Lap-new Media & Democracy

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

1. A National Tendency: Questions and Assumptions

- Mass Media (Traditional, Prevailing and Contemporary Thoughts)

- Democracy and Political Campaign

2. Literature Review (New Media / In Nigeria)

- The Facebook Story

- President Goodluck Jonathan on Facebook

- Presidential Campaign Activities on Facebook

- Politicking on Facebook

3. Theoretical Framework

- Theory of the Public Sphere

- Uses and Gratifications Theory

- Technological/Media Determinism

4. Methodology and Questionaire Analysis

- Results and Findings

5. Discussion and Conclusion

References

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ABSTRACT

This seminar paper has evaluated the emergence of new media as it affects

public consciousness in urban Nigeria; how it drives civic activism as well as

inspires political discourse. It has traced the use of new media technology with

a deliberate focus on Facebook, a 600-million-strong American online platform

that has been made available in many languages across the world and which

has millions of Nigerians at home and abroad socialising and networking on

and through it as users/subscribers/members. This paper is a research effort

into how new media use affects society and vice versa. It is an investigation

into the history and socio-scientific implications of Technological/Media

Determinism, Public Sphere and the Uses and Gratification theories as its

theoretical framework and has applied its dictates to the phenomenon of new

media and society. Various aspects of Facebook use and applications were

examined, including access, deliberation and group mobilization functions of

the platform. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied in this

research. A random sampling of the responses of Nigerian Facebook users was

conducted, and this led to the drawing of specific conclusions in evaluating the

potentials of the Internet generally, and Facebook in particular, as effective

new media platforms that portend well for the growth and sustenance of

democracy in Nigeria. Findings also showed that Facebook can be used to

influence and boost better democratic consciousness by all stakeholders - the

Nigerian electorate, civic activists, politicians, political parties and government

can exploit this Internet-based social network to greatly improve the mass

communication process as it impacts democracy.

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A NATIONAL TENDENCY

In Nigeria, there is an eagerness to own Internet-ready, wifi-enabled

telephones even when the owners can barely feed, clothe and house

themselves. This fad unfortunately is still limited to only a small fraction of the

population. From the start, it is clear that regardless of the number of

Nigerians that may use Facebook to advance their views on democracy and

political preferences, they are still a diverse minority and they do not as yet

represent the common man or average Nigerian nor do they form a microcosm

of the voting population.

Nonetheless, they are a growing fraction and a significant part of

Nigeria’s skilled workforce as well as pool of opinion shapers in their various

communities. Instead of buying books and newspapers these days, they buy

airtime for mobile telephony and cybercafe use and in no time, they are seen

getting ‘very busy’ on Internet-enabled netbooks, laptops, desktops and cell

phones, surfing on mega-sized social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Smart politicians and their campaign strategists know this and they now

canvas for electoral votes online. Behind this project lies a socio-scientific

curiousity to unearth the motivation of a growing mass of Nigerians who have

become hyperactive online addicts in a country that is touted to be

educationally hamstrung despite its huge population size and growing number

of institutions of higher learning.

The CIA World Fact Book puts the population of Nigeria at 149,229,090

(July 2009 estimates). In 2005, the United Nations estimated that it was 141

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million and predicted that it would reach 289 million by 2050 while the United

States Census Bureau projects 264 million by the same year.1

However, official 2006 figures released by Nigeria’s National Population

Commission states that there are more males (71,345,488) than females

(69,086,302) in Nigeria, totalling 140,431,790.2 Given this census data as

background, we can begin to contemplate the sheer gross of potential voters

in the 2011 democratic process held in Nigeria, where apart from claims of

official disenfrachisement by some citizens given the maladies of incessant

voter registration exercises, there is still widespread apathy against

participation in democracy among millions of eligible Nigerians.

Attahiru Jega, a university professor and Chairman of the Independent

National Electoral Commission, INEC, was the man saddled with the

responsibility of registering eligible Nigerian voters as well as conducting

credible general elections in 2011 in order to protect and sustain Nigeria’s

nascent democracy. Voters, parties and election observers were the ones to

decide if INEC operations, strategies, database and conduct could be trusted

and competent enough to put a stamp of credibility upon the 2011 presidential

elections.

Vanguard newspapers, a major daily tabloid, had this to report: On

March 3, 2011, INEC released the “final figure of 73.58 million registered

voters” as its “authentic” national register of voters for Nigeria. The

Commission had earlier released the “provisional” figure of 67.7 million

registered voters. Since the “final” figure of 73.58 million registered voters was

released and certified by the Commission, independent experts have continued

1 World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision Population Database 2 http://www.population.gov.ng/files/nationafinal.pdf. Retrieved on March 21, 2011

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to pick holes in the authenticity of the figure with respect to demographic

reflection of the figures. The main criticism trailing the release of the “final”

figure was that the Commission released to the public a bogus, inflated, raw,

unprocessed, unverified, disputable and questionable as well as unscientific

registration figures in the form of a “new National Register of Voters” to be

used in the April 2011 general elections.

For instance, the released and displayed figures represent unprocessed

registration data which has not been subjected to the compulsory process of

“aggregation and vetting”, also called Automated Fingerprint Identification

System, AFIS. The AFIS process is meant to verify the data of voters downloaded

from the Direct Data Capture, DDC machine. When AFIS audit is done as

required by the voters’ registration process, each Resident Electoral

Commissioner is supposed to come up with three sets of voters’ register:

1. Valid Register, which is a register of voters with proper registration

having all the correct biometrics in place.

2. AO_Valid Register, which is a register of purported voters whose

fingerprints and other biometrics were not captured during the registration

exercise.

3. Invalid Register, which is a register of those voters identified to have

done multiple registrations. The Commission appears to have presented to the

Nigerian public the AO_ Valid Register and the Invalid Register and jettisoned

the AFIS_processed valid register. Generally, AFIS is meant to identify and weed

out those who fraudulently engaged in multiple registrations and other

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fraudulent registration processes. When AFIS process is successfully applied,

the figures usually go down after fraudulent figures are weeded or cleaned up.3

Vanguard as a vehicle of the Nigerian mass media has captured here the

thinking of a people. The newspaper report confirms the distrust with which

the Nigerian society already preempts the outcome of the forthcoming 2011

elections, the success of which is quite critical to democratic continuity and

good governance in Africa’s most populous country.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How is Facebook used by Nigerians in facilitating civic participation?

2. How does the use of Facebook help engender democratic awareness,

participation and development in Nigeria?

3. Is institutional control and monitoring of Facebook done, and can Facebook

be used to insist on good governance in Nigeria?

4. What possible negatives exist in this communication process, and what

more can be done to improve the symbiosis between online mass media

(Facebook in particular) and the Nigerian society?

5. Has Facebook technology simply modified the Nigerian society or has the

Nigerian society in turn inspired a modification of Facebook technology with

review implications for media determinism as a communication theory?

These are some of the questions, this research work tries to answer.

3 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/03/jega’s-73-58m-registered-voters-need-verification/

Published in print and posted online on March 10, 2011. Retrieved on March 21, 2011

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ASSUMPTIONS

Pursuant to the objectives of this paper, I have made the following

assumptions:

1. That the sheer mass of spatio-temporally diversified audiences being

reached by Facebook, plus the quantum of information transactions on

this online media vehicle upgrades it from being mere ‘Personal Media’

to the sphere of ‘Mass Media’ and by its utility value, it has become a

huge part of the ‘Mass Communication’ process.

2. That a significant enough mass of politically aware Nigerians – both the

political office seekers and eligible voters as well as opinion shapers who

may not necessarily vote in the 2011 elections use Facebook for a

myriad of personal, socio-economic, political and corporate reasons that

ultimately position them for relevance in the democratic process.

3. That the many community-building applications on Facebook make it

even more indispensable as a campaign tool for politics, religion,

marketing and other inter-personal uses on a massive scale that has far-

reaching implications for the traditional mass media.

4. That Mass Communication theories, theorists, theoreticians,

philosophers and hands-on mass media practitioners are not too

dogmatic as not to see the need to re-assess traditional communication

theories in ways that recognise change; new technologies and the twin

evolution of mass media systems and societies across the globe.

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5. That there is slow, sluggish but growing political awareness and

willingness on the part of the Nigerian electorate to embrace new media

and information communication technology, ICT, as a relatively safe and

reliable confluence of ideas, opinions and aspirations about building

lasting democratic structures in Nigeria.

