JAYEE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGING ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN GHANA

BY

JEMIMA ATTIPOE

(INDEX NUMBER)

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ………………., JAYEE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF

AN ………………………………………………….

JUNE 2018
 DECLARATION

I do hereby declare that this work is the result of my own research and has not been presented by

anyone for any academic award in this or any other university. All references used in the work

have been fully acknowledged.

I do bear sole responsibility for any shortcomings.

JEMIMA ATTIPOE

……………………………………………. ……………………………

(index number) 30th MAY 2018

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 CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that this Long essay was supervised in accordance with procedures laid down by

the University

…………………………………………… …………………………...
(SUPERVISOR) DATE

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 DEDICATION

I dedicate this work first and foremost to God Almighty for His goodness and mercies. I also want

to dedicate this thesis to my family, especially my ……………….., ……NAME……. Thank you

for your prayers and enormous support.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am indebted to my supervisor, …………………. for his untiring dedication during the

supervision of this work.

Special appreciation goes to him for his time, contribution and support.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION.......................................................................................................................................... i
CERTIFICATION ...................................................................................................................................... ii
DEDICATION............................................................................................................................................ iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of the study ...................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research Problem ................................................................................................................................. 3
1.3 The Objectives of the Research............................................................................................................ 5
1.4 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................... 5
1.5 Significance of the study ....................................................................................................................... 5
1.6 Scope of the Study ................................................................................................................................. 6
1.7 Limitations of The Study ...................................................................................................................... 6
1.8 Organization of the study ..................................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................................ 8
LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 8
2.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Theoretical Review................................................................................................................................ 8
2.2 Social Media .......................................................................................................................................... 9
2.3 Social Media’s Affordances ................................................................................................................ 10
2.4 The Influence of Social Media on the Choice of Political Candidates and Voting ........................ 15
2.4.1 Social Media Effect ...................................................................................................................... 16
2.5 Potential of Social Media in Encouraging Political Participation .................................................. 17
2.6 The extents to which political parties used social media for political campaigns and engaged
their followers Ghana ............................................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................................. 24
METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 24
3.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 24

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3.1 Study Area ........................................................................................................................................... 24
3.2 Research Design .................................................................................................................................. 24
3.3 Types and Sources of Data ................................................................................................................. 25
3.3.1 Primary Data ................................................................................................................................ 25
3.4 Research Population ........................................................................................................................... 25
3.5 Sample Size .......................................................................................................................................... 26
3.6 Sampling Techniques .......................................................................................................................... 26
3.7 Questionnaire Structure ..................................................................................................................... 27
3.8 Ethical Considerations........................................................................................................................ 27
3.9 Data collection method ....................................................................................................................... 27
3.10 Data Analysis and Presentation ....................................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER FOUR..................................................................................................................................... 28
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA ................................................................................... 29
4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Table 4.1.1 Frequency Table of Demographic Variables .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2 The influence of social media on the choice of political party............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.2.1 Provide accessibility to various candidate.......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.2.2 Gives room for individual interaction with the parties..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.2.3 Helps in adequate accessing of political parties ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.2.4 Helps share and digest political messages .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.3 The potential of social media in improving political communication. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.3.1 It helps rebut claims made by other political parties ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.3.2 It helps in getting feedbacks, suggestion and new ideas from political peers ........ Error!
Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.3.3 Expand political talk among citizens .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure: 4.3.1 Provide information about political issues ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.3.4 Motivate citizens to take actions ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER FIVE ...................................................................................................................................... 42
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ...................................................................................... 43
5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 43
5.2 Summary of Findings ......................................................................................................................... 43
5.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 44
5.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................... 46

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REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 48

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure: 4.3.1 Provide Information About Political Issues…………………………………35

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 LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1 Frequency Distribution of Gender…………………………………………….29

