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Taking their destiny in their hands: Social media, youth participation and the 2015 political campaigns in Nigeria

The issue of youth participation in political activities, including campaigns, has dominated scholarly discourse across the globe. The youth’s seeming apathy towards politics has continued to resonate among researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders. However, the emergence of social media has...

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Published: 2018
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LEADER 00000njm a2000000a 4500
001 oai:repository.ui.edu.ng:123456789/12401
042 |a dc 
720 |a Onyechi, N. J.  |e author 
260 |c 2018 
520 |a The issue of youth participation in political activities, including campaigns, has dominated scholarly discourse across the globe. The youth’s seeming apathy towards politics has continued to resonate among researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders. However, the emergence of social media has opened up new frontiers for citizens, especially for youths who are known to be social media savvy, to engage in political participation. This study investigated the relationship between social media use and University of Ibadan students’ participation during Nigerian political campaigns in 2015. Anchored on the uses and gratification theory, the study used a survey and focus group discussions (FGD) as the research design. Respondents, systematically selected (N = 588) took part in the survey while discussants, purposively selected (N = 24) participated in the FGD. Results revealed that cognitive, social and tension-free needs were motivations for using social media during the 2015 political campaigns by the respondents. Results also showed that there is a significant relationship between social media exposure patterns and students’ participation during the 2015 political campaigns. These results provide an important window of understanding on the relationship between social media use and political participation amongst Nigerian university students and have implications for the political development of Nigeria. 
024 8 |a 2374-3670 
024 8 |a 2374-3689 
024 8 |a ui_art_onyechi_taking_2018 
024 8 |a African Journalism Studies 39(1), pp. 69-89 
024 8 |a https://repository.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/12401 
653 |a Elections 
653 |a Nigeria 
653 |a Political participation 
653 |a Social media 
653 |a University of Ibadan 
653 |a Youths 
245 0 0 |a Taking their destiny in their hands: Social media, youth participation and the 2015 political campaigns in Nigeria