Social media is no doubt the revolution of our time. Looking closely, one would see that there is a war currently going on in social media. It is called the information war. In this century, people have found social media as the channel where prompt information of the moment is fetched.
Every Nigerian, young and old is a political analyst, sponging strong desire to dissect the present political perspective they have grown in and how much of the situation poses to them. Nigeria has one of the most active populations in the social media front. One would say easily that Nigerians are well known for their vocality on social media platforms such as Twitter (now X), instagram, Facebook and even Tiktok.
This revolution has many phases. The current phase can be traced to have started from 2020 when Nigerian ls protest against bad governance and police brutality in the hashtag #ENDSARS. Since then, social media has become a tool of political rejuvenation of the Nigerian populace. Amongst other necessities, the social media has played pivotal roles in reawakening the consciousness of an average Nigerian to the need to lead a society where everyone is equal and benefits from the national treasury.
Everyday we have access to information making the rounds. I have even noticed that through social media, we do not consider the newspaper too relevant as it were. This is to say that social media has become an education channel where people can find news on the move and on politics and life generally. Political activities and discussions are equally followed and engagement is unrestricted in social media.
Ordinary citizens have been given a voice through social media where they express their thoughts, opinions and concerns about political policies, leaders and activities. This has made political office holders transparent and accountable to the electorates.
Freedom agitators and activists now have channels available to them to protest against corrupt practices and bad governance via platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Tiktok. Different mobilizations have succeeded in the past years and now with the most current #30daysrantchallenge .
Most political parties now rely on social media to spread their campaigns and manifestoes during the electioneering period. The social media has become a meeting point for all classes of people where discussion that affects a people brand, politics, governance an leadership is regularly held. It has also become easy to detect crime and curb social vices. I remember that during the last presidential elections, we followed up election results through the social media.
However, social media has become a means to spread fake news and propaganda by political actors and for selfish interests. Most information in the social media are not from verified sources. A lot of misinformation are ongoing through the social media and may not be trusted. This is why some school of thoughts have called for the ban of social media. Most private individual have kicked against this because it is the only and major source through which information can be gotten.
There is no gainsaying the fact that social media has a significant impact on the political landscape of our nation, Nigeria..it has help to shape the political discussions and awareness which has led to holding political leaders for their actions and inactions. It has also become an integral part of the democratic process.