Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

From contactless payments, to selfie sticks, modern technology has come to stay and has changed man’s outlook on life forever. No sector has been left unturned as the wave of technological advancement sweeps through the entire universe. The mainstream media industry has been changed with the introduction of social media apps on all mobile devices which have led to the birth of citizen journalism. In the same vein, Obama in 2008 merged political campaigning with technological advancements and had us all chanting ‘Yes We Can’ as his political campaigns transcended the usual posters, adverts on newspaper pages and television and radio jingles, to include Facebook posts and Tweets. Politicians have latched onto this new era and have taken social mediums as platforms to reach a larger audience. African politicians are not left behind as in Nigeria, the former administration had an active online presence and the present administration, fought most of their campaign battles via social media. Taking cognizance of the dearth of literature researching the African media industry in lieu of the birth of citizen journalism, and the marriage of politics and social media, this study seeks to ascertain if political policies can be changed using social media and how that can be translated into the African political sphere, effectively adding a dimension of comparison of the ideologies between the West and Africa.