How University of Ilorin Undergraduates Perceive Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission's Social Media use for Citizens' Engagement
Keywords:
Citizen Engagement, Election, Electoral Body, Perception, Social Media, Visibility
Abstract
Using mixed method with questionnaire and in-depth interview as instruments of data collection, a study was carried out with the objective of finding out undergraduates' perception of the Independent National Electoral Commission's (INEC) deployment of social media to engage citizens. Population of the study was 44,919 undergraduates at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria from which a sample of 386 was drawn for the quantitative aspect and fifteen informants for the qualitative aspect. The quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 21 version while responses of informants were recorded and transcribed by the researchers. Findings showed that undergraduates, who are active users of social media perceived messages the electoral body posted as untrustworthy. In addition, the body lacked visibility on social media. The study concluded that INEC's use of social media for citizens' engagement was in response to the demand of the contemporary society which social media cannot be ignored. The study recommended the need for INEC to be more aggressive in social media use as well as build public trust through prompt responses to issues and allegations.References
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30. Olatokun, W., and Adebayo, B. (2012). Assessing E-Government Implementation in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, 3(4), 497-505.
31. Panagiotopoulos, P., and Sams, S. (2011). Twitter in Local Government: A study of Greater London Authorities. Retrieved from http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/6239/2/Fulltext.pdf.
32. Park, M., Kang, D., Rho, J., and Lee, D. (2016). Policy Role of Social Media in Developing Public Trust: Twitter Communication with Government Leaders. Retrieved January 25, 2019. http://www.tandfonline.com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/doi/pdf/10.1080/14719037.2015.1066418?needAccess=true.
33. Porter, J. (2008). Designing for the Social Web. New Riders, United States of America. Retrieved from http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/
34. Rybalko, S., and Seltzer, T. (2010). Dialogic Communication in 140 Characters or Less: How Fortune 500 Companies Engage Stakeholders Using Twitter. Public Relations Review, 36, 336-341.
35. Sadeghi, L. (2012). Web 2.0. In M. Lee, G. Neeley, and K. Stewart (Eds.), The practice of government public relations (pp.25–140). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
36. Salem, F., Mourtada, R., and Al-Shaer, S. (2014). Citizen Engagement and Public Services in the Arab World: The Potential of Social Media. http://www.arabsocialmediareport.com. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.4452.0327.
37. Sandoval-Almazan, R., and Gil-Garcia, J.R. (2012). Are Government Internet Portals Evolving towards More Interaction, Participation, and Collaboration? Revisiting the Rhetoric of E-government among Municipalities. Government Information Quarterly, 29. doi: 10.1016/j.giq.2011.09.004.
38. Seltzer, T., and Mitrook, M. (2007). The Dialogic Potential of Weblogs in Relationships Building. Public Relations Review, 33, 227-229.
39. Song, C., and Lee, J. (2015). Citizens’ use of Social Media in Government, Perceived Transparency, and Trust in Government. Public Performance and Management Review, 39(2), 430-453. DOI: 10.1080/15309576.2015.1108798.
40. Sweetser, K.D., and Lariscy, R.W. (2008). Candidates Make Good Friends: An Analysis of Candidates’ uses of Facebook. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 2, 175-198.
41. Udende, P. (2017). Evaluation of Newspaper Framing and Public Perception of Nigeria’s Seventh National Assembly (2011-2014). Ph.D. Thesis in Mass Communication submitted to Postgraduate School, Benue State University, Makurdi.
42. Udende, P., Tsafa, T., and Iorkase, S. (2015). Communication Tools and Challenges of Global Modernity: Focus on E-governance in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Management Sciences, 4(2), 293-307.
43. World Bank (2014). Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement in World Bank Group Operations. Retrieved from https://consultations.worldbank.org/Data/hub/files/consultation-template/engaging-citizens.
2. Agbata Jnr, C.F. (2015). Technology and Politics, Perfect Union. Punch. Retrieved from http://www.punchng.com/business/technology-and-politics-perfect-union/ on January 20, 2019.