Table 4.2 Frequency Distribution of Age of Respondents…………………………...29-30

Table 4.3 Frequency Distribution of Educational Background of Respondents………30

Table 4.4 Dependent Variable: Online banners adds…………………………………...32

Table 4.5 Dependent Variable: Online banners ads…………………………………….33

Table 4.6 Dependent Variable: Online banners ads…………………………………….34

Table 4.7 Dependent Variable: Be influence for a particular…………………………..35

Table 4.8 Normality Test………………………………………………………………….36

Table 4.9 Man Whitney Test……………………………………………………………...36

Table 4.10 Test Statistics………………………………………………………………36-37

Table 4.12 Ranks………………………………………………………………………….38

Table 4.13 Test Statistics…………………………………………………………………38

Table 4.14 Digitally interactive…………………………………………………………...39

4.17 Case Processing Summary…………………………………………………………..40

4.18 Reliability Statistics………………………………………………………………….40

Table 4.19 Regression……………………………………………………………………..40

Table 4.20 ANOVAa……………………………………………………………………..41

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 ABSTRACT

There is no denying the fact that the advent of social media has resulted in the most
substantial and pervasive change to communication in modern times. Social media remains
the greatest impetus for information dissemination in the 21st Century with its opportunities,
particularly, evidenced in the spontaneity of political events more than ever. The advent of
social media has therefore been touted as revolutionary in all spheres of human endeavour,
including engagement on public policy issues. A 2014 study showed that 62% of web users’
turn to Facebook to find political news. The increasing use of social media platforms is
largely due to its ability to ensure quick dissemination of political information and encourage
political participation. The objectives of this study are to determine the influence of social
media on the choice of political candidates and voting as well as to ascertain the potential of
social media and improving political communication. The study area was conducted within
Waija-Gbawe constituency. The research population considered all the social media users
specifically facebook and tweeter and political parties who were present at the time the
researcher administered the questionnaires at constituency. The sample size for the study is
381. It is determine based on the Krejcie and Morgan's sample size calculation which same
as using the Krejcie and Morgan's sample size determination table. The data gathered
revealed 343 (90.0%) respondents out of the 381 (100%) total says that social media provides
an information on political issues as against 38(10%) of the respondents that says no. It was
clear that social media aids in providing information on political issues. On whether social
media helps the political parties to rebut claims made by other political parties. This was to
ascertain how the political parties uses the social to correct false statements or assertions by
their political statement. A total of 274 respondents representing 71.91% of the respondents
indicated that advent of social media has help the political parties to correct and rebut claims
of inaccuracies by their political opponents. Social media has become a pervasive part of our
everyday lives. The fact remains that large numbers of people took to social media to discuss
the political issues and all political parties employed some social media strategy. While most
analysts suggested that parties have yet to figure out the best ways to use social media, parties
themselves are starting to catch on. This research found that, in general, parties and
candidates in Ghana used social media as a means of broadcast and consumption. The
suggests that further research could be carried out to determine whether or not parties are
beginning to use social media more for interaction with the electorate and if this could have
any influence over how people vote.

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

There is no denying the fact that the advent of social media has resulted in the most substantial

and pervasive change to communication in modern times. Social media remains the greatest

impetus for information dissemination in the 21st Century with its opportunities, particularly,

evidenced in the spontaneity of political events more than ever. The advent of social media has

therefore been touted as revolutionary in all spheres of human endeavour, including engagement

on public policy issues.

Going to the routes of each word, social media can be defined as an instrument that helps to

communicate and interact. Media is a tool used for communication, like TV, newspaper, radio etc.

Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication

techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication

into interactive dialogue. Kaplan & Haenlein (2010) define social media as "a group of Internet-

based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which

allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content”.

Social media have become an integral part of public discourse and communication in the

contemporary society. The fast development of social media has caused major changes pertaining

the way people find groups of individuals with similar interests, the nature of information, the

available news sources, or the possibility to require and share ideas (Stieglitz, Dang-Xuan, 2012:

1). It has had major effects on fields such as advertising, public relations, communications, and

political communication (Husain et al, 2014: 224).

There is no denying the fact that the advent of social media has resulted in the most substantial

and pervasive change to activities and communication in modern times. Social media remains the

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greatest impetus for information dissemination in the 21st Century with its opportunities,

particularly, evidenced in the spontaneity of political events more than ever. The advent of social

media has therefore been touted as revolutionary in all spheres of human endeavor, including

engagement on public policy issues.