MASS MEDIA

Traditional mass media include newspapers, magazines, periodicals, television

and radio, while the modern (or new) mass media are the Internet a.k.a. www

(World Wide Web); Mobile devices like cellphones, iModes, iPods and most

recently, iPads; Interactive Kiosks and Interactive TV.4 Potter W. James (2008)

posits even as the Oxford dictionary confirms that mass media refers to

all med ia technologies, including newspapers, Internet, television and radio,

which are used for mass communication, and to the organisations which

control these technologies.5 6

Lorimer, Rowland & Scannell, Patty (1994) in assessing the

communication process, point out that the mass media play a significant role in

shaping public perceptions on a variety of important issues, both through the

information that is dispensed through them, and through the interpretations

they place upon this information.7 They also play a large role in shaping

modern culture, by selecting and portraying a particular set of beliefs, values,

and traditions (an entire way of life) as reality. That is, by portraying a certain

4 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_traditional_mass_media. Retrieved on March 21, 2011 5 “Mass Media,” Oxford English Dictionary, online version November 2010 6 Potter, W. James (2008). Arguing for a General Framework for Mass Media Scholarship. SAGE.

p. 32. ISBN 9781412964715 7 Lorimer, Rowland & Scannell, Patty (1994). Mass Communications: A Comparative Introduction.

Manchester University Press. pp. 26–27. ISBN 9780719039461

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interpretation of reality, mass media shape reality to be more in line with that

interpretation.8

There is no doubt that any political campaign strategist that goes to

Facebook to court favour from registered voters should also be interested in

imparting his own interpretations of the polity – its problems and solutions as

desired by the public – into the mindset of voters. Herein lies the issues of

power and control exerted by and through the mass media.

According to Yomi Daramola (2008) the mass media system is a powerful

institution in a modern society because it is also a means by which other

institutions make their power felt. By infuencing the content of the mass

media system, other institutions in society attempt to use media for their own

ends. Mass media power derives primarily from their ability to spread

information, ideas, messages and so forth to multitudes of people over large

and wide territories within a relatively short time.9

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

Democracy is a legislative system in which all citizens are meant to exercise

direct and equal participation in the development, proposal and passage of

legislation into law. The term which is originally Greek (demokratia) means

‘rule of the people’10

and it was coined from (demos) that is ‘people’ as well as

(Kratos) that is ‘power’ in the middle of the 5th-4th century BC to denote

8 Vipond, Mary (2000). The Mass Media in Canada. James Lorimer & Company.

p. 88. ISBN 9781550287141 9 Daramola, Yomi, Ph.D (2008). ‘Mass Media and Society in Nigeria: Selected Functional Perspectives’

published in Mass Media and Society: A Multi-perspective Approach p.36; edited by Prof. Ralph

Akinfeleye, Ph.D, FNIPR, FNGE. ISBN 978-2283-97-5 10 Demokratia, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, "A Greek-English Lexicon" at Perseus (en

wikipedia)

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the political systems then existing in some major Greek city-states,

especially Athens following a popular uprising in 508 BC.

Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of

‘democracy’, equality and freedom have been identified as important

characteristics of democracy since ancient times. These principles are reflected

in all citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to the

legislative process. For example, in a representative democracy, every vote has

equal weight, no restrictions can apply to anyone wanting to become a

representative, and the freedom of its citizens is secured by legitimized rights

and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution.11

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A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the

decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political

campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are

chosen or referendums are decided. The message of the campaign contains

the ideas that the candidate wants to share with the voters. The message often

consists of several talking points about policy issues. The points summarize the

main ideas of the campaign and are repeated frequently in order to create a

lasting impression with the voters. In many elections, the opposition party will

try to get the candidate "off message" by bringing up policy or personal

questions that are not related to the talking points.

Most campaigns prefer to keep the message broad in order to attract

the most potential voters. A message that is too narrow can alienate voters or

slow the candidate down with explaining details. For example, in the election

of 2008 John McCain originally used a message that focused on his patriotism

11 R. Alan Dahl, I. Shapiro, J. A. Cheibub, The Democracy Sourcebook, MIT Press 2003, ISBN

0262541475

12 M. Henaff, T. B. Strong, Public Space and Democracy, University of Minnesota Press, ISBN

0816633878

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and political experience: "Country First"; later the message was changed to

shift attention to his role as "The Original Maverick" within the political

establishment. Barack Obama ran on a consistent, simple message of "change"

throughout his campaign. If the message is crafted carefully, it will assure the

candidate a victory at the polls. For a winning candidate, the message is

refined and then becomes his or her political agenda in office.13

Any candidate running for a position in an election will need to have a

campaign strategy or a gamut of strategies in order to be successful. Charisma

or oratory is not enough for a candidate to win the electoral race. It can also

depend on how campaign workers do their job or how dedicated they are to

getting their principal in the number one position. Nigeria is a large country

and anyone running for a nationwide position, such as the presidency or even

a seat in the National Assembly, needs a large army of campaign workers to

do the job of providing information about the candidate to as many people as

possible.14

In the world of politics, one needs a wide network to win. The number of

campaign workers necessary to run a successful campaign depends on the

coverage of the election a political candidate is running. Today, new media,

especially the Internet, is gradually reducing the need for large human armies

as foot soldiers and is replacing them with armies of social media networks

with Twitter, Linked-in and Facebook as three of the most celebrated hubs for

such mass communication, albeit political, activitivies.

13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_campaign. Retrieved on March 24, 2011 14 http://www.howtodothings.com/careers/how-to-campaign-for-election. Retrieved on March 15,

2011.

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Africa Online (Afrique en ligne), a web-based publication retrieved at

midnight on March 25, 2011 captured the political palpitations of Nigeria in an

article titled “2011 Nigeria election: Presidential Candidates and Their

Campaigns.”It reported that the political atmosphere in Nigeria is charged

because while people are excited about choosing their next president, 36

governors, senators and numerous representatives at state and local

government levels, only few people have confidence in the electoral system.

“The contest for who occupies the exalted office of the President and

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is

undoubtedly democratic, however, the temperaments of some of the

candidates and utterances so far are a major source of concern to most

watchers. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had warned

that it would not tolerate any act of lawlessness and tendencies that are

capable of undermining the peaceful conduct of the forthcoming elections.

Hence, the various political parties were compelled by the INEC to sign a Code

of Conduct which would be binding on all the parties, with a view to ensuring

that elections are violence free” Africa Online news magazine reported.15

Contrary to the distrust, corruption, violence and palpable anticipation

of mass rigging and electoral fraud that pervades the political space in Nigeria,

political campaigns and political communication patterns in advanced

democracies, particularly, in the United States of America, are radically

different. In the US, presidential, governorship, parliamentary and other

electioneering processes are issues-driven. People take out time to watch and

listen to their candidates as they exhibit their understanding of the economy,

15 http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/2011-nigeria-election:-presidential-candidates-and-

their-campaigns-201103225863.html. Retrieved on March 25, 2011

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security and welfare as they go on air (radio and television) and on printed

pages (newspapers and magazines) and on the Internet-based social media

networks to market their parties, programmes and policies.

Oration and conduct at debates and rallies are some of the benchmarks

used in the US to gauge the popularity of all those seeking political office.

President Barack Obama, through his grassroots mobilization of the people,

some of whom were moved to exercise their franchise in the United States for

the first time at different advanced ages, is known to have used Facebook

excellently well to garner unprecedented political following. He currently has

the highest number of political fans on Facebook with other world leaders

following a long distance behind him as you will soon see in this paper.

It is however, unfortunate that despite widespread reasoning and

acceptance of democracy as the preferred alternative to military usurpation or

despotic monarchy in Nigeria, the country’s brand of democracy is still an

experiment that is tainted by character assassination, misuse of state might

and power of incumbency, while public political debates on television are

reduced to verbal attacks and sub-standard socio-economic commentary. In

some cases, outdoor political rallies turn into fisticuffs and fatal violence.

On Monday March 21, 2011 The Anambra State government banned

political campaigns and rallies in the 42 markets and all motor parks in the

state, following the violent clash of members of rival political parties in Awka

and Onitsha. This was reported by Vanguard (online edition).

“This is coming on the heels of the clash between traders suspected to

be members of APGA and ACN in Onitsha, where former governor and

senatorial candidate of ACN for Anambra Central senatorial zone , Dr Chris

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Ngige, who was billed to address the traders at the main market, Onitsha, was

attacked.

