Date of Award
5-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Communications
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. Brandon Boatwright
Committee Member
Dr. Erin Ash
Committee Member
Dr. Andrew Pyle
Abstract
The 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria represented a significant milestone in the nation's democratic progression, capturing the interest of observers both within the country and abroad. This study identifies the key online opinion leaders who participated in the electoral discourse, their generational affiliation, and the role of social media in facilitating youth engagement throughout the political process. Using Sprinkl, an online monitoring tool to harvest publicly available tweets containing the hashtag #NigeriaDecides2023 from February 11 to March 15, coupled with interviews, the study identified the prominent opinion leaders with significant influence, their types of messages and the motives behind youth engagement on SM during and after the elections. The results from this study yielded valuable insight into the role of opinion leaders, especially within the context of online political campaigns/communication in the strategic communications field. However, despite the high level of Twitter activity during elections, the presence of isolated conversations fails to develop meaningful connections with the younger population.
Recommended Citation
Odukale, Bowale, "Online Political Participation Among Younger Generations: A Case Study of the Nigerian Presidential Election" (2024). All Theses. 4251.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/4251