BY
AZUKA MARYROSE EZE
BSU/SS/COM/10/9438
BEING A RESEARCH PROJECT
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIRMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF SOCIAL SCIENCE (B.SC) DEGREE IN MASS
COMMUNICATION, BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY, MAKURDI.
FEBRUARY, 2015
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this research
work, titled ‘An Assessment
of the Utilization of Social Media During the 2014 Party Delegate Elections in
Benue State.’’ is an original
intellectual product of AZUKA MARYROSE EZE MATRIC NO BSU/SS/COM/10/9438 supervised by and all materials that were
consulted had been given due credence and referenced in the bibliography.
APPROVED PAGE
We certify that this research project titled: An Assessment of the Utilization of Social Media
During the 2014 Party Delegate Elections in Benue State, was carried out by AZUKA
MARYROSE EZE MATRIC NO BSU/SS/COM/10/9438 and have been carefully
assessed and recommended to meet the partial requirement for the award of
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Mass Communication, Benue State University, Makurdi.
…………………………. ……………………………
Ijwo, Andrew
Ogah PhD
Project
Supervisor Date
………………………. ………………………….
Dr. Ugande,
B. Gabriel
Head of
Department Date
………………………… …………………………
External
Examiner Date
DEDICATION
This research project is
dedicated to God almighty, my husband Chief Israel Eze and my wonderful
children.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My number one and
biggest gratitude goes to God Almighty, the giver of life and every good thing,
who gave me strength, and for his protection, guidance, mercy, love and care
for me to have threaded this rough track for this period.
My heartfelt gratitude
goes to my supervisor, Dr Ijwo Andrew Ogah, your pen of correction sharpened my
thoughts during my writing of this work. Thank you for taking time out of your
tight schedules to read through this work and ensuring tight scrutiny, assessment,
constructive criticism which made this work better, am very grateful madam.
I wish to specially
acknowledge all the lecturers in the department who contributed immensely
towards ensuring this height in my academic pursuit, special thanks to the Head
of Department, Dr. Ugande, G. B. Dr. Tyotom Keghku, Dr. Ciboh, Dr. Andrew Ijwo,
Dr. Samson Sambe, Dr. Kombol,M. A, Dr. Vitalis Torwel, Dr. Tine, V. N, Dr.
Caleb Chile, Dr. Daniel Chile Ngusha, Mr. Kajo, T, Mr. Ben Ogbu, Mr. John Ogi. Mrs Tina Tsafa, Mrs Atime, S, Mrs. Onyilo, A.
I will forever live to remember your footprints in my life.
I am very much grateful
to my Husband Chief Israel Eze, and my children, Israel, Charity, Emmanuel,
Lucy, Henry, Jerry, Martins for their prayers and support toward the
achievement of this work. I love you all.
I must not fail to
acknowledge my parents Nze David E Odugu and my late mum Odugu Roseline O. my
brother Mr Odugu Kingley, U and my sister Odugu Jacintha, A. and Odugu Tina Ify,
thanks for your support.
To my numerous friends,
I say a big thank you for everything, thank you Hungwa Thaddeus, Rita, Nnadi,
Eze Patience you are my friends and course mates indeed.
Thanks to all my course
mates MACOSA class of 2014 who had been so dear to me I will miss you all.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page - - - - - - - - - - i
Declaration- - - - - - - - - - ii
Approval Page- - - - - - - - - iii
Dedication - - - - - - - - - - iv
Acknowledgments - - - - - - - - v
Table of Contents - - - - - - - - vi
Abstract - - - - - - - - - - vii
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study - - - - - - - 1
1.2
Statement of the Problem - - - - - - 7
1.3
Objectives of the Study - - - - - - 8
1.4
Research Questions - - - - - - - 9
1.5
Significance of the Study - - - - - - 9
1.6
Scope of the Study - - - - - - - 10
1.7
Operational Definition of Terms - - - - - 11
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - 13
2.2 Review of Concepts - - - - - - - 13
2.3 Review of Related Literature - - - - - - 23
2.4 Theoretical Framework - - - - - - 38
2.5 Review of Related Empirical Studies - - - - 44
2.6 Chapter Summary - - - - - - - - 47
CHAPTER
THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - 48
3.2 Research Design - - - - - - - 48
3.3 Population of the Study - - - - - - 49
3.4 Sample Size - - - - - - - - 49
3.5 Sampling Technique and Procedure - - - - - 51
3.6 Research Instrument and Administration - - - - 54
3.7 Method of Data Collection - - - - - - 54
3.8 Method of Data Analysis - - - - - - 55
CHAPTER
FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - 56
4.2 Data Presentation - - - - - - - 56
4.3 Answering Research Questions - - - - - 73
4.4 Discussion of Findings - - - - - - 76
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary - - - - - - - - 82
5.2 Conclusion - - - - - - - - 83
5.3 Recommendations - - - - - - - 84
Bibliography - - - - - - - - 86
Appendix I - - - - - - - - -
ABSTRACT
The study ‘An
Assessment of the Utilization of Social Media During the 2014 Party Delegate
Elections in Benue State” sought to investigate the role which social media
played during the 2014 delegate elections. Social media networks are
increasingly becoming a critical component of civic engagement and an ideal
mode of communication, as they generate virtual discourse among friends,
acquaintances, groups with similar aspirations, and with whoever shares one’s
common interests. Using the Survey Research method, this study found that
majority of the respondents were actively participating in political trends
using social media during the elections. Also social media networks,
specifically, Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook have helped African Netizens to perform the crucial function
of keeping in touch with people from around the world. Findings
from the study also show the level in which the utilization of social media
influenced the outcome of the party delegate elections in 2014. Data shows
that, electorates make their selection based on manifestoes, the electorates
could easily decide their choice of candidate, they could easily post comments
to their preferred candidate, they could post picture from campaigns and they
could views videos from the campaigns. The study concluded that social media if well embraced can bring about the
desired political mobilization we desire, but due to the technological lack
lustre performance from network service providers which limit participation on
social media because even those who can afford systems to go online find it
difficult because of poor network reception.
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