“Also at Eke Awka market in Awka, some traders, suspected to be card-

carrying members of APGA, also clashed with Accord Party supporters who

were there to campaign for their candidate, Senator Annie Okonkwo, and this

led to the death of one person” Vanguard stated.16

The Nigerian voter is patriotic, resilient and truly wants to cast his vote

meaningfully in the April 2011 elections. He therefore braced himself against

all odds to get registered and cleared by INEC to vote for candidates of his

choice. He may see others ‘selling’ their votes to the highest bidder or even

non-Nigerians ‘stealing’ and imposting as qualified voters,17

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yet he must

have limits beyond which he would not risk his life.

It is safe to assume that if he is not being paid to lay down his life as a

trained secret service official or LTK (licensed to kill) political bodyguard or

worse still, a shallow thinking rabble-rouser who feeds off poor handouts at

political rallies, the average Nigerian voter would take every caution to protect

his life and property rather than lose either in the name of civic activism or

democratic awareness. However he still desires knowledge about the options

he has between parties, manifestoes and candidates to vote for because the

more of these he knows, the better he is informed to vote right. If he resents

16 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/03/anambra-bans-political-campaigns-in-markets-parks/.

Retrieved on March 25, 2011 17 http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/saturday-magazine/special-report/26181.html. Article:

Patriotism, ingenuity on display as Nigerian voters brace the odds – By Okungbowa AIWERIE, Kolade

ADEYEMI, Tony AKOWE and Chris OJI 29/01/2011 02:40:00. Retrieved on March 25, 2011 18 http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/city-file/city-file/18863-2-togolese-charged-

with-possessing-nigerian-voters-cards. Article: ‘2 Togolese charged with possessing Nigerian voter’s

cards’. Posted: Thursday, 10 March 2011 (00:00). Retrieved on March 25, 2011

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the bandwagon, get-lost-in-the-mentality-of-the-crowd syndrome, then he

would most probably seek the safest means of interacting with parties and

candidates, devoid of any danger to his life and property.

In this regard, traditional mass media vehicles by themselves may not

provide the solution that would fulfil his quest for political interaction with

candidates of his choice. While he may enjoy watching live presidential,

governorship and senatorial debates on national television, as that affords him

an opportunity to watch and listen to the candidates and their programmes,

the only avenue open to him for immediate response, if he wanted to ask any

candidate a question that would help him decide whether or not to vote for

him is new media – sms (short message service) on Internet or mobile

telephony service. Facebook also offers such immediacy in feedback.

LITERATURE REVIEW (NEW MEDIA)

Denis McQuail (2010) refers to new media as a disparate set of communication

technologies that share novelty and are digitalized, and are widely available for

personal use as communication devices. The professor emeritus finds it rather

tricky to define new media but states, “we are particularly interested in those

new media and applications that on various grounds enter the sphere of mass

communication or directly or indirectly have consequences for the traditional

mass media.”19

McQuail groups most of the new media under the heading

‘Internet’.

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer

networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve

19 Denis McQuail (2010). McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory (6th ed.). SAGE. p. 136-159. ISBN

978-1-84920-291-6

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billions of users all over the world. It is a network of networks that consists of

millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of

local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless

and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range

of information resources and services, such as the inter-

linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the

infrastructure to support electronic mail.

Most traditional communications media including telephone, music,

film, and television are reshaped or redefined by the Internet, giving birth to

new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and IPTV. Newspaper,

book and other printed publications are adapting to web site technology, or

are reshaped into blogging and web feeds. The Internet enabled or accelerated

new forms of human interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums,

and social networking. Online shopping has boomed both for major retail

outlets and small artisans and traders. Business to business and money-related

services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries.

The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s,

commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private

commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant and distributed computer

networks. The funding of a new US backbone by the National Science

Foundation in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial

backbones, led to worldwide participation in the development of new

networking technologies, and the merger of many networks.

The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network

resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of

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modern human life. As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth's population

used the services of the Internet.20

McQuail agrees that the Internet transgresses the limits of the print and

broadcast models by enabling many-to-many conversations even as it

incorporates radio, film and television elements all encoded binary style, and

distributed across massive and diversified audiences using push technology. He

identifies six main changes that new media has foisted on the mass

communication process:

1. Digitalization and convergence of all aspects of media

2. Increased interactivity and network connectivity

3. Mobility and delocation of sending and receiving messages

4. Adaptation of publication and audience roles

5. Appearance of diverse new forms of media ‘gateway’

6. Fragmentation and blurring of the ‘media institution’

New media is a generic term for the many different forms of electronic

communication that are made possible through the use of computer

technology. The term is in relation to ‘old’ media forms, such as newspapers

and magazines that are static representations of text and graphics. New media

includes:

• web sites

• streaming audio and video

• chat rooms

• e-mail

• online communities

20 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet. Retrieved on March 28, 2011

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• Web advertising

• DVD and CD-ROM media

• virtual reality environments

• integration of digital data with the telephone; Internet telephony

• digital cameras

• mobile computing

Use of the term new media implies that data communication is happening

between desktop and laptop computers and the media they take data from,

such as compact discs and floppy disks, as well as devices such as PDAs

(smartphones).21

NEW MEDIA IN NIGERIA

Appealing as the idea or perceived impact of new media on democracy and its

development in Nigeria might be, this paper recognises the low literacy levels

of adult Nigerians and the inadequacy of access to new media in comparison to

Nigeria’s demographics.

However, because it is obvious that unless Nigeria improves itself on

both crucial accounts, socio-economic and political development will be

gravely stalled. Hence the focus of this paper. More than 50% of Nigerians are

said to live below the poverty line22

while 70% of the country’s population live

in rural areas23

and 85 % of the 60 million adults in the country under the age

of 35 can neither read nor write.24

21 http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/new_media.html. Retrieved on March 28, 2011 22 Nigeria 'needs poverty billions', BBC News, July 11 2007 23 Efem Nkanga, Gains of Competition in Telecoms Industry, All Africa, April 26 2007 24 John Onah, UNESCO laments level of illiteracy in Nigeria, Business Day Online, October 10 2007

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Nigeria's policy of liberalization has attracted seven national long

distance communication operators, 13 fixed wireless access network

operators, eight interconnect- exchange operators, two Internet exchange

operators and 562 Internet service/solution providers. There are also 13

unified access network operators, and four 3G licenses were awarded in March

2007.

By 2010, Nigeria ought to have had about 40,000 GSM base stations and

10,000 CDMA base stations, up from approximately 10,000 GSM base stations

and 2,000 CDMA stations previously. While Nigeria has about 71,000 Internet

subscribers, it has 21.5 million mobile subscribers. Mobile telephony is

therefore a much more pervasive tool in Nigerian life than the Internet.25

However, many Nigerians now have Internet access on their mobile phones.

Indeed it is the widespread use of mobile telephones in the country that

has made online communities like Facebook more popular with Nigerians.

Below is an overview of the progress of information communication

technology in Nigeria from 1999 to 2010. In 1999, Nigeria had less than

700,000 telephone lines with just over 50% of them working. Private lines were

allocated to the privileged few. Public telephone booths were nearly extinct.

Mobile lines were limited to the very rich who could afford the bills. By the end

of 2002, the number of telephone lines has increased to 2.296 million (702,000

fixed and 1.594 million mobile).

The total number of deployed telephone lines grew to over 4 million

lines (853,057 fixed and 3.149 million mobile) by December 2003. In 2007,

telephone networks’ coverage of the country's major population centers is

over 60%. Number of connected lines is about 38 millions, 97% of which are

25 http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/nelson/newmediadev/Nigeria.html. Retrieved on March 28,

2011

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mobile lines, while the remaining 3 per cent are fixed lines. By 2010, it was

projected that Nigeria would have at least 40,000 GSM base stations and

10,000 CDMA base stations, 40 cities would have broadband internet

coverage, with 3.5million of wireline, 30,000 km of fibre optic cabling, 25,000

km of microwave and at least 10 major cities would have metro cable

networks.26

THE FACEBOOK STORY

Facebook is an online community, a social network service and website

(www.facebook.com) launched in February 2004. It was founded by a Harvard

college boy Mark Zuckerberg, his room mates and fellow computer science

students. As of January 2011, Facebook had more than 600 million active

users. You must be at least 13 years old to register on Facebook. A January

2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as “the most used social network

service by worldwide monthly active users.”

Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends,

exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their

profile, join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or

college, or other characteristics, some of which are maintained by

organizations as a means of advertising and political campaigns.

On October 24, 2007, Bill Gates’ Microsoft company announced that it

had purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a

total implied value of around $15 billion. In November 2010, based on

SecondMarket Inc., an exchange for shares of privately held companies,

26 President Obasanjo’s stewardship 1999 - 2007: 8 Years in Office, Nigeria First: Official Website of

the Office of Public Communications, March 19 2007 (en

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/nelson/newmediadev/Nigeria.html)

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Facebook's value was $41 billion (slightly surpassing eBay's) and it became the

third-largest US web company after Google and Amazon. Most of Facebook's

revenue comes from advertising and Microsoft is Facebook's exclusive partner

for serving banner advertising.

