Abstract
How is social media used in African elections and what is its impact?
This article builds on existing research on the role of social media in
African elections to argue that its impact is linked to its interaction
with traditional media and pre-existing political features of a
country. Drawing on original survey data, Afrobarometer data, and
content analysis of social media pages of the two main
presidential candidates– William Ruto and Raila Odinga– and a
selection of allied political in uencers’ accounts, we explore the
use of social media in Kenya’s 2022 presidential election
campaigns. This article highlights how a complex media and
electoral landscape incentivised candidates to adopt a
segmentation strategy online. Through this strategy, the
dissemination of negative information was delegated to social
media in uencers to avoid alienating undecided voters, while
candidate’s main pages were curated to publicise policy and
cultivate a positive public image. In this regard, African politicians’
innovative use of social media was shaped by both normative and
contextual political factors. We outline how social media a ords
new avenues for electioneering that may mask old habits, and we
encourage researchers to look beyond o cial campaign accounts
when assessing the impact of social media on elections.
This article builds on existing research on the role of social media in
African elections to argue that its impact is linked to its interaction
with traditional media and pre-existing political features of a
country. Drawing on original survey data, Afrobarometer data, and
content analysis of social media pages of the two main
presidential candidates– William Ruto and Raila Odinga– and a
selection of allied political in uencers’ accounts, we explore the
use of social media in Kenya’s 2022 presidential election
campaigns. This article highlights how a complex media and
electoral landscape incentivised candidates to adopt a
segmentation strategy online. Through this strategy, the
dissemination of negative information was delegated to social
media in uencers to avoid alienating undecided voters, while
candidate’s main pages were curated to publicise policy and
cultivate a positive public image. In this regard, African politicians’
innovative use of social media was shaped by both normative and
contextual political factors. We outline how social media a ords
new avenues for electioneering that may mask old habits, and we
encourage researchers to look beyond o cial campaign accounts
when assessing the impact of social media on elections.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 321-343 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Journal of Eastern African Studies |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 19 Jul 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 19 Jul 2024 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.Funding
John Templeton Foundation
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| John Templeton Foundation |
Keywords
- social media
- Kenya
- African Politics
- Media and Politics
- Influencers
- Elections
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