Since social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and the rest were used to facilitate political

engagement and campaigns in the past elections in Ghana and US 2008, 2012 and 2016 presidential

elections, they have gained increased prominence in politics all over the world based on their

unprecedented potential for increased political activities, engagement and communication. Today,

political news consumers head to social media for their information. As a result, social media

platforms have not only become important channels for distributing news but have also remained

a central part of how well the news is communicated. Consequently, these platforms are popular

news channels because they do not only carry a strong and influential voice, but they also provide

opportunity for direct interaction and feedback with the target audience.

A 2014 study showed that 62% of web users’ turn to Facebook to find political news. The

increasing use of social media platforms is largely due to its ability to ensure quick dissemination

of political information and encourage political participation.

Social media allows users to create, share and search for information without having to log in to

any specific portal destination. These tools become ‘social’ in the sense that they are created in

ways that enable users to share and communicate with one another. The social media network,

Facebook, one of the first social media tools, launched in 2004, has over 1.4 billion users

worldwide. As a result, information via this platform is disseminated at high speed, low cost, with

far-reaching results. Social media is therefore facilitating the connection of the world through the

power of the internet.

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With social media recently evolving as a platform for social, informational, and political exchange,

it has become an influential tool used to effectively target numerous sectors in American society.

It comes as no surprise that politicians are using these channels of mass communication and

marketing to influence attitudes about themselves, set agendas, and even shape outcomes of

campaigns (Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2010).

In the last few years, several politicians have integrated Twitter into their campaigns; 577

politicians have opened Twitter accounts, three quarters of them in 2009 (Anonymous, 2010). With

its recent popularity, Twitter’s relationship to politics has been the subject of numerous research

studies (Aharony 2012; “International: Sweet to Tweet,” 2010; Budak, 2012; Smith & Brenner,

2012). Politicians are using social media as a new tool to increase interaction and exchange with

the public. By using a social media device like Twitter, politicians can easily connect to their voters

and vice versa (International: Sweet to Tweet, 2010). As social media emerges more and more as

a means of daily chatter, conversations, sharing of information, and political debate, politicians are

no longer only responsible for their outgoing tweets, but also for the responses and dialogue they

create with potential voters (International: Sweet to Tweet, 2010).

1.2 Research Problem

More recently, the prominence of social media has been particularly highlighted in politics, given

the fact that the use of social networking sites (Facebook) and microblogging services (Twitter)

are believed to have the potential of positively influencing political participation (Stieglitz, Dang-

Xuan, 2012: 1).

For instance, the 2008 USA presidential elections remained in history for the unprecedented use

of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube (Paletz et al., 2015: 259). The

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use of social media within the presidential campaign in 2008 was also continued and even

amplified in the 2012 presidential campaign, when both Obama and Romney spent a considerable

amount of money on social media (in particular Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Pinterest), with

the specific purpose of reaching the young generation and the entire voting populace. Potential

voters extensively engaged in these social media platforms by posting, commenting, video-sharing

and even the mainstream media covered the social media war between the two campaigns (Paletz

et al., 2015: 276).

Furthermore, social networking sites have been used to mobilize individuals to protest all over the

world. Some examples are the London youth demonstrations of 2011, due to the high level of

unemployment among young adults, the demonstration by let my vote count alliance and AFAG

led by Richard Asante on a possible renewing of the country’s voter register, the protest organize

by popular actress Yvonne Nelson to protest against deteriorating power crisis known as (Dumsor

Dumsor) in the country, the 2009 Iranian protests against the re-election of Mahmoud

Ahmadinejad (Carlisle and Patton, 2013: 883), or the Egyptian social movements augmented by

Twitter and Facebook, when President Mubarak shut down the Internet for five days (Yang, 2013:

709).

Khondker (2011) stated that the use of social media in politics is widespread and shows no sign of

abating. There is ample research to show the importance of social medial in political movements.

What is less studied is how social media has shaped the political landscape and how it has made

political discussion very interesting. This study, therefore, will investigate the impact of social

media on the political landscape in Ghana. Twitter and Facebook messages specifically, as a means

to motivating all citizens to directly take very keen interest in the political activities in the country.

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This study will also look at the content of Twitter and Facebook engagement and dealings by

politicians. It is important to note that this study will not examine the persuasive content of political

activities that would be too broad a scope for this thesis. Rather, the focus will be solely on direct

issues with regards to the objectives.