However, a smaller percentage of Facebook's users click on

advertisements than many other large websites because Facebook users spend

their time communicating with friends and therefore have their attention

diverted away from advertisements.

Spammers and other users however can manipulate these features by

creating illegitimate events or posting fake birthdays to attract attention to

their profile or cause. Facebook’s unlimited photos, videos, emails, chatting

and blogging applications essentially make the site user-friendly for political

campaigns. Its accessibility across the globe also makes it a useful platform to

reach Nigerians at home and abroad (in the Diaspora) with campaign notes,

photos, YouTube videos, etc.

Many new smart phones offer access to the Facebook services either

through their web-browsers or applications. Facebook application is available

for the iPhone OS, the Android OS, and the WebOS. Nokia and Research In

Motion both provide Facebook applications for their own mobile devices.

More than 150 million active users access Facebook through mobile devices

across 200 mobile operators in 60 countries.

In December 2008, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital

Territory ruled that Facebook is a valid protocol to serve court notices to

defendants. It is believed to be the world's first legal judgement that defines

a summons posted on Facebook as legally binding. Employers (such as Virgin

Atlantic Airways) have also used Facebook as a means to keep tabs on their

22

employees and have even been known to fire them over posts they have

made.

By 2005, the use of Facebook had already become so ubiquitous that the

generic verb ‘facebooking’ had come into use to describe the process of

browsing others' profiles or updating one's own. In 2008, Collins English

Dictionary declared ‘Facebook’ as their new Word of the Year. In December

2009, the New Oxford American Dictionary declared their word of the year to

be the verb ‘unfriend’, defined as "To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social

networking site such as Facebook. As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate

on Facebook after we had a fight.”

Facebook has been met with controversies. It has been blocked

intermittently in several countries including the People's Republic of China,

Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Syria and Bangladesh on different bases.

For example, it was banned in many countries of the world on the basis of

allowed content judged as anti-Islamic and containing religious discrimination.

It has also been banned at many workplaces to prevent the wasting of

employees’ time.

The privacy of Facebook users has also been an issue, and the safety of

user accounts has been compromised several times. Facebook once settled a

lawsuit regarding claims over source code and intellectual property.

POLITICAL IMPACT

Facebook's role in the American political process was demonstrated in January

2008, shortly before the New Hampshire primary, when Facebook teamed up

with ABC and Saint Anselm College to allow users to give live feedback about

the "back to back" January 5 Republican and Democratic debates.

23

Over 1,000,000 people installed the Facebook application 'US politics' in

order to take part, and the application measured users' responses to specific

comments made by the debating candidates. Facebook is an extremely popular

and powerful new way to interact and voice opinions. An article written by

Michelle Sullivan of Uwire.com illustrates how the "Facebook effect" has

affected youth voting rates, support by youth of political candidates, and

general involvement by the youth population in the 2008 US election.

In February 2008, a Facebook group called "One Million Voices Against

FARC" organized an event that saw hundreds of thousands

of Colombians march in protest against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of

Colombia, better known as the FARC (from the group's Spanish name). In

August 2010, one of North Korea's official government websites, Uriminzokkiri,

joined Facebook. Today all major mass media across the globe (CNN, BBC,

Aljazeera) are on Facebook.

At age 102, Ivy Bean of Bradford, England joined Facebook in 2008,

making her one of the oldest people ever on Facebook. An inspiration to other

residents of the care home in which she lived, she quickly became more widely

known and several fan pages were made in her honour.

She visited Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah,

in Downing Street early in 2010. Some time after creating her Facebook page,

Bean also joined Twitter, when she passed the maximum number of friends

allowed by Facebook. She became the oldest person to ever use the Twitter

website.

At the time of her death in July 2010, she had 4,962 friends on Facebook

and more than 56,000 followers on Twitter. On February 22, 2011, an Egyptian

24

baby was named "Facebook" to commemorate the vital role Facebook and

other social media played in Egypt's revolution.27

NIGERIANS ON FACEBOOK

Facebook Founder/CEO, Zuckerberg once said, “Today, we reached another

milestone: 150 million people around the world are now actively using

Facebook and almost half of them are using Facebook every day. This includes

people in every continent - even Antarctica. If Facebook were a country, it

would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia

and Nigeria” and in 2008 in an interview with Time magazine, he explained:

“I think there’s confusion around what the point of social networks is. A

lot of different companies characterized as social networks have different goals

— some serve the function of business networking, some are media portals.

What we’re trying to do is just make it really efficient for people to

communicate, get information and share information. We always try to

emphasize the utility component.28

This obviously implies the Uses and

Gratifications media theory.

In November 2007, it was believed that there were less than

40,000 Nigerians on Facebook, but by July 2008, 99,720 were recorded - a 46%

increase, and in January 2009 it was 212,980. A web reporter had predicted

about 600,000 active Nigerian users on Facebook by June 2009 and it is

interesting to note that Facebook has since added Nigeria to its Social Ad utility

platform since February 2008.29

27 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook. Retrieved March 29, 2011 28 http://www.startupsnigeria.com/2009/01/how-many-nigerians-are-on-facebook. Posted 9.

January 2009, 12:09 in an article: How many Nigerians are on Facebook?. Retrieved March 29, 2011 29 Ibid. How many Nigerians are on Facebook?

25

The ‘Nigeria Page’ on Facebook currently has 148,472 user-fans,30

while

33,945 appear on the ‘How Many Nigerians Are On Facebook? Join Let’s Find

Out!’ page31

and 4,986 on the ‘Nigerians Abroad’ page.32

Latest updates show

that the numbers keep rising by the day up to the millions.

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN ON FACEBOOK

Nigeria’s 14th President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, positioned

himself and his 2011 presidential campaign as being very modern and ICT-

relevant, by establishing several fans’ pages on Facebook. Like America’s

President Barack Obama, Jonathan is a prolific user of modern communication

technology (at least his campaign strategists are) and he has gained hundreds

of thousands of fans and followers on Facebook.

On 28 June 2010, Jonathan created a Facebook fans’ page as a way

of socialising and sharing ideas with the people of Nigeria and Nigerians in the

Diaspora. He currently has 518,68633

fans on the social networking site.

According to CNN, President Jonathan has more Facebook fans than the

combined tally of British Prime Minister David Cameron, German

Chancellor Angela Merkel and South African President Jacob Zuma. Moreover,

fresh updates on his Facebook wall appear to be written by Jonathan himself,

according to CNN.

However, online news service Sahara Reporters suggest that this CNN

claim remains only a mere appearance and may not be entirely true. “A very

dependable source in the presidency confirms that Goodluck (Jonathan) does

not even know how to sign on to his Facebook page not to mention managing

30 http://www.facebook.com/Nigeriapage. Retrieved on March 29, 2011 31 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204740882. Retrieved on March 29, 2011 32 http://en-gb.facebook.com/nigerians.abroad. Retrieved on March 29, 2011 33 http://www.facebook.com/jonathangoodluck. Retrieved on March 30, 2011.

26

a Facebook account. The source confirmed that a senior special adviser is now

jokingly referred to as the “senior special manager on Facebook affairs.” The

source credits the inconsistency in the messages on the President’s Facebook

account and policy to the fact that the page is macro managed.”34

Jonathan’s Facebook fans’ base number is second only to that of United

States’ President Barack Obama among world presidents, which is about 18.5

million fans. President Nicholas Sarkozy of France comes in third with

about 403,000 fans. With about 3 million home-

based Nigerians on Facebook (according to official Facebook statistics), it is

quite phenomenal that Jonathan has been able to attract a significant

percentage of this following.35

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES ON FACEBOOK

A noon search (on Wednesday, March 30, 2011) for ‘Goodluck Jonathan’ on

Facebook threw up multiple results; some confusing, others confounding and

this immediately unveils problems that are commonly associated with the

Internet e.g. anonymity or facelessness, duplicity, identity fraud, imposture,

etc.