3. Azyan, L. (2012). Government-to-citizen Communications: Utilising Multiple Digital Channels Effectively. Retrieved from http://www.govdelivery.com/docs/template/government_citizen_communication.pdf
4. Bakker, T.P., and De Vreese, C.H. (2011). Good News for the Future? Young People, Internet use, and Political Participation. Communication Research, 38(4), 451–470.
5. Bertot, J.C., and Jarger, P. (2010). Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating User-centered and Citizen-centered E-government. International Journal of Electronic Government Research, 6(2), 1-17.
6. Bertot, J., Jaeger, P.T., and Grimes, J.M. (2011). Promoting Transparency and Accountability through ICTs, Social Media, and Collaborative E-Government. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 6, 78-91.
7. Bimber, B. (2014). Digital Media in the Obama Campaigns of 2008 and 2012: Adaptation to the Personalised Political Communication Environment, Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 11(2), 130–150. doi: 10.1080/19331681.2014.895691.
8. Bimber, B. (1999). The Internet and Citizen Communication with Government: Does the Medium Matter? Political Communication Journal, 16(4), 409‐428.
9. Bortree, D.S., and Seltzer, T. (2009). Dialogic Strategies and Outcomes: An Analysis of Environmental Advocacy Groups’ Facebook Profiles. Public Relations Review, 35, 317-319.
10. Canoz, K., Bacan, O., and Tahran, A. (2015). The use of Social Media among the Students of Communication Faculty. Retrieved February 27, 2019 from http://wwwiises.net/proceedings/19th-international-academic-conferenceflorence/front-page.
11. Chang, A., and Kanan, P. (2008). Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government. Retrieved of IBM Center for the Business of Government. Retrieved from http://www.businessofgovernment.org/sites/default/files/LeveragingWeb.pdf.
12. Cummings, C.A. (2017). Engaging the public through social media, (Doctoral dissertations of Eastern Kentucky University). https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/520.
13. Darwish, E.B. (2017). The effectiveness of using Social Media in Government Communication in UAE. Working paper of Zayed University. Retrieved from https://www.zu.ac.ae/main/en/research/publications/_documents/The%20effectiveness%20of%20Using%20Social%20media%20in%20Government%20communication%20in%20UAE.pdf
14. Hartman, S., Mainka, A., and Peters, I. (2015). Government Activities in Social Media. Retrieved February 25, 2019 from http://emeraldinsight/0345757.htm.
15. Hofmann, S., Beverungen, D., Räckers, M., and Becker, J. (2013). What Makes Local Governments’ Online Communications Successful? Insights from a Multi-method Analysis of Facebook. Government Information Quarterly, 30(4), 387-396.
16. Ignatius, O.E., Lucky, I.O., Ifeyinwa, M.E., and Kingdom, D. (2015). Users’ Perception of Crisis Portrayals on Social Media: A Study of Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria, New Media and Mass Communication, 35, 85-97.
17. INEC (2019). About Inec. Retrieved from http://www.inecnigeria.org/?page_id=14.
18. Kaplan, A., and Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003.
19. Kent, M.L., and Taylor, M. (1998). Building Dialogic Relationships through the World Wide Web. Public Relations Review, 24, 321–334.
20. Kent, M.L., and Taylor, M. (2002). Toward a Dialogic Theory of Public Relations. Public Relations Review, 28, 21–37.
21. Khan, G., Yoon, H., and Park, H. (2013). Social Media Communication Strategies of Government Agencies Twitter use in Korea and US. Retrieved from http://laton.wikispaces.com/file/view/AJC;authors;version.pdf/421287612/AJC;authors;version.
22. Lalith, W., and Saidu, M. (2018). Social Media use by Undergraduate Students of Education in Nigeria. Retrieved February 26, 2018 from [www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm](http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm).
23. Ledingham, J.A. (2003). Explicating Relationship Management as a General Theory of Public Relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 15(2), 181-198. DOI: 10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1502\_4.
24. Medina, C., Rufín, R., and Rey, M. (2015). Mediating Relationships in and Satisfaction with Online Technologies: Communications or Features Beyond Expectations? Pan-Pacific Business Association, 9(4), 587-609. DOI: 10.1007/s11628-014-0241-2.