With the developments in social media and African politics, questions arise whether social media

has been influencing political activities Ghana.

1.3 The Objectives of the Research

1. To determine the influence of social media on the choice of political candidates and voting.

2. To ascertain the potential of social media and improving political communication.

1.4 Research Questions

1. What is the influence of social media on the choice of political candidates and voting?

2. What is the potential of social media in encouraging political participation?

1.5 Significance of the study

Significance of this study can be viewed along three strands, thus, research, practice, and policy.

Firstly, it will add to the body of literature within this subject area. This study will therefore address

the academic gaps that exist by delving into how social media had increase political engagement

in the country or among Ghanaians. In particular, it will open a chapter where other studies in this

regard could be conducted since there are little or no studies on this topic area concerning

developing countries in Africa. It will also enhance practice and policy in the sense that it gives

insight to how Ghanaians would use the more of the social media to made politicians keep to their

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promise instead of the traditional media. Hence, it will give investors within the political arena on

how fast social media is affecting the political activities in the country.

1.6 Scope of the Study

We have asserted that each media house presents its own institutional environment for making

decisions concerning the uses of new technologies or the re-adaptation of old ones. While it is not

possible, in this essay, to describe elements of institutional context in enough international

broadcasters to have a convincing set of comparisons, we can try to demonstrate how to think

about this question with a specific example. We focus on one example of a context for change.

1.7 Limitations of The Study

This research work has been carried out in the face of many limitations- firstly time constraints.

The researcher had size months to research thoroughly and submit the research project, alongside

her normal academic load. It was therefore not easy to combine the demands of carrying pout this

study, with tight academic works.

Inadequate finance is another limitation faced by the researcher; this made the collection of data

from libraries and internet not an easy task. This also limited the speed of the researcher as finance

came little by little. However, the researcher succeeded in getting enough information, for the

study at the long run.

A major problem encountered by the researcher is the unwilling attitude of the respondents to

disclose the required information necessitating continuous persuasion and repeated visits.

Nevertheless, despite these limitations which in time were out witted the researcher was able to

gather enough data, from which reliable conclusions were drawn.

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1.8 Organization of the study
The first section of the paper is the introduction or the background of the study, in which the

research area, the overall purpose of the thesis, the problem statement and the structure are

described and explained.

The second section begins with a description of the social media involvement in political landscape

in Ghana. Then, the theoretical framework of the research established through reviewing relevant

theoretical concepts within political participation and social media.

The next section outlines the research method and the subsequent research design chosen for

collecting the necessary data, in order to address the research questions, along with a discussion

regarding the guidelines for creating the survey, data collection, data analysis and coding.

In the fourth section of the study, the method of analysis is described, together with each of the

measures involved in the study. The assumptions of the chosen statistical analysis are discussed,

and afterwards the general results are presented. The section ends with a presentation of results

obtained from running the analysis.

The fifth and final chapter encompasses a discussion of the findings in light of the theoretical

background previously outlined. Limitations of this research are outlined and recommendations

for future research are discussed, while reviewing the paper in a critical manner.

Also, overall conclusion is presented with the aim of answering the problem statement.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction
Literature review is a process that involves reviewing relevant literature to gain a broad

background or understanding of the information that is available and related to a problem under

study. Polit and Beck (2007) stated that literature review focuses on areas relevant to the research

topic. This results in development of a comprehensive picture on what is known on the topic.

Similarly, in this study a review of literature was done on Social media and its impact on the

Ghanaian political landscape. A review of available literature on the influence of social media on

the choice of political candidates and voting, the potential of social media in encouraging political

participation, the extents to which political parties used social media for political campaigns and

engaged their followers Ghana and the effect on social media in keeping political parties on their

toes.

2.1 Theoretical Review

This chapter connects the theoretical terms ‘affordances’ and ‘social media logic’ to political

communication landscape. Firstly, theoretical landscape which describes the interplay between

communication technology and user behaviour, beginning with the specificities of social media

technologies and their affordances. Next, the main affordances provided by social media platforms

also represent the ‘building blocks’ of the social media logic. Lastly, a proposal is made for the

conceptual framework for political engagement and communication on social media based on this

theoretical discussion. The increased use of social media among political actors, media actors and

citizens is not yet well understood by most people. To remedy this, we must first understand

communication technology and its properties. Just as architecture shapes how people interact with

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their physical environments, the structures of social media technologies shape how people engage

with these digital environments (boyd, 2010). I will begin with the central communication

technology for this dissertation: social media platforms.