The official ‘Goodluck Jonathan’ Facebook page which has 518,686 fans

is hosted @www.facebook.com/jonathangoodluck but apart from this, is

another ‘Goodluck Jonathan’ page with 2,732 fans and this is hosted

@www.facebook.com/goodluck.jonathan1. Then there is the ‘Volunteers for

Goodluck Jonathan’ page with 34,108 fans, which is hosted

34 http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/hack-team-behind-goodluck-jonathans-facebook-

and-campaign-games. Posted: August 20, 2010 - 01:34 35 http://www.cp-africa.com/2011/03/08/president-goodluck-jonathan-popular-president-

facebook/ Celebrating Progress (in) Africa website (Posted: MARCH 8, 2011 8:53pm)

27

@www.facebook.com/GLJVolunteers; and there is the quasi-impostor

‘Goodluck Folorunso (Goodluck Folorunso Ekundayo)’ page that is hosted

@www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547357296, has just 676 friends, spots

an official picture of President Goodluck Jonathan and has a profile that states,

“has worked in Bayelsa State” – home state of Nigeria’s president.

America’s President Barack Obama’s campaign organisation

revolutionized electioneering around the world. Using his massive Facebook

following of 18.5 million, Obama caused positive attitudinal change towards

voters’ registration and actual voting. In Nigeria, even though the Facebook

numbers are much smaller than Obama’s however, an electoral pattern may

be emerging in the number of fans each of the major 2011 presidential

candidates have amassed on their multiple Facebook platforms.

Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has 168,94636

fans

on his official Facebook fans’ page plus just 458 fans on his ‘iSupport Nuhu

Ribadu4President’ page plus 745 fans on his futuristic ‘Nuhu Ribadu &

Babatunde Fashola 2015’ page.

Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has

19,523 fans on his ‘Buhari Bakare 2011 Volunteers Group’ page plus 14,640

fans on his ‘Muhammadu Buhari’ page plus 11,249 fans on its ‘Buhari4Change’

page plus 1,252 fans on his ‘Buhari/Bakare for President’ page and 2,806

friends on the ‘General Muhammadu Buhari-rtd (Change 2011)’ page. His

‘Nigeria Youth for Buhari/Bakare Revolution’ has 323 fans.

All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) flagbearer Ibrahim Shekarau polls the

lowest number of fans on facebook with 1,405 on his ‘Mallam Dr. Ibrahim

Shekarau’ page; 856 fans on his ‘Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau’ page and just 505

36 http://www.facebook.com/ribadu?ref=ts. Retrieved on March 30, 2011

28

fans on his ‘Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau for President 2011’ page. (All data were

retrieved from these Facebook pages on March 30, 2011 and are therefore

subject to substantial changes before and after the 2011 general elections).

Three major observations here: Of the multiple Facebook pages that

serve as campaign platforms for four of Nigeria’s leading 2011 presidential

candidates listed above, their Facebook followers obviously show the highest

user-activity rates on their official pages where political issues of interest are

discussed than on the candidates’ personal profile pages.

This is good for the growth of democracy in Nigeria. This might also be

because the official campaign machinery of these candidates pay more

attention to the better patronized platforms and users would naturally

gravitate in the direction that guarantees a more useful and meaningful

exchange of information.

Secondly, Nigeria’s youthful Facebook users may dislike any idea of a

‘revolution’ and this might be the reason why of all six Facebook platforms

listed for the Buhari presidential bid, ‘Nigeria Youth for Buhari/Bakare

Revolution’ has the least number of users – 323.

Thirdly – and this is a hypothesis that is worth measuring against the

outcome of the 2011 elections – should the incumbent President Goodluck

Jonathan win the elections by a wide margin, just like his followship on

Facebook by far beats the numbers his rivals have, the utility value of Facebook

would be worth further investigation once INEC announces election results.

Such an outcome in Nigeria would have far-reaching implications. It

might mean that no longer can politicians win elections meaningfully without

winning to some extent, a large number of followers on Facebook. This is not

to imply in any way that Nigerian subscribers or users constitute a microcosm

of the Nigerian electorate because they do not. But Facebook would have

29

proven indispensable as a political campaign vehicle and platform for boosting

democratic growth.

Indeed Facebook is not some plaything as some might choose to believe,

but a massive news organization, society influencer and interaction

bandwagon on a scale still hugely downplayed by addicts and apologists of

‘old’ media (Joshua Gans, 2011).

A Professor of Economics at the Melbourne Business School and visiting

researcher to Microsoft Research USA, Gans in a Harvard business review blog

article averred that Facebook is the world’s largest news organisation today.

He wrote: “News organizations do two major things, commercially speaking:

They use news to grab attention and then sell that attention to advertisers. In

the old chain of news production, a piece of timely information was researched

by journalists, sifted through by publishers, and disseminated.

“It was a reporting of the facts rather than an expression of opinion. It

just turned out that Facebook isn't a geographic neighbourhood but a socially

connected one. It provides a platform whereby individuals become reporters,

editors and publishers.”37

POLITICKING ON FACEBOOK

Most of the politicking on President Goodluck Jonathan’s official Facebook

page is done by an application called ‘wallposting’ – a bulletin type of news

release, which is done through Facebook status updates. The speed and

volume of fans’ responses help the page managers determine the fluctuations

in the rate at which they attract and sustain fan-appeal plus feedback.

37 http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/03/facebook_is_the_largest_news_o.html?utm_source=twitterfeed.

Facebook Is the Largest News Organization Ever; Posted 8:27 AM Friday March 11, 2011

30

WALLPOST 1:

Goodluck Jonathan (June 28, 2010)

Jonathan’s first status post was – Today, in fulfillment of the promise I made at

the 26th convocation of the University of Port Harcourt on Saturday, 15 May

2010, I have created a Facebook fan page to interact with Nigerians. As I said

on that day, there is an unchallengeable power of good in the Nigerian nation

and her youth and through this medium I want Nigerians to give me the

privilege of relating with them without the trappings of office. GEJ38

Facebook wallposts or status updates on political platforms such as

Jonathan’s help break news down to easily digestible bits. Brevity and the use

of the active tense are the hallmarks of easy-to-remember campaign wall

posts.

WALLPOST 2:

Goodluck Jonathan (March 30, 2011)

As we approach the April's elections, I want Nigerians to know that these

elections are not a do or die affair to me which is why I have vowed to crack

down on riggers even if they attempt to rig for me. Almighty God is no

respecter of persons. He made us all and so He loves us all. Therefore vote as

your conscience directs not on the basis of ethnicity. Nigeria is one nation

under God. GEJ COMMENTS: 2,451

ANALYSIS: Jonathan drums up voters’ confidence in the credibility of the

forthcoming elections as well as appeal to their religious sentiments to eschew

38 Source: http://nigerianstalk.org/2010/07/09/goodluck-jonathan-on-facebook/

31

violence and electoral fraud. By signing each post with his acronym GEJ he

personalises the message thus giving it advertorial appeal rather than a

straight, impersonal news feel. He cleverly dissociates himself from his

political godfather Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s reckless statement of the 2011

presidency being a ‘do or die affair’ for Jonathan’s party, PDP.

WALLPOST 3:

Goodluck Jonathan (April 11, 2011)

When I took office I promised to focus on three areas (A) Electoral Reform (B)

Energy Security (C) Electricity Generation. In the Niger Delta we now have

peace leading to a 20% increase in oil production. We now generate power at

our highest level in 10 years. Yesterday saw the start of a free and credible

electoral process. I've kept faith with you and now I ask that you keep faith

with one Nigeria. GEJ COMMENTS: 3,208

ANALYSIS: Jonathan keeps in focus a digestible three-point agenda and asserts

that he has achieved substantial improvement in all three areas of focus. His

punchline however is the ‘credibility’ of the 2011 general election, which he

gives a pass mark, but which traditional media all around the world have

reported is fraught with anomalies. Again, Facebook as a platform makes it

easy for a politician to ‘politick’ in ways that favour his campaign without

external vetting.

GOODLUCK JONATHAN LIST OF PAGES ON FACEBOOK

Volunteers for Goodluck Jonathan

34,130 people like this.

Pray for President Goodluck Ebere Jonathan

32


Goodluck Jonathan

34 mutual friends

Goodluck-Sambo Publicity Forum

66 people like this.

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan


Goodluck Support Group


Goodluck Grassroot Movement


GOODLUCK JONATHAN YOUTH VANGUARD


Jonathan Goodluck for President


Students for Goodluck Jonathan


Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for 2011


Goodluck Jonathan


FACEBOOK PRESIDENTIAL ADVISERS TO GOODLUCK JONATHAN


MIDDLEBELT YOUTH MOBILISATION FOR GOODLUCK 2011


GOODLUCK EBELE AZIKIWE JONATHAN FOR PRESIDENT 2011


33

LETS SUPPORT GOODLUCK JOHNATHAN'S PRESIDENCY


OBASANJO, ALLOW GOODLUCK TO LEAD. ENJOY YOUR RETIREMENT


Goodluck Nigeria Organization


Goodluck Nigeria Youth Alliance

84 people like this.39

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

(THEORY OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE)

Three theories provide the framework for this research effort; Technological or

Media Determinism Theory, Theory of the Public Sphere and the Uses and

Gratifications Theory.

