Youth perspective on social media discourse on “Lazy Nigerian Youths” conversations

Nkiru Comfort Ezeh, Novena University Ogume Delta State
Augustine Godwin Mboso, National Open University Uyo Study Centre, Nigeria

Abstract


The Social Media has emerged as a new platform for discourses. It has no doubt provided people with easier and faster accessibility to information and has become an outlet for them to share their views on socio-political issues. It has also been observed that negative and hate comments seem to dominate on social networks used for social and political communication. Anchored on Public Sphere Theory, focus group discussions were conducted with undergraduate youths in South-east Nigeria examined on the issue of President Mohammadu Buhari’s referring to Nigerian youths as lazy, while speaking at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster on 18th April 2018. This article, therefore, explored the opinions advanced in the discourse based on the principles of freedom of expression and responsibility. The study suggests that while Twitter platform was more objective in the discussion of the issue of the day because it allows the use of filters to ensure that contents posted on the platform adhere strictly to rules and fair usage; Facebook and Whatsapp trailed with abuses and hate comments. The study recommended that owners of blogs and media houses who now post their contents on the social media should coordinate comments on such platforms and continue developing mechanisms that work to regulate the quality of posted content.


Keywords


Social Media, Freedom of Expression, Hate Speech, Discourse, Conversation, Perception

Full Text:

PDF

References


Albert, C. S. and Salam, A. F. (2013). Critical discourse analysis: toward theories in social media. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17.

Ayomide, T. (2019).The communication problem on WhatsApp and how you can beat it. Accessed from www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/7-whatsapp-rules

Balarabe, S. (2013). Impact of social media on public discourse in Nigeria. Accessed from www.cmdconf.net.

Bentley College (2006, Oct. 18). Bentley College professors study 'Facebook' as 2006 campaign tool; online community fertile ground for reaching younger voters”. Ascribe Higher Education News Service. pNA.

Berrocal, S., Campos-Domínguez E., & Redondo, M. (2014) Media prosumers in political communication: politainment on Youtube. Media Education Research Journal. 12(43).

Bushey, C. (2010). All a Twitter: experts and IREM members discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of social media networking. Journal of Property Management. 75(4), 24-36

Capelle, Q. (2013). Youtube becoming a useful tool for political communication. Accessed from http://www.atelier.net/en/trends/articles/Youtube.

Cash, H., Rae, C. D. & Steel, A. H., Winkler, A. (2012). Internet addiction: A brief summary of research and practice. Current Psychiatry Review. 8(4) 292–298.

Christtensen, L. & Jerslev, A. (2016). Media Presence- Mobile Modernities. In NORDMEDIA; Media Presence and Mobile Modernities. Christa Christensen & Anne Jerslev ed. Sweden: Ale Tryckteam.

Dare, S. (2011) The rise of citizen journalism in Nigeria – A case study of Sahara Reporters” Paper for Reuters Institute Fellowship, University of Oxford.

Edgerly, S., Vraga, E., Fung, T, Moon, T and Yoo, W. (n.d.). Youtube as a public sphere: The proposition & debate” Accessed on from Wikipedia.

Environics Research Group (2003). Media awareness network young Canadians in a wired world: A students’ view. Accessed from http://www.media-awareness.ca.

Ezeh, N.C. and Ono, N.G. (2015) “Aspects of online social discourse in Nigeria: A study of the “There is God” video” Journal of Communication and Media Research. 8(2) 125-140.

Sunkanmi, I. (2018, April 26). Lazy Nigerian youths’ now has a Wikipedia page. From http://www.informationng.com/2018/04/lazy-nigerian-youths-now-has-a-wikipedia-page-photos.html.

Jenkins, H., Ford S. & Green J. (2013) Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Society: Spreadable Media New York: New York University Press

McNair, B. (2011) An Introduction to Political Communication. UK: Taylor & Francis

McQuail, D. (2010) McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory (6TH Ed.) London: Sage Publications

Msughter, A. E. (2018, April 1). Curbing hate speeches on social media. The Nation, http://thenationonlineng.net/curbing-hate-speeches-social-media/

Noelle-Neumann, E. (1974). The Spiral of Silence : A Theory of Public Opinion. Journal of Communication. 24 (1).43-51.

Odoemelam, C. C., Okeibunor, B. N., & Okorom, E. M. (2014). Paper presented at the 16th ACCE, annual conference on Communication, Children & the Youth in the 21st Century, March, 10-12, 2014 at Princess Alexandra Unity Hall and Theatre, University, of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Ogundipe, S. (2018, May 2). What I meant describing youth as lazy – Buhari. Accessed from www.premiumtimesng.com

Omni, (2011).Toolkit for conducting focus groups. Accessed from www.rowan.edu/colleges.

Owen, D. and Davis, R. (2008). Presidential communication in the Internet era. Presidential Studies Quarterly. 38(14), 658-671.

Oyesomi, K. O., Ahmadu, F. O., and Itsekor, V. (2014). Facebook and political communication in the 2011 General Elections. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences. 4(11), 1-9.

Palser, B. (2007) Politics: How will the Internet influence the presidential election? The online frontier. American Journalism Review. 29(1), 50-65.

Jennings, M. K. and Zeitner V. (2003). Internet use and civic engagement: A longitudinal analysis. The Public Opinion Quarterly. 67(3), 311–334.

Pornsakulvanich V. (2006). An Analysis of the Spiral of Silence Theory on Peoples Willingness to Express their Political Opinions.

Huachiew Chalermprakiat University Journal 19(20), 90-96

Semetko, H. A., & Scammell, M. (2012). The Sage Handbook of Political Communication. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Stepp, C. S. (2009).The bus bloggers on the bus: How the Internet changed politics and the press. American Journalism Review. 31(3), 47-51

Stoddart, A. (2013), Suggests politicians should use Twitter to engage more, and broadcast less. From http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/54554/1/Ali_Stoddart_democraticaudit.com-

Tijani M. (2018), Buhari: Many Nigerian youths haven’t been to school – they want to sit and do nothing cos of oil money. From www.thecable.ng/just-in-a-lot-of-nigerian-youths-havent-been-toschool

Yardi, S & Boyd, D (2010) Dynamic debates: an analysis of group polarization over time on Twitter. Bull Sci Technol Soc 20(1) 1–8




DOI: https://doi.org/10.21831/informasi.v50i2.31334

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2020 Nkiru Comfort Ezeh, Augustine Godwin Mboso

Supervised by

RJI Main logo


Our Journal has been Indexed by:

           

 

 Creative Commons License

Informasi by http://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/informasi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


View My Stats