2.2 Social Media

Social media eludes easy definition, thanks to the fact that its platforms, services and user practices

change continually. At one time, it was much more common to talk about online communities

(Preece, 2001) or social network sites (SNS) (boyd & Ellison, 2007), but social media is the more

frequently used term today. I understand social media to refer to those communication platforms

on or through which users can create and share content and connect with each other via, for

example, lists of friends, followers, fans or circles (boyd & Ellison, 2007; O’Reilly, 2007).

Similarly, Kaplan and Haenlein refer to social media as ‘Internet-based applications that build on

the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange

of User Generated Content’ (2010:62). In relation to earlier media technology, the interactive

aspects of social media are qualitatively new that is, many can now discuss and share with many

simultaneously. Because users can create and share their own content in these social networks,

social media also blurs the line between producer and consumer of content (Gustafsson &

Höglund, 2011; Bruns, 2007). As such, these services function both as media for publishing and

as networks for social relations (Enjolras et al., 2013). Digital communication platforms such as

social media (for example, Facebook, Twitter or blogs) are characterised by their ability to be

storable, searchable, sharable, scalable, replicable and persistent (see boyd, 2014:11; Papacharissi

& Gibson, 2011:76). In addition, and particularly relevant in this context, interactivity has been

described as the defining characteristic of the Internet (Jensen, 2002:184). More specifically,

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interactivity in digital media represents the ability to either contribute to content or create one’s

own nonlinear path through information (McMillian, 2002). Spiro Kiousis describes interactivity

as ‘the degree to which a communication technology can create a mediated environment in which

participants can communicate (one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many) both synchronously

and asynchronously and participate in reciprocal message exchanges’ (Kisousis, 2002:379). The

interactive aspect of digital political communication in the political landscape is what differentiates

it from traditional modes of communication, commonly divided into personal and mass

communication (Aalberg & Elvestad, 2012:10). Personal communication is person-to-person,

whereas mass communication is one (or a few) broadcasting to a large audience. Digital and social

media, on the other hand, allow both open and closed mass communication (i.e., broadcasting to a

huge, global audience), group communication (i.e., members of a Facebook group), interpersonal

communication (i.e., chatting person to person), as well as non-verbal and image-based

communication (i.e., through social media affordances such as emoticons, likes, shares, retweets

and video uploads). Here, the interest is in the possibilities for political interaction afforded by

social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter through comments, likes, shares, @mention,

retweets and favourites.

2.3 Social Media’s Affordances

Communication technologies such as social media platforms provide users with affordances, in

the form of possibilities as well as limits. The concept was introduced by J. J. Gibson and initially

utilised within ecological psychology studies (Gibson, 1979:127); it has since made its way to

other research fields, including design as well as media and communication studies. Initially,

Gibson described affordances as the action possibilities which a given environment presents to an

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animal: ‘An affordance is neither an objective property nor a subjective property; or it is both if

you like: It points both ways, to the environment and to the observer’ (Gibson, 1979:129). While

Gibson was describing objects in nature, affordance applies equally to other objects, including the

digital artifacts or products of communication technology, and Gibson himself saw the concept as

applicable to the artificial environment humans have created (Bloomfield, Latham, Vurdubakis,

2010). D. A. Norman took up Gibson’s line of thought and theorised what he called ‘perceived

affordances’ (Norman, 1999) because some things, such as computer screens, mainly allow for

perceived, not tangible, affordances. He writes, ‘affordances specify the range of possible

activities, but affordances are of little use if they are not visible to the users’ (Norman, 1999:41).