The basic belief in the Public Sphere theory is that political action is

steered by the public sphere, and that the only legitimate governments are

those that listen to the public sphere. “Democratic governance rests on the

capacity of, and opportunity for citizens to engage in enlightened debate.”

Much of the debate over the public sphere involves what is the basic

theoretical structure of the public sphere, how information is deliberated in

the public sphere, and what influence the public sphere has over society.

Most contemporary conceptualizations of the Public Sphere are based

on the ideas expressed in Jurgen Habermas’ exposition on the bourgeois public

sphere in his book, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere – An

39

http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=goodluck%20jonathan&init=quick&tas=0.33703525620512664.

Retrieved all results on March 31, 2011

34

Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society.40

The work is still considered the

foundation of contemporary Public Sphere theories, and most theorists cite it

when discussing their own theories.

Habermas (1989: xi) said: "In its clash with the arcane and bureaucratic

practices of the absolutist state, the emergent bourgeoisie gradually replaced a

public sphere in which the ruler’s power was merely represented before the

people with a sphere in which state authority was publicly monitored through

informed and critical discourse by the people".

Theory of the Public Sphere is now used as the theoretical framework

for this critical analysis on the promotion of democracy via new media.

However, we must also ask if the Internet can be regarded as a public sphere?

Dahlberg (2001)41

believes that it probably can, as “a cursory examination of

the thousands of diverse conversations taking place everyday online and open

to anyone with Internet access seems to indicate the expansion on a global

scale of the loose webs of rational-critical discourse that constitute what is

known as the public sphere.”

Craig C. (2002)42

indicates that the modern public sphere has two related

meanings: it refers both to the open discussion among members of a

collectivity (community) about their common concerns and to the activities of

the state that are central to defining that community.

Habermas’ theory of the public sphere would be relevant and apply to

the Internet if the Internet is a many-to-many medium which is accessible to all

40 Habermas, Jürgen (German(1962)English Translation 1989), The Structural Transformation of the

Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Thomas Burger, Cambridge

Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp. 305, ISBN 0-262-58108-6 41 Dahlberg Lincoln (2001): “Extending the Public Sphere through cyberspace: The case of Minnesota

E-democracy.” Available at www.firstmonday.org/issues/issues6_3/dahlberg/index.html#note2 42 Craig Calhoun (2002): “Dictionary definition: public sphere” in Dictionary of the Social Sciences.

Oxford University Press.

35

'normal' people so that they can discuss matters of public concern in an

‘unrestricted fashion’ with the “guarantee of freedom of assembly and

association and the freedom to express and publish their opinions” (Habermas,

1964) quoted in Pusey (1987: 89).43

This exactly is what Facebook offers; a many-to-many medium that

guarantees freedom of assembly and the publishing of opinions, perhaps even

more so than most traditional mass media offer. Jake Gordon (2004) asserts

that the technology powering the Internet enables it to be fairly decentralised

and open; free from censorship and with the ability of anonymity. However,

this issue of anonymity raised a problem about how much the Internet can be

regarded as public sphere.44

According to Mark Poster (1994), a person's identity which is rooted in

the physical body is defined by contact and this forces individuals to be

accountable for their positions allowing trust to be built up between people.

But on the Internet, individuals define their own identities and change them at

will. This kind of protean identity is not consonant with forming a stable

political community as we have known it.

On the Internet, identities are mobile, dissent is encouraged, and

‘normal’ status markers are absent, it is a very different social space from that

of the public sphere.

“The conditions that encourage compromise, the hallmark of the

democratic political process, are lacking online. We must remember that the

Net is something entirely new, and its effects on democratic politics can't be

predicted using historical precedent. The technology of the Internet shouldn't

43 Pusey Michael (1987): “Jürgen Habermas: key sociologists.” London: Routledge 44 Jake Gordon (2004): “Does the Internet provide the basis for a public sphere that approximates to

Habermas' vision?” Avaliable at http://www.jakeg.co.uk/essays/habermas.htm

36

be viewed as a new form of public sphere.”45

Interestingly, users treat social

media as veritable public sphere.

Taking into consideration all these views, this research work has

correctly applied the Theory of the Public Sphere in developing understanding

to the relationship between new media and democracy. Also encouraging this

position are the views of Puopolo (2001)46

, Gimmler (2001)47

and Browning

(2002)48

who see the Internet as the booster of the public sphere and

deliberative democracy, and concluded that the Internet can actually

strengthen deliberative democracy because the Internet supports an equal and

unrestricted means of access to information which is fundamental to the

practice of discourse in the deliberative democratic process.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY

Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to understanding mass

communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer or audience,

instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media”

rather than “what media does to people” (Katz, 1959). It assumes that

members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting

and integrating media into their own lives.

The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media

to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill

45 Mark Poster (1994): “The Net as a Public Sphere?” WIRED Magazine. Available at

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.11/poster.if_pr.html (accessed April 1, 2011) 46 Puopolo, S. (2001): “The web and US Senatorial campaigns 2000”. American Behavioral Scientist,

44, 2030-2047. 47 Gimmler, A. (2001): “Deliberative democracy, the public sphere and the Internet.” Philosophy &

Social Criticism, 27, 21-39 48 Browning, G. (2002): “Electronic democracy”. Melford: CyberAge Books Cook, William A. (1994),

"Is It Interactive Media, or Hyperactive Media?" Journal of Advertising Research, 34 (1), 7-9.

37

specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete

against other information sources for viewers' gratification. (Katz, E., Blumler,

J. G., & Gurevitch, M. 1974). There are three main paradigms in media effects:

hypodermic needle (i.e. direct or strong effects), limited effects, and the

powerful-to-limited-effects. ‘Uses and Gratifications’ falls under the second

paradigm which reached its apex around 1940-1960.49

Thus the Internet in general and Facebook in particular as interactive

media most probably have an unconscious influence over users’ lives and how

they participate in a democratic system. Hoffman, Novak (1996: 50-68) say the

Internet is made of communities of people who use and build up networks

swapping e-mails which have made the Internet an integral part of their daily

life.50

Berthon, Pitt, and Watson (1996) claim that among many important

features provided by the Internet, such as interactivity, shrinking of distance

and time, the current rates of growth, could project that people from all

demographic and socio-economic backgrounds would be Internet users, and

“on-line households would be similar to general households.”51

The number of

Nigerians who use the Internet continues to rise from 0.1% in 2000 of the

entire population to 16.1% in December 2009, that is 23,982,200 Internet

users according to Internet World Statistics.52

49 Katz, Elihu, Jay G. Blumler, and Michael Gurevitch (1974): "Utilization of Mass Communication by

the Individual," in The Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications

Research, Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz, eds., Beverly Hills: Sage, 19-32. 50 Hoffman, Donna L., and Thomas P. Novak (1996), "Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated

Environments: Conceptual Foundations," Journal of Marketing, 60 (July), 50-68 51 Berthon, Pierre, Leyland F. Pitt, and Richard T. Watson (1996): "The World Wide Web as an

Advertising Medium: Toward an Understanding of Conversion Efficiency." Journal of Advertising

Research, 36 (1), 43-54. 52 http://www.internetworldstats.com/af/ng.htm. Retrieved on April 7, 2011

38

The Uses and Gratifications theory has effectively provided one of the

most relevant perspectives to explain psychological and behavioural

dimensions involving mediated communication (Lin 1996; Ruggiero 2000). It

explains the psychological needs that shape media use and what motivates

them to engage in certain media-use behaviours for gratification that fulfils

those intrinsic needs (Lin 1999a; Rubin 1994).

According to Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch (1974) this theory assumed

that media users are goal-directed in their behaviour, and are active media

users. They are aware of their needs and select the appropriate media to

gratify their needs. In the case of this study, Nigerians, especially those in the

Diaspora, have found some sort of gratification from using the Internet to be

able to connect back home, to be able to engage in political discourse with

similar minds and countrymen all over the world and Nigerians at home have

also found gratification expressing their freedom of speech without regulation

or censorship from the ruling party.

Elliott and Rosenberg (1987) hold that audiences' motivations and

decisions to use a certain type of mediated communication tool have been

investigated through this theory whenever a new technology enters the stage

of mass communication. Uses and gratifications theory has been considered an

axiomatic theory in that its principles are generally accepted and applicable to

various situations involving mediated communications (Lin 1999a).

