, I had a filled experience of virtual campaigning premised on interesting social media marketing ideologies. Tweetmeets, Hangouts, were the in thing within Nigeria’s online socio-political networks. Hashtags such as #MeetGEJ, #Febuhari, #MarchOutJonathan, #WhyIWillVoteGEJ, #MarchForBuhari, #GMB15, #LagosForYou, #iHaveDecided, were promoted by politicians and their supporters, while #NigeriaDecides, #Nigeria2015, #iPledgeToVote, #MyPVCNow #GoVote #VoteNotFight  #CourtNotStreet, were promoted by civil organisations to increase citizens’ awareness and participation in the electoral process.

Also worth noting is the idea of crowd funding via social media for political aspirants and their parties. This is indeed a trend to sustain and improve upon.

While social media allows multiple conversations of diverse focus at the same time, the Nigerian election has seen a shift in the level of discourse that has shaped the electioneering period. Through social media platforms, issues have come to the fore, though not explicitly ironed out; allegations and counter-allegations have been made, supporters of various political parties have probed various ideologies and campaign promises especially those of opposing parties whilst also making the conversations around the 2015 elections more engaging. 

These certainly provided a shift from what obtained during the 2011 polls.

Unfortunately, there were instances of inciting and hate speeches, which were not in the best interest of the country. In spite of the rapid growth of the social media space in Nigeria, anonymity is exploited and integrity not upheld therefore these gave room for the promotion of hate speech. In order to promote campaigns many faceless or anonymous handles were created littering the platforms with many profiles, which did not exist prior to the period in context. In some cases, real-time reportage suffered due to the promotion of half-truths and inaccurate information.

More worrisome was the coverage of election results and votes from polling units. These turned opposing individuals against one another in a rare display of intellectual arguments and numerical skills.

There is no gainsaying that the electioneering period has enhanced the financial base of most digital advertisers and many others involved in the value-chain of communicating and engaging the electorate in meaningful conversations online. From the marketer, to the publisher, writer, designer, et al, this electioneering era will sure be one to be remembered, if not for the financial benefits, at least for the experience and fun of the season.

A revolution is midway, social media has taken in the heart of Nigeria and Africa’s political and electioneering processes – all interested parties need to get rightly positioned.