INTRODUCTION
There is no denying the fact that the advent of social media has resulted in the most substantial and pervasive
change to communication in modern times. Social media remains the greatest
impetus for information dissemination in the 21st Century with its
opportunities, particularly, evidenced in the spontaneity of political events more
than ever. The advent of social media has therefore been touted as
revolutionary in all spheres of human endeavour, including engagement on public
policy issues.
Since social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and the rest were used to facilitate political
engagement and campaigns in the US 2008
presidential elections,
they have gained increased prominence in politics all over the world based on their
unprecedented potential for increased political communication. Today, news
consumers head to social media for their information. As a result, social media
platforms have not only
become important channels for distributing news, but have also remained a central
part of how well the news is communicated. Consequently, these platforms are
popular news channels because they do not only carry a strong and influential
voice, but they also provide opportunity for direct interaction and feedback with
the target audience.
A 2014 study showed that 62% of web
users’ turn to Facebook
to find political news. The increasing use of social media platforms is largely
due to its ability to ensure quick dissemination of political information and
encourage political participation. What is the potential of social media? How
is social media used for political engagements? To what extent are political
leaders using social media for political campaigns in Ghana?
THE
POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media allows users to create, share and search
for information without having to log in to any specific portal
destination. These tools
become ‘social’ in the sense that they are created in ways that enable users to
share and communicate with one another. The social media network, Facebook, one of the first social media
tools, launched in 2004, has over 1.4 billion users worldwide. As a result, information
via this platform is disseminated at high speed, low cost, with far-reaching results[i]. Social media is therefore facilitating the
connection of the world through the power of the internet.
As evidenced in the figure below, the power of social media is fast becoming very
ubiquitous, particularly in politics as a major source of news for many
citizens and affects voting behaviour because it allows for cheap access to the
production and consumption of current
information without editorial filtering.[ii]
SOCIAL
MEDIA AND POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
Today, social media is a major enabler for citizens’
participation in the democratic process as clearly demonstrated in the 2008 US
Elections when young people were inspired to political topics using social
media as communication
platform.
Social media and its highly visible environment provides presidential
candidates the ideal platform to promote themselves, articulate their policy
goals and interact with their voters directly and without the filter of the
mainstream media.
A
research conducted by Pew Research Centre
in February 2012 established that, 80% of adults use the internet and 66% of
those online adults use social media networking sites. Political candidates
today are increasingly using social media and the internet as a vital campaign strategy
for spreading information, raising money, and rallying voters. For instance, President
Barack Obama harnessed social media in his 2008 campaign to communicate his
vision for the American electorate.
Election campaigns basically rely on communication.
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have not only given
politicians a powerful avenue for interacting with a more demanding citizenry,
but have also allowed them to offer more personalised images to the public. It
has also given the less resourceful parties the opportunity to match
well-funded campaigns with creative and relatively inexpensive strategies.
Candidates, members of parliament and local committee
members worldwide are now providing information about their policy positions
and inviting followers to interact on their platforms. In the Romanian
presidential elections of November, 2014, there was unprecedented use of social media for the first
time in that country, both by the political candidates and voters.
SOCIAL
MEDIA AND OBAMA US 2008 ELECTIONS VICTORY
In the 2008 United States presidential election,
Barack Obama (the Democratic Party Nominee) defeated John McCain (the
Republican Party Nominee) to become the first African-American ever to be
elected president of the United States. Obama's total vote amount of 69.5
million was the highest ever won by a presidential candidate. This victory is
credited to his competitive edge in social media and Internet following.
Obama had over 2 million American supporters on Facebook and 100,000
followers on Twitter, while McCain attracted only 600,000 Facebook
supporters (likes) and 4,600 followers on Twitter. Obama's YouTube channel held 115,000 subscribers and more than 97
million video views. Obama had maintained a similar advantage over Senator
Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primary. Obama's edge in social media was therefore
very crucial to the election outcome.
According to a study by the Pew Internet and American
Life project, 35 percent of Americans relied on online video for election news.
Ten percent of Americans used social networking sites to learn about the
election. The successful use of social media during the US presidential
campaign in 2008 has informed a renewed interest in Facebook, Twitter, Myspace,
among others all over the world. Social media has therefore become an integral
part of the political campaign toolbox and have affected users’ political
attitudes and behaviours.[iii] Political
parties all over the world have begun to adopt these tools in engaging potential
voters by posting videos and their political campaign messages targeted at
their followers in this two-way open conversation that allows for exchange of
information in unprecedented manner.
SOCIAL
MEDIA AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT IN GHANA
The tactics
employed by Barack Obama in the 2008 US elections has changed the rules of
political communication. Since then
electoral campaigns have been more about the use of social media platforms than
the conventional approach which emphasized more of one-way communication with
limited chances to generate feedback.[iv] As depicted in the table below, political news is a key reason why
social media has gained increase popularity.
In Ghana, social media has undoubtedly exposed
majority of Ghanaians to different interactive platforms with a significant impact
on political behaviour, decision and judgement.[v] Today,
social media has become the battle field
for what was arguably the most competitive election in Ghana’s history, as the application
of social media tools in political engagement was unprecedented. Social media opened
a new wave of opportunity for citizens, politicians and civil society organizations
to engage in an open, transparent and dialogical discussion that are relevant
to the entrenchment of democratic values and aspirations.
Today,
there are more than five million (5,171,993) Internet users in Ghana representing
19.6% of the population, while Ghana’s
Facebook user base is about 1,211,760. Giving that the 2008 elections in Ghana was
close to call with a difference of 40,586 votes between then Candidate Mills of
the National Democratic Congress and Nana Akuffo-Addo of the New Patriotic
Party, politicians do not seem to underestimate the power of social media to
galvanize, canvass and rake-in floating voters and keep their loyal supporters
up-to-date with information and news.