The rapid growth of the Internet has strengthened the potency of uses

and gratification theory because this medium requires a higher level of

39

interactivity from its users in comparison with other traditional media like

radio, television, newspaper or magazines.53

Computer-mediated communication, through the Internet, has created

fresh levels of interactivity beyond what traditional mass communication has

offered over the years (Morris and Ogan 1996; Pavlik 1996; Rafaeli and

Sudweeks 1997).54

For example, interactivity on the Internet allows consumers

to actively participate in the discussion, debate and deliberation process. In

traditional media, users have very limited control over the messages and there

is usually only one-way message flow from senders to receivers.

This has been a challenge to the democratic process in Nigeria as it

made many citizens passive and alienated them from nation building. On

Facebook, online activists regularly deliver information to millions of individual

users who in turn provide feedback to these messages and other users, which

may go a long way in influencing public opinion and government policies down

the line. Facebook interactivity thus provides comments, feedback, and

personal information from receivers back to senders, thus creating an online

‘public sphere’ of engaging discussions.

Facebook users make choices and have control over messages. They can

select, search, edit, and modify the form and content of mediated messages by

interacting with the messages. Sally J. McMillan (2000) proposes that Internet 53 Lin, Carolyn A. (1996), "Looking Back: The Contribution of Blumler and Katz's Uses of Mass

Communication to Communication Research," Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 40 (4),

574-581.

-- (1999a), "Uses and Gratifications," in Clarifying Communication Theories: A Hands-On Approach

-- (1999a), "Uses and Gratifications," in Clarifying Communication Theories: A Hands-On Approach,

Gerald Stone, Michael Singletary, and Virginia P. Richmond, eds., Ames: Iowa State University Press,

199-208.

-- (1999b), "Online-Service Adoption Likelihood," Journal of Advertising Research, 39 (2), 79-89. 54 Morris, Merrill, and Christine Ogan (1996): "The Internet as Mass Medium," Journal of Computer

Mediated Communication, 1 (4). Available at www.cwis.usc.edu/dep/annenberg/

v011/issue4/v011n04.html (accessed April 2010).

40

users go to informative websites more recurrently when they too possess an

elevated enthusiasm for information thus interactivity on such sites would

significantly affect user attitude. Users could feel they are becoming active

citizens through online civic participation; and there is a strong positive

correlation between involvement and interactivity.55

TECHNOLOGICAL / MEDIA DETERMINISM

As discovered and retrieved from the Internet on 08 April 2011, there are

653,00056

Google search results on the Technological/Media Determinism

Theory that came up in just 0.07 seconds. Before the advent of the Internet

(which was predicted by Canadian linguist and philosopher, Marshall McLuhan)

such research speed and sheer volume of research materials all in one place

and at the same time, was unimaginable. Such is the power of the Internet as a

plethora of mass media.

Although McLuhan is not the earliest proponent of the theory, he

became its most popular icon and Google search on him the same day

produced 1,020,000 results.57

McLuhan is known for coining the expressions

“the medium is the message” and “the global village” and he is said to have

predicted the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it was invented.

Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a

society's technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural

values. The term is believed to have been coined by Thorstein Veblen (1857-

55 McMillan, Sally J. (2000): "Interactivity Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Function, Perception,

Involvement, and Attitude Toward the Web Site," in Proceedings of the American Academy of

Advertising, Mary A. Shaver, ed., East Lansing: Michigan State University, 71-78. 56http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=technological+determinism&aq=2&aqi=g5&aql=

&oq=&pbx=1&fp=da08bdc3ce429840 57http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=Marshall+McLuhan+&aq=0&aqi=g5&aql=&oq=&

pbx=1&fp=da08bdc3ce429840

41

1929), an American sociologist. Most interpretations of Technological

Determinism share two general ideas: (A) That the development of technology

itself follows a predictable, traceable path largely beyond cultural or political

influence, and (B) That technology in turn has ‘effects’ on societies that are

inherent, rather than socially conditioned or produced because society

organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has been

introduced.

Technological determinists believe “You can't stop progress, implying

that we are unable to control technology” (Lelia Green)58

. This suggests that

we are somewhat powerless and society allows technology to drive social

changes because, “societies fail to be aware of the alternatives to the values

embedded in technology” (Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx).59

Media determinism, a subset of technological determinism, is a

philosophical and sociological position which posits the power of the media to

impact society. As a theory of change, it is seen as a cause and effect

relationship. New media technologies bring about change in society.

Much like the ‘magic bullet’ theories of mass communication, media

determinism provides a somewhat simplistic explanation for very complicated

scenarios. Cause and effect relationships are reduced to their most basic

premise, and explained as such.

Techno-centrist theories make everything explainable in light of the

media's relation to technological developments. Two leading media

determinists are the Canadian scholars Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan.

58 Green, Lelia. Technoculture. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. pp. 1–20. 59 Smith, Merritt Roe; and Leo Marx, eds. (1994). Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of

Technological Determinism. Cambridge: MIT Press.

42

McLuhan divided human history into four periods - a tribal age, a literate

age, a print age and an electronic age. He states that the progression from one

age to another was neither gradual nor evolutionary. Rather, each age was

brought on by a technological advancement.

He states, “The crucial inventions that changed life on this planet were

the phonetic alphabet, the printing press, and the telegraph. Family life, the

workplace, schools, health care, friendship, religious worship, recreation,

politics - nothing remains untouched by communication technology” (Griffin p.

343). He further states that every new form of media is an extension of the

human body; the book is an extension of the eye, the wheel an extension of

the foot, and clothing an extension of the skin.60

McLuhan’s brand of

technological determinism tends towards the ‘hard determinism’ variant.

Hard determinists view technology as developing independent from

social concerns. They say that technology creates a set of powerful forces

acting to regulate social activities and their meaning – that humans organise

themselves to meet the needs of technology and the outcome of this

organisation is beyond our control or we do not have the freedom to make a

choice regarding the outcome. Soft Determinism is a more passive view of the

way technology interacts with socio-political situations.

Soft determinists say that although technology is the guiding force in

our evolution, we still have a ‘chance’ to make decisions regarding the

outcomes of a situation. This is not to say that soft determinists acknowledge

‘free will’ as an existing factor, but they subscribe to the possibility for us to

‘roll the dice’ and see what the outcome is.

60 Griffin, E. (1997). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies,

Inc. Posted on: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~br373197/tdbmr.htm. Retrieved on March 24, 2011

43

We must note here that whereas technological advancement is the

wheel that rolled in the Internet and by extension Facebook, subscribers to the

latter exercise a great deal of free will in the choices they make on Facebook

viz: whilst different friends, fan pages and political groups may send invitations

for others to join them or join issues with them, people can and do decline

many an invitation.

However, since the advent of Facebook, many aspects of socio-political

behaviour have been modified or sometimes changed altogether. For instance,

most Facebook users prefer to send e-Greeting Cards for Christmas, and

birthdays than buy printed cards. Creating events on Facebook and sending

event-profiles to friends’ Facebook addresses (accounts) is gradually changing

the way people plan their social, corporate and even religious events.

Modern theorists of technology and society no longer consider

technological determinism to be a very accurate view of the way in which we

interact with technology, even though determinist assumptions and language

fairly saturate the writings of many boosters of technology, the business pages

of many popular magazines, and much reporting on technology.

Instead, research in science and technology studies, social construction

of technology and related fields have emphasised more nuanced views that

resist easy causal formulations. They emphasise that “The relationship

between technology and society cannot be reduced to a simplistic cause-and-

effect formula. It is, rather, an intertwining, whereby technology does not

determine but operates and is operated upon in a complex social field”

(Murphie and Potts).61

61 Murphie, Andrew; and Potts, John (2003). "1". Culture and Technology. London: Palgrave. p. 21.

44

Again, there are social determinists (not hard, not soft) who believe that

social circumstances alone select which technologies are adopted, with the

result that no technology can be considered ‘inevitable’ solely on its own

merits. Technology and culture are not neutral and when knowledge comes

into the equation, technology becomes implicated in social processes.

The knowledge of how to create and enhance technology, and of how to

use technology is socially bound knowledge. Postmodernists take another

view, suggesting that what is right or wrong is dependent on circumstance.

They believe technological change can have implications on the past, present

and future. While they believe technological change is influenced by changes in

government policy, society and culture, they consider the notion of change to

be a paradox, since change is constant.