Bucher and Helmond recently suggested five types of affordance: relational, perceived,

technology, social and communicative (Bucher & Helmond, 2016), and in general, I will engage

with the concept according to its relational and perceived aspects. Here, I frame technological

affordances as the action possibilities inherent in technological artifacts that enable or restrict

certain types of communication acts, such as commenting or sharing an article. To put

differentiation among affordances based upon level of abstraction along the lines described by

Bucher and Helmond (2016) as ‘low-level’ and ‘high-level’ affordance. While the former

describes more concrete features, the latter describes the more abstract communication outcome

of technology, or ‘the kinds of dynamics and conditions enabled by technical devices, platforms

and media’ (2016:12). Bucher and Helmond observe that low-level affordances are typically

located in the materiality of the medium for example, specific features, buttons, screens and

platforms (such as the ‘like’ button on Facebook). Likewise, boyd observes that higher-level

affordances are conditioned by the ‘properties of bits’, which in turn introduce new opportunities

for interaction and communication (boyd, 2011:39, cited by Bucher & Helmond, 2016:13). I find

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the affordance to be a very useful concept in a political communication landscape context,

especially when addressing three specific aspects: the interplay between technology (the artifact)

and human behaviour (the user); the notion of technological determinism; and the importance of

context. The first aspect is expanded upon in this quote by Gibson: ‘An affordance cuts across the

dichotomy of subjective-objective and helps us to understand its inadequacy. It is equally a fact of

the environment and a fact of behavior. It is both physical and psychical, yet neither. An affordance

points both ways, to the environment and the observer’ (Gibson, 1986; 129).

To expand upon how technological artefacts and users’ adoption of them both restrict and enable

communication, for example two examples from Facebook and Twitter. Facebook’s ‘like’ button

was introduced in 2009 as a way to express sympathy, support or thumbs up for an item (text,

image, or video, for example). A dislike button does still not exist, but in 2016, Facebook expanded

this functionality with five additional reaction emojis: ‘love’, ‘haha’, ‘wow’, ‘sad’ and ‘angry’

(Stinson, 2016). By only allowing a like button for seven years, Facebook made an explicit choice

to restrict the affordances of the platform. Some have argued that this design decision was intended

to avoid the negative impact of a dislike button on the user experience or to please advertisers

(Heath, 2016). Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, states: ‘we didn’t want to just build a Dislike

button because we don’t want to turn Facebook into a forum where people are voting up or down

on people’s posts. That doesn’t seem like the kind of community we want to create. You don’t

want to go through the process of sharing some moment that’s important to you in your day and

then have someone down vote it. That isn’t what we’re here to build in the world’ (Speed, 2015).

As this example shows, technological affordances are initially expressions of human

considerations and decisions, but those in charge are seldom able to predict all of the different uses

of communication technologies. One example from Twitter (released in 2006) will illustrate this

12
point. Hashtags expressed as the # or pound sign were not part of the original Twitter design, but

in 2007, early in Twitter’s existence, there was no convention for ‘group talk’ on Twitter. The

hashtag was suggested as a way to accommodate group conversations around a topic (Cooper,

2013). Even though Twitter did not initially design or even adopt the pound sign, the practice was

picked up among Twitter users and eventually became a very central affordance of Twitter (Scott,

2015). Likewise, the extension of Facebook’s like button was purportedly developed as a response

to user feedback but it also provides marketers with more detailed consumer data and hence

opportunities for targeted advertising (Gerlitz & Helmond, 2013). Secondly, the affordance

concept allows for a different take on the notion of technological determinism that is frequently

found in technology studies and popular literature (Kelly, 2010). Technological determinism is

often understood as ‘the idea that technology develops as the sole result of an internal dynamic,

and then, unmediated by any other influence, molds society to fit its patterns’ (Winner, 1980: 122).

In this view, technology is a driving force in society with agency regarding the development of

social structure and cultural values (Smith & Marx, 1994). This maxim has been heavily criticized,

particularly for not taking into account how society molds technology to fit its purposes through

users’ adoption and agency. Here, again, the concept of the affordance splits the difference by

stressing the interplay between users and artefacts, however complex it may be, given that, in

Melvin Kranzenberg’s words, ‘technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral’ (Kranzberg,

1986; 545). As discussed earlier, developers of communication technologies are seldom unaware

of either users’ or marketers’ or investors’ feedback. Yet technologies reflect inherent values and

morals, even political qualities, that both inform and emerge from their impact upon their contexts

(Winner, 1980). Because things and technologies are created by humans, Winner argues that they

represent specific expressions of power and authority. For example, share buttons are available to

13
all Facebook users, but sharing a political article can have different meanings in different contexts.