25. Mergel, I. (2013). Social Media Adoption and Resulting Tactics in the US Federal Government. Government Information Quarterly, 30(2), 123–130.
26. Michael, J.M. (2012). A Review of Social Media use in E-government. Administrative Science, 2(2), 148-161. doi:10.3390/admsci202014.
27. Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C.J., and McNeal, R.S. (2008). Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 5(2), 262-264. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331680802290972.
28. Nica, E., Popescu, G., Nicolăescu, E., and Constantin, V.D. (2014). The Effectiveness of Social Media Implementation at Local Government Levels. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279036342_The_Effectiveness_of_Social_Media_Implementation_at_Local_Government_Levels.
29. Odeyemi, T.I., Mosunmola, O.O. (2015). Stakeholders, ICTs Platforms and the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria, Inec. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
30. Olatokun, W., and Adebayo, B. (2012). Assessing E-Government Implementation in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, 3(4), 497-505.
31. Panagiotopoulos, P., and Sams, S. (2011). Twitter in Local Government: A study of Greater London Authorities. Retrieved from http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/6239/2/Fulltext.pdf.
32. Park, M., Kang, D., Rho, J., and Lee, D. (2016). Policy Role of Social Media in Developing Public Trust: Twitter Communication with Government Leaders. Retrieved January 25, 2019. http://www.tandfonline.com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/doi/pdf/10.1080/14719037.2015.1066418?needAccess=true.
33. Porter, J. (2008). Designing for the Social Web. New Riders, United States of America. Retrieved from http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/
34. Rybalko, S., and Seltzer, T. (2010). Dialogic Communication in 140 Characters or Less: How Fortune 500 Companies Engage Stakeholders Using Twitter. Public Relations Review, 36, 336-341.
35. Sadeghi, L. (2012). Web 2.0. In M. Lee, G. Neeley, and K. Stewart (Eds.), The practice of government public relations (pp.25–140). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
36. Salem, F., Mourtada, R., and Al-Shaer, S. (2014). Citizen Engagement and Public Services in the Arab World: The Potential of Social Media. http://www.arabsocialmediareport.com. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.4452.0327.
37. Sandoval-Almazan, R., and Gil-Garcia, J.R. (2012). Are Government Internet Portals Evolving towards More Interaction, Participation, and Collaboration? Revisiting the Rhetoric of E-government among Municipalities. Government Information Quarterly, 29. doi: 10.1016/j.giq.2011.09.004.
38. Seltzer, T., and Mitrook, M. (2007). The Dialogic Potential of Weblogs in Relationships Building. Public Relations Review, 33, 227-229.
39. Song, C., and Lee, J. (2015). Citizens’ use of Social Media in Government, Perceived Transparency, and Trust in Government. Public Performance and Management Review, 39(2), 430-453. DOI: 10.1080/15309576.2015.1108798.
40. Sweetser, K.D., and Lariscy, R.W. (2008). Candidates Make Good Friends: An Analysis of Candidates’ uses of Facebook. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 2, 175-198.
41. Udende, P. (2017). Evaluation of Newspaper Framing and Public Perception of Nigeria’s Seventh National Assembly (2011-2014). Ph.D. Thesis in Mass Communication submitted to Postgraduate School, Benue State University, Makurdi.
42. Udende, P., Tsafa, T., and Iorkase, S. (2015). Communication Tools and Challenges of Global Modernity: Focus on E-governance in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Management Sciences, 4(2), 293-307.
43. World Bank (2014). Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement in World Bank Group Operations. Retrieved from https://consultations.worldbank.org/Data/hub/files/consultation-template/engaging-citizens.
Published
2022-06-09
How to Cite
Udende, P. and Tijani, A. (2022) “How University of Ilorin Undergraduates Perceive Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission’s Social Media use for Citizens’ Engagement”, Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 4(4), pp. 55-74. doi: https://doi.org/10.53974/unza.jlss.4.4.771.
Section
Articles