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Challenges and Prospects of Social Media Usage for Political Mobilization in Ethiopia

Received: 14 May 2019     Accepted: 19 June 2019     Published: 10 July 2019
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Abstract

This paper sought to assess the challenges and prospects of social media for political mobilization in Ethiopia. In the study, a survey research method was used. Samples were selected based on a multistage sampling technique. So that stratified and simple random sampling techniques were applied. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The tools employed to collect primary data were interview and questionnaire. Primary data was gathered from 156 samples. Secondary data from books, reports, and Social Media Networks was used. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (like percentage and frequency) while the qualitative data collected through interview were used to triangulate the results of quantitative data. Findings from the study have shown that the main sources of political information are social media. It also revealed that Facebook is the most popular social media format followed by YouTube and Twitter. Regarding its role, social media has great importance for political mobilization. Social media users may discover political activities in social media and in this way intensify their political knowledge, increase their political efficacy, and improve their political participation. As the challenges of social media in Ethiopia, there are now quite some fake or sarcastic “news” sites that often post stories that sound authentic. Some fake news sites simply exist to post click bait stories or to troll readers who don’t do their own research. Some other challenges of social media identified by this study are limited connection speed, cost, and its inaccessibility to rural areas.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11
Page(s) 141-146
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Social Media, Political Mobilization, Ethiopia

References
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[2] Montero, M. D. (2009). Political e-mobilization and participation in the election campaigns of Ségolène Royal (2007) and Barack Obama (2008), Quaderns del CAC, 33, 27-34.
[3] Nnadozie, U. (2007) History of elections in Nigeria. In Attahiru Jega and Oke, I (Eds.) Elections and the future of democracy in Nigeria. Nigeria: Nigerian Political Association.
[4] Chukwu, P. (2007) The 1999 Constitution and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC): Prospects for impartial supervision and conduct of elections.
[5] Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1995). The crisis of public communication. London: Routledge. Chicago (Author-Date, 15th ed.) Blumler, Jay G.
[6] Nwodu, L. C. (2007). Using Information and Technologies (ICTs) to Check Electoral Fraud in Nigeria. Mass Media Review: An International Journal of Communication, 1 (3), 23 41.
[7] Yamane, Taro. (1967). Statistics: An Introductory Analysis, 2nd Edition, New York: Harper and Row.
[8] Perkins, B. (2010), “Social Media to the Rescue,” (accessed September 13, 2012). [available at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/351607/Social_Media_to_the_Rescue].
[9] Fisher. M (2011) Live Blogging Egypt: The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/07/livebloggingegypt-day-6/70635.
[10] Weist. J. B. (2011). Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Reconsidering Resource Mobilisation Theory. International Journal of Communications Volume 5.
[11] Khamis. S., & Vaugan. K (2011). Cyberactivism in Egyptian Revolution: How Civic Engagement and Citizen Journalism Tilted Balance. Arab Media and Society Volume 13.
[12] Duncombe. C (2010). The Twitter Revolution? Social Media Representation and Crisis in Iran and Libya. Retrieved from http://law.anu.edu.au/coast/events/apsa/papers/1511.pdf.
[13] Storck. M (2011). The Role of Social Media in Political Mobilization: A Case Study of the January 2011Egyptian Uprising. University of St Andrews. Scotland.
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[15] Akar E (2011) An examination of the factors influencing consumers attitudes toward social media marketing. Journal of Internet Commerce 10: 35-67.
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  • APA Style

    Yalemsew Genetu, Desta Tegegne. (2019). Challenges and Prospects of Social Media Usage for Political Mobilization in Ethiopia. Social Sciences, 8(4), 141-146. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11

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    ACS Style

    Yalemsew Genetu; Desta Tegegne. Challenges and Prospects of Social Media Usage for Political Mobilization in Ethiopia. Soc. Sci. 2019, 8(4), 141-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11

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    AMA Style

    Yalemsew Genetu, Desta Tegegne. Challenges and Prospects of Social Media Usage for Political Mobilization in Ethiopia. Soc Sci. 2019;8(4):141-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11,
      author = {Yalemsew Genetu and Desta Tegegne},
      title = {Challenges and Prospects of Social Media Usage for Political Mobilization in Ethiopia},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {8},
      number = {4},
      pages = {141-146},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20190804.11},
      abstract = {This paper sought to assess the challenges and prospects of social media for political mobilization in Ethiopia. In the study, a survey research method was used. Samples were selected based on a multistage sampling technique. So that stratified and simple random sampling techniques were applied. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The tools employed to collect primary data were interview and questionnaire. Primary data was gathered from 156 samples. Secondary data from books, reports, and Social Media Networks was used. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (like percentage and frequency) while the qualitative data collected through interview were used to triangulate the results of quantitative data. Findings from the study have shown that the main sources of political information are social media. It also revealed that Facebook is the most popular social media format followed by YouTube and Twitter. Regarding its role, social media has great importance for political mobilization. Social media users may discover political activities in social media and in this way intensify their political knowledge, increase their political efficacy, and improve their political participation. As the challenges of social media in Ethiopia, there are now quite some fake or sarcastic “news” sites that often post stories that sound authentic. Some fake news sites simply exist to post click bait stories or to troll readers who don’t do their own research. Some other challenges of social media identified by this study are limited connection speed, cost, and its inaccessibility to rural areas.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    T1  - Challenges and Prospects of Social Media Usage for Political Mobilization in Ethiopia
    AU  - Yalemsew Genetu
    AU  - Desta Tegegne
    Y1  - 2019/07/10
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11
    T2  - Social Sciences
    JF  - Social Sciences
    JO  - Social Sciences
    SP  - 141
    EP  - 146
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190804.11
    AB  - This paper sought to assess the challenges and prospects of social media for political mobilization in Ethiopia. In the study, a survey research method was used. Samples were selected based on a multistage sampling technique. So that stratified and simple random sampling techniques were applied. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The tools employed to collect primary data were interview and questionnaire. Primary data was gathered from 156 samples. Secondary data from books, reports, and Social Media Networks was used. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (like percentage and frequency) while the qualitative data collected through interview were used to triangulate the results of quantitative data. Findings from the study have shown that the main sources of political information are social media. It also revealed that Facebook is the most popular social media format followed by YouTube and Twitter. Regarding its role, social media has great importance for political mobilization. Social media users may discover political activities in social media and in this way intensify their political knowledge, increase their political efficacy, and improve their political participation. As the challenges of social media in Ethiopia, there are now quite some fake or sarcastic “news” sites that often post stories that sound authentic. Some fake news sites simply exist to post click bait stories or to troll readers who don’t do their own research. Some other challenges of social media identified by this study are limited connection speed, cost, and its inaccessibility to rural areas.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Civics and Ethical Studies, Wolaita Sodo University, Sodo, Ethiopia

  • Department of Civics and Ethical Studies, Wolaita Sodo University, Sodo, Ethiopia

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