Media and cultural studies theorist Brian Winston, in response to

technological determinism, developed a model for the emergence of new

technologies which is centered on the Law of the Suppression of Radical

Potential. In two of his books - Technologies of Seeing: Photography,

Cinematography and Television (1997) and Media Technology and

Society (1998) - Winston applied this model to show how technologies evolve

over time, and how their 'invention' is mediated and controlled by society and

societal factors which suppress the radical potential of a given technology.

METHODOLOGY AND QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

This study utilizes both qualitative and quantitative techniques, specifically

one-on-one Facebook chats with some of the 100 Nigerian respondents (home

and abroad) who were randomly selected across different age groupings,

different occupations and different locations. In addition, an e-Questionnaire

45

was distributed to diversified mailing lists on the social networking site,

Facebook. To ensure that the optimal number of 100 respondents took the

survey, over 200 e-Questionnaires were mailed out on Facebook. Within 7

days, all the needed 100 responses were filled and returned by auto-mail.

Fisher, Margolis and Resnick (1996:11-29) assert that: “the Internet

provides a virtual frontier to expand our access to information and to increase

our knowledge and understanding of public opinion, political behaviour, social

trends and lifestyles through survey research. Comparable to other

technological advancements such as the telephone, the Internet presents

opportunities that will impact significantly on the process and quality of survey

research now and in the twenty-first century. Cyberspace has made it feasible

for researchers to work beyond traditional face-to-face, posted mail and

telephone surveys.”62

The surveymonkey.com63

e-Questionnaire software used in this study is

error-free, tamper-proof and designed to prevent double or repeated survey

entries from the same respondent. This has ensured that all collected and

analysed responses were from separate targeted respondents.

RESULTS AND FINDINGS

Eight out of every ten respondents of the 100 collated results (attached as

appendix) agreed that with over 600 million people on Facebook and possibly

too, several millions of Nigerians on this social network, every major politician

seeking national or federal office should solicit support on this platform as well

as interact with potential Nigerian voters. This confirms that a cross section of

62 Bonnie Fisher, Michael Margolis and David Resnick (1996). "Surveying the Internet: Democratic

Theory & Civic Life in Cyberspace;muse.jhu.edu/journals/harvard_international.../4.4margolis.html 63 www.surveymonkey.com

46

Nigerian users of the Internet and Facebook have found new media quite

expressive and useful for political discourse, and by extension, democratic

consciousness and growth.

Of this number, about 76% or seven out of every ten respondents either

agree or strongly agree that what people write or say on Facebook affects how

they see democracy in Nigeria, while 82% or eight out of every ten admit that

participating in politics on Facebook helps develop their democratic

awareness. All the respondents are Nigerians; 66 male, 34 female.

Whereas the dynamics of the Internet and especially what is achievable

on Facebook have shaped society in ways that make the technology-compliant

voter (or potential voter) more interested in political discourse, Facebook use

allows a lot of latitude for users’ free will. Some of the respondents who could

have remained faceless/anonymous (because the e-Questionnaire did not

require any such personal details) chose to send a follow up wall post to

identify themselves.

Results showed that respondents included Nigerians in Europe and

America, although eight out of every ten respondents (82%) currently live in

Nigeria. Only 2% of the respondents live in other parts of the world. This

underscores the relevance of Facebook as a global social media platform that

networks both senders and receivers of messages with an instant/immediate

feedback mechanism, regardless of their location within or outside Nigeria.

Some respondents stated in their chat-lines (Facebook dialogues,

conversations or interviews) that they find Facebook particularly high in its

membership growth appeal. They ascribe this to the usage convenience and

simplicity of its utilities e.g. pictures, videos and messaging applications plus

the latest email feature that was added to Facebook mid-March 2011.

47

This was confirmed by how the official Facebook site of Goodluck

Jonathan increased its fan-base in 12 days, from 518,686 on March 30, 2011 to

525,22464

on April 11, 2011 even as his feedback-comments on his wall keep

increasing by the minute.

All but one – that is 99 – of the respondents were aged between 18-59

years. They are therefore regarded as Nigerians who are all potential voters

and who are or can still be actively productive to political and intellectual

discourse, democratic and economic development as well as remain computer

and Internet compliant for a long time.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Politicking or political campaigns, business and marketing intelligence,

advertising and publicity, as well as online journalism are notable activities that

have soared high in relevance and impact upon society in ways that make

information exchanges and transactions easily tracked and quantifiable. On a

daily basis, Facebook uses or exchanges (otherwise called ‘account hits’) are

measured in ways that track advertising revenue for its owners.

This highlights a high utility value that social media like Facebook

possess, which the Nigerian electorate, civic activists, politicians, political

parties and government can exploit to greatly improve mass communication

processes – that is, the useful cross-flow of messages between government

and corporates (senders) and the governed or markets (receivers) that can

bring about quicker national consciousness and development.

To make this happen, at least on Facebook, all stakeholders need to take

deliberate steps to increase the number of Nigerians that would sign up on

64 http://www.facebook.com/jonathangoodluck

48

Facebook and other social media through sign up promotions, etc. This should

widen the ‘public sphere’ for socio-political discourse as well as deepen the

communication process, with political campaigns being just a fraction of that

process.

Also there is a need to make more Facebook users interested in joining

issues on identified political platforms. There is still a huge gap between how

political campaigns are run on Facebook and what really interests the majority

of Facebook users.

For example the e-Questionnaire results show that the top-rated

activities and interests of the majority of Nigerian Facebook users are:

‘Messaging and Chatting with Friends’ (64%) as well as ‘Checking Out News

Feed and Profiles’ (62%). On the other hand, ‘Posting Views on Political Issues

of Interest’ (33%) and ‘Joining Favourite Political Platforms’ (15%) place third

and sixth in the Facebook priorities of most Nigerian users. It makes sense

therefore that initiators of political campaigns on Facebook need to do the

following:

(A) Stream campaign news into the Facebook news feed constantly, in

addition to wall-posting it on their official Facebook pages.

(B) Political campaigners need to spend time on Facebook to chat with

fans and other Facebook users. Imagine how much more popular President

Goodluck Jonathan could have become if he had set up well advertised

Facebook CHAT SESSIONS with the Nigerian electorate as compensation for his

inability to show up at many of the presidential debates on television, which he

was invited to prior to the 2011 general elections.

(C) Political campaigns on Facebook would become even more engaging

and productive if instead of having one official site, several others are created

and targeted at different but relevant groups and communities. In addition to

49

this, each campaign account or page on Facebook should have constantly

changing profile pictures – from normal to caricature to the melodramatic.

Each profile change automatically streams into the Facebook news feed and

that would keep drawing attention to the different political campaign sites on

Facebook.

So far four of the research questions this paper started with have been

answered in the course of this study, but the last one is broken in two and

surmised below:

Is institutional control and monitoring of Facebook done?

Unfortunately not; the National Communications Commission, NCC, has no

published data on the influence or impact of global social media on the society

and political action or inaction of Nigerians. Whereas different governments

have found reasons to block Facebook access and use intermittently in China,

Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Syria and Bangladesh on different

occasions (See ‘The Facebook Story’ on page 19).

“Such omission by the relevant authorities in Nigeria is mindless and

irresponsible. These days, everything has got to be tracked and monitored.

Even now, Facebook Incorporated is about to set up an office in Nigeria and is

already shopping for a Nigerian-American with relevant experience to come

back to Nigeria to manage its Nigerian end of business” said Mr. Steve Balogun,

a Nigerian-International and IT expert – one of the respondents who took the

survey for this study.65

Why?

65 STEVE BALOGUN, Nigerian International and IT specialist marketer living in London but working for

an American company TechTracker. Interview date: Saturday, April 9, 2011 in Southeast London (UK)

50

It is obvious that Nigerian Facebook users are growing by the day.

Zuckerberg and his team have sensed that there is big advertising revenue to

be made in this growing Nigerian Facebook community and with that comes

increasing Facebook influence on the Nigerian society. The Nigerian

government may not exert any harsh control yet, but it ought to monitor all

Facebook in-roads into the lifestyle of its Nigerian subscribers in order to

exploit it for improved government-to-citizens communication and the

development of democracy.

Can Facebook be used to insist on good governance in Nigeria?

“Of course not; rather, Facebook as well as other social media on the Internet

can be used to influence better democratic awareness” said Balogun. He

added, “However, I must say here that if the Nigerian government will not use

new media to positively engage its citizens, new media will remain open as the

citizens’ mass platform to foster civic unrest as it has been reported especially

in the ongoing protests that have spread across the Arab world, in which

Twitter has been fingered as the main network that is shaping protests and

mutinies even in countries where telecommunication structures are either

backward or extremely limited.”

51

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