ABSTRACT
The
study basically examined the Perception of University Undergraduates on the effectiveness
of Social Media in Gubernatorial Elections in Kwara State”. The emergency and
rising of social media otherwise known as citizen media in this digital era
have revolutionalised the socio- economic and particularly political
development of Nigeria. It offers platform for political debates, political
campaign and political mobilization. Survey research method was adopted in
which data were collected among Kwara State University students using
questionnaire. Four hundred (400) questionnaires were distributed, out of
which, three hundred and sixty (360) copies were retrieved and analysed.
Findings show that many of the respondents maintained that, they participated
in the 2015 governorship and presidential election while they also search and
participated in political debate and discussions on social media before, during
and after the election with many served as voters during the 2015 elections. In
the same vein, social networking usage during the election was very high for
the first time in Nigeria political history, no wonder many submitted that
their participation in the election was as a result of the online discussion
platform such as facebook and twitters. Similarly, lots of respondents were
busy reading and commenting on political matters during the 2015 electioneering
period, they also, optimistic that the future of social media in election is
very bright in Nigeria and some of the element that need to correct in future
use of social media for elections include but not limited to “name calling” and
“posting of unverified information or result during election”. It is
recommended that social media should be improved to enhance better public mobilization,
sensitization and true democracy in Nigeria through citizen sensitization
programmes.
