Consummate politicians and statesmen must be media savvy. They must deploy to maximum effect the prevailing media technology of the epoch to communicate lucidly their thoughts, visions and sound bites. These ultimately resonate with their huge audiences/supporters, etch them into their memories and zing into history.
Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt used radio to reach out during World War II and the daunting Great Depression respectively. As the power of radio waned, and was eclipsed by television, the svelte and sartorially elegant John F. Kennedy, exploited the glamour of television to trounce Richard Nixon in the first ever televised presidential debate in our annals. Ronald Reagan, famously referred to as the Great Communicator, brought his mellifluous voice and cadence to bear on speeches authored by Peggy Noonan and Company.
In our jurisdiction, we recall with nostalgia Tafawa Balewa, Maitama Sule and the inimitable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe for their eloquence. Each bequeathed us with memorable and riveting speeches. Dr. Azikiwe, even more so, with his urbanity and quotable quotes. Each time Zik lost an election, he issued an apt epitaph, the last in 1983 being:”History shall vindicate the just”.
Though the traditional media – radio, newspapers, magazines and television – remain bastions, we have seen an upsurge of the social media in the past twenty years and they have transformed the political landscape dramatically. From position of underdog, Barrack Obama used the social media to rally funds to upstage Hillary Clinton and ultimately clinch the American presidency. The maverick Donald Trump who succeeded President Obama simply morphed into the Twitter-in-chief and fed on a daily diet of cable news.
By the way, what are the social media? Wikipedia explains them succinctly as “interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks”. Social media have four salient attributes, namely: they are interactive Web 2.0. Internet based applications(apps); they facilitate user-generated content; they create service-specific profiles for the website or app; and they help develop on line social networks by connecting a user’s profile with others. Translation: they are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Reditt, WhatApp etc. It is a measure of their formidably that they have galvanized community action during the Arab Spring, the Black Lives Matter, the Me Too Movement etc.
It is correct to aver that the content of social media are generated by all comers – irrespective of educational background, socio-economic status and agenda. It is true that their content are highly unregulated and could be salacious, lurid, outlandish and sometimes libelous. It is true that their content are not generated by professional journalists, as in the case of traditional media, who are guided by high minded ethics, the art and craft of writing and imbued with an abiding sense of social responsibility and the national interest. Also, it is true that there are no Editors to keep the gates and to vet the content for good taste, infelicities, facts, accuracies, libel etc.
But the social media, warts and all, are the new fad. As at January 2022 according to Google, “Nigeria registered approximately 109 million active internet users, which corresponds to about half of the total population” daily. In addition, the most used social media platforms by Nigerians as at the third quarter of 2021 are as follows: WhatsApp, 91.9%; Facebook, 86.4%; Instagram, 77.9%; FB Messenger, 71.2%.
What can be gleaned from the aforementioned is that Nigerians, particularly its youthful population, are active in the social media. It is for this cogent and defining reason that materials published or trending in the traditional media are often uploaded on social media platforms for more visibility and impact. In addition to the traditional media, the social media are the right firmament to be if one wants to market a product or service. Dynamic and progressive organisations such as the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), the traditional media, and civil society organizations have largely migrated to and dominated the social media space through their robust and interactive websites and platforms. Today, one can access electronic copies of our newspapers and view vital television programs on YouTube.
If the election management body and some of its critical stakeholders have taken advantage of the huge possibilities offered by the social media, what of our political parties and candidates? This question becomes pertinent given the disdain for netizens by political parties and candidates and the considerable store they set by “structures”. But as we have seen from the foregoing, those who place undue premium on some phantom and bogus “structures” are likely coming to grief. This is because Nigeria’s mostly youthful voters have since migrated to the social media!
Nick Dazang,
Abuja