In the 21st century, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are
not just innovations in the internet world, but are fast becoming influencers
and opinion creators. The use of these tools in Ghana’s politics has seen a
phenomenal increase in recent times. Currently, 34% of total number of Facebook
users in Ghana are between
the ages of 25-35, with 41% between 18-24 years of age. The effect of social
media cannot therefore be brushed away in the 2016 in elections in Ghana.
Even before political campaign in Ghana reached the
highest apogee in the 2016 electioneering period, social media platforms were
the main arena for political issues
such as the State of the Nation Address, the internal wrangling of the largest
opposition party, the judicial scandal , the violence that characterized the
limited voter registration, the presidential
pardon granted the Montie trio by President Mahama, and many more gained a lot of
commentary on social media.
Civil society groups such as Coalition of Domestic Election
Observers (CODEO) used social media to educate the public on the 2016 limited
voters’ registration and other related issues. Ghana Decides, a Blogging Ghana
Election Project launched the online #iRegistered
campaign to get eligible Ghanaians to register in 2016 limited registration
exercise between April 28 and May 8 2016. The political activities on social
media in Ghana clearly shows that this space has rapidly grown in importance
and will continue to provide new ways to stimulate citizen’s engagement in
political life.[vi]
Facebook Campaigns
The
flagbearers of the major political parties ramped their activities on Facebook,
sharing text, pictures and videos. John Mahama’s ‘Meet JM’ app enabled people
to sign up to meet the president for private conversation.
.
Picture 1: Screenshot of the Facebook account of
President Mahama
The two
rivals have also deployed apps on Facebook to deepen engagement with
prospective voters. Nana Addo’s ‘I am for Nana’ app enabled people to sign up
to a mailing list to receive first-hand information on the flagbearer’s
activities on the campaign trail.
Twitter Campaigns
The leading political
parties in Ghana stepped up their campaign on Twitter, with the personal
profiles of President Mahama and Nana Addo, the leader of the NPP facilitating
the sharing of information about their respective campaign. The President’s
@JDMahama handle and others such as @Flagstaff Ghana and @TransformingGhana
combined to keep the public updated on his campaign.
Picture 3: Screenshot of the twitter handle of
president Mahama on campaign tour
Nana Addo’s handle, @NAkufoAddo also adopted similar
posturing on Twitter. Active social media engagement and advertising continued
on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Social Media as a Cost Saving Campaign
Strategy
In
December 2015, The New York Times reported that digital ad spending was projected to grow by
13.5% in 2016. In the face of growing political ad spending projected to top $8 billion, of which digital advertising forms just a fraction in the
world where many voters remain disengaged from the political process, grasping
the art of social media strategies is essential for swaying potential voters
during political campaigns.
While
no study has been conducted on whether the increased use of social media by
political leaders leads to reduction in the cost of political campaigns, there
is no doubt, this strategy is used as cost-cutting measure in Ghana. Political
candidates in Ghana, like elsewhere in the world, are taking advantage of the social media to set the agenda for civic discussions and political campaigns because of the
unprecedented opportunities presented by the virtual space. By making their
positions on very important national issues and giving followers instant
feedback, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, have given candidates the opportunity
to reach target groups with political campaign messages and to canvass for votes virtually for free.
Use
of Twitter for Political Communication by the H.E John Mahama & Nana Akuffo
Addo (NPP)
|
H.E John Dramani
Mahama, President of Ghana & Presidential Candidate, National Democratic
Congress
|
As
depicted in the table below, the
cost of serving a digital ad is a fraction of the cost compared
to traditional mediums. The cheap cost of digital tools accounts for the increased
adoption of social media for political communication.
CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Social media have become an integral part of public
discourse and communication in the contemporary society. Globally, the use of
social media in recent elections has significantly intensified, especially in
engaging millions of voters through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. This has
become a cost effective way for politicians to reach their constituents. Though
TV, radio phone-ins, stickers, and flyers are still used for political campaign.
Social media offers a cheap alternative to communicate a political message to
constituents, making social media an imperative political campaign strategy.
Social media has therefore revolutionized political
communication by diversifying news sources and increasing the possibility for
feedback in a timely manner, with no exception in Ghana, particularly because
of its potential to allow for proper targeting and direct and cheap access to political
information.
The impact of the social media in Ghana has been
unprecedented. However, there is the need for a scientific analysis study on
the effect of social media on cost of campaigns and traditional media sources.
In its 4th Governance Social Media Index, Penplusbytes will present an analysis of social media on the 2016
Elections in Ghana.
[i] Prat, A &
Stromberg, D. (2011). The Political Economy of Mass media. Stockholm University
Working Paper. William H Dutton, through the network of networks: the fifth
estate (Oxford Internet Institute, 2011)
[ii] Sunstein, C. R.
(2010). Republic.com. Princeton, New York: Princeton University Press.
[iii] Boas, T. C.
(2005). Television and neo-populism in Latin America: Media effects in Brazil
and
Peru. Latin American Research Review 40 (2):
27-49.
[iv]
Okoro, N. & Kenneth, A. (2013). Social Media and Political Participation in
Nigeria during the 2011 General Elections: The Lapses and the Lessons. Paper
published by global journal of arts humanities and social sciences vol. 1, No 3, pp. 29-46, September 2013 published
by European centre for research training and development UK (www.eajournals.org).
[v]
Centre for European Studies (2012). Social Media - The New Power of Political
Influence. Suomen Toivo Think Tank. Version 1.0 ari-matti auvinen pp. 4-16.
No comments:
Post a Comment