SAU Journal of Management and Social Sciences www.sau.edu.ng/colmassjournal (ISSN: 2550-7302) Volume 4, Number1 & 2 June/December2019 Exposure to Social Media Political Campaigns and their Influence on the Choice of Candidates during the 2019 Governorship Election in Imo State, Nigeria Chike Walter Duru, PhD Department of Mass Communication Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State, Nigeria [email protected]; +2348036711220 Abstract The study was carried out to determine the influence of political advertising via social media on the voting behaviour of electorates in Imo State during the 2019 Governorship election. The study adopted the survey method, with the questionnaire as research instrument. A sample size of 400 was adopted. Findings revealed that the electorates in Imo State were exposed to political advertising and that the new media were not the most effective channels for political advertising in the 2019 general elections in Imo State. New media political campaigns did not influence the electoral behaviour and voting pattern of Imo electorates in the 2019 governorship election. It was, therefore, recommended that political advertising on new media reflects the basic needs of the people so as to draw public attention and motivate them to make favourable voting decisions. Keywords: Exposure, Social Media, Political Advertising, 2019 Elections Introduction Political advertising deals with political messages aimed at promoting a candidate, political party, or interest. Political advertising describes messages which contents are political and presented to influence voters’ behaviour through its perceived persuasive impact. Political advertising targets the audience, with a view to persuading them to support their candidate(s) through the articulate display of manifesto. The message is to motivate the electorates and encourage them to make meaningful electoral decisions. Owuamalam (2015) posited that the message moves a considerable number of voters, who relate the proposal to their respective needs satisfaction within the political constituency. Owuamalam (2005) also opined that it serves as a major plank for attracting voters’ attention, arousing voting disposition and facilitating favourable patronage at the specific election. Political advertising provides information which voters need to assess candidates’ capability in satisfying their needs. The channels for reaching the audience appear to have changed due to the fact that the new media of communication have taken the centre stage of social interaction. It is through this interaction that political information is exchanged with the electorates. The social media or the new media have been useful in political advertising. The emergence of social media in political advertising came during Barrack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign (Carr, 2008, p. 201): Like a vote of web innovators, the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bottling together social networking 241 SAU Journal of Management and Social Sciences www.sau.edu.ng/colmassjournal (ISSN: 2550-7302) Volume 4, Number1 & 2 June/December2019 application under the banner of a movement, they created unforeseen forces to raise money, organise locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton Machine and then John Mc Cain and the Republicans. Obama’s success can be attributed to an array of new incredibly speedy and cheap internet tools-e-mail, social networks, Twitter and the like (and enable him) to run a grassroots campaign that contacted individual voters in personated encounters on a near daily basis. The new changes in political communication in the era of new media have brought about the engaging of the electorates from the physical campaign ground to their smart phone at the comfort of their closet. The need for political advertising is to win the mind of the electorates in voting for a particular candidate in a general election. Olalekan (2003, p. 9) avers that: Persuasive communication at this stage is mainly focused on the public opinion leaders, social critics and various pressure groups from the top to the grassroots. The aim is to carry the favour of these influential elements in the society to support the party’s programme, ideological preferences and manifesto.’’ The new media are very crucial sets of communication systems that share certain features, made possible by digitalisation. They are widely available for personal use. Asemah and Edegoh (2012) described new media as digital, having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible and interactive. The study, therefore, seeks to determine the influence of political advertising via social media on the voting behaviour of electorates in Imo State during the 2019 Governorship elections. Statement of the problem The power of the new media, particularly, in the area of timely dissemination of information cannot be overemphasised. It is a trend that has gained global acceptance and is now indispensible in every serious communication activity. During the 2019 governorship election in Imo state, as other parts of Nigeria, political parties, no doubt, made use of political advertising to sell their parties and candidates. However, there are doubts, if the introduction of new media in election campaigns was very effective in influencing the political behaviour of the electorates. Imo state appears to be one of the places where such doubts are manifest, as the impact of social media on the voting behaviour of the electorates may have been minimal. This study, was, therefore, motivated by the need to investigate the impact of new media in political advertising during the 2019 governorship election in Imo State. Objectives of the Study The study sought to: 1. Determine the extent to which the electorate in Imo State accessed political campaign messages via social media during the 2019 governorship election. 242 SAU Journal of Management and Social Sciences www.sau.edu.ng/colmassjournal (ISSN: 2550-7302) Volume 4, Number1 & 2 June/December2019 2. Ascertain the channels through which the electorate mostly accessed messages on political campaigns during the governorship election in Imo State. 3. Determine how the electorate perceived the political campaign messages via social media during the 2019 governorship election in Imo State. 4. Find out the extent to which the political campaigns affected the voting behaviour of the electorate during the 2019 governorship election in Imo State Theoretical Framework, Conceptual Review and Reviw of Empirical Studies The study is anchored on the agenda setting theory. The agenda setting theory’s major assumption is that the media set agenda for the public to follow. The theory holds that most of the pictures we store in our heads, most of the things we think or worry about or even discuss are based on the contents of different mass media platforms. Wimmer & Dominick (2000) observed that the theory holds that the media propose the public agenda or what kind of things people discuss, think and worry about, by what the media choose to publicise. The theory is relevant to this study because it helps the author in establishing the relationship between audience exposure to media contents, particularly, political advertisement on social media and their voting behaviour during the 2019 governorship election in Imo State. Advertising is a planned form of paid communication, with an identifiable sponsor. It is both an act and art of communication used by individuals and government endeavours to communicate their goods, products or services, as the case may be, to the audience (Asemah, 2011). Arens (2008, p. 7) says that ‘‘advertising is the structural and composed non personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products, services and ideas by identified sponsors, through various mass media.’’ Arens’ opinion agrees with that of Dominick (2007, p. 321), which says that advertising is any form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services, usually paid for by an identified sponsor. Advertising is, therefore, any form of communication that is paid for, directed at a target audience through the mass media, with the aim of creating awareness about goods and services, as well as selling a candidate. As noted by Olujide, Adeyemi & Gbadejan (2010), political advertising is the use of media by political candidates to increase their exposure to the public. Generally, political advertising includes any advertising exhibits, newspaper advertisements, billboards, brochure, signs, tabloids, letters, articles or information on social media for the purpose of persuading the electorate to act in a certain, preferred way. It aims at influencing the opinion and political decision, as well as voting pattern of the electorates in an election. It may also aim at attracting funding support to a political campaign or project. New media are interactive forms of communication that use the internet. They include podcasts, RSS feeds, social networks, text messaging, blogs, irikis, among others. New media make it possible for anyone to create, modify and share contents, using relatively simple tools that are often free or inexpensive. New media require a computer or mobile device with internet access. The new media are important sets of communication techniques that share certain features, made possible by digitalisation. 243 SAU Journal of Management and Social Sciences www.sau.edu.ng/colmassjournal