This brings us to the third aspect of affordances: the context. It should be noted that a

communication technology can provide multiple affordances, but not all affordances will be

utilised with the same results in different national, legal or cultural contexts. The affordance

concept, then, helps to explain ‘why, in some cases, people use the same technology differently,

and why, in other cases, people put the same technology to similar uses and change their

communication and work practices in equivalent ways’ (Treem & Leonardi, 2012; 5). In what

follows, I will attempt to account for this dissertation’s context—Norway’s multiparty

parliamentary system, party-centred political campaigning, highly digitised media system and

extensive usage of the Internet and digital communication technology. The political, cultural and

legal circumstances in which technology is embedded set some premises. In some political

environment, political advertising on television is banned, forcing political parties to rely upon

social media to broadcast and spread political videos. Similarly, privacy regulations set clear limits

on the type of individual data political parties can collect and systematise, then potentially exploit

during election campaigns. The type of micro targeting techniques used in American politics for

example, consumer data combined with social media and voter registration data to create detailed

voter profiles (Kreiss, 2012; Stroemer-Gally, 2015; Issenberg, 2012) are harder to develop and

apply in a Norwegian context for legal reasons. Instead, then, the two largest and most resourceful

parties, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, profile and target neighbourhoods, not

individuals, based on collected data (Kapital, 2015). While it is importance to recognise the

importance of context to any understanding of communication technologies’ affordances, I differ

somewhat with Gibson’s argument about the environment. Gibson argues that affordances of the

environment are permanent, that they exist independently of the animal’s perception and

14
intentions: ‘affordances are opportunities for action that exist in the environment and do not

depend on the animal’s mind. Moreover, being opportunities for action, they do not cause

behavior, but simply make it possible’ (Gibson, cited by Withagen et al., 2012; 250). Based on my

material, I will argue that affordances in communication technologies are equally influenced by

the user’s mind that is, one’s intentions, comprehension and knowledge all set parameters for how

and to what purpose communication technology is used (see, for example, articles 2 and 3). The

affordances of communication technology therefore are not permanent but instead have different

meanings and consequences in different places and different times.

2.4 The Influence of Social Media on the Choice of Political Candidates and Voting
Today, social media is a major enabler for citizens’ participation in the democratic process as

clearly demonstrated in the 2008 US Elections when young people were inspired to political topics

using social media as communication platform. Social media and its highly visible environment

provides presidential candidates the ideal platform to promote themselves, articulate their policy

goals and interact with their voters directly and without the filter of the mainstream media.

A research conducted by Pew Research Centre in February 2012 established that, 80% of adults

use the internet and 66% of those online adults use social media networking sites. Political

candidates today are increasingly using social media and the internet as a vital campaign strategy

for spreading information, raising money, and rallying voters. For instance, President Barack

Obama harnessed social media in his 2008 campaign to communicate his vision for the American

electorate.

15
2.4.1 Social Media Effect
The effect of social media on political candidate estimate has become an increasingly important

issue as the Internet has become an extensively used communication medium throughout the

world. According to Tolbert and McNeil (2009), suggested that the internet become more widely

used information tool for gathering political candidate information, therefore voters are more likely

to be properly informed and later participate in the political process. To sum it up all according to

them, Internet can become the medium to fill the void, which television and broadcast news could

not.

During 2008 US presidential elections, social media proved to be an effective medium for a

presidential candidate to distribute information. Kushin and Yamamoto (2010), tried to establish

if social media had an impact in actual on political self-efficacy and involvement. They also

established that from 1996 to 2008 year, the percentage of Americans who got political information

online increased from 4% to 40% (Rainie, 2007; Smith & Rainie, 2008). The dependence on

Internet information for politics has been more popular among the younger generations. In total

27% of young adults under the age of 30 said to receive the campaign information from various

social networking websites compared to 4% adults between age group of 30 to 39 years and only

1% in age group above 40 (pg. 612).

In a political campaign, social media platforms like Facebook, provided voters to become more

politically engaged with candidates. If strategically used its a skill that has lasting effects.

On the other hand, a huge amount of research has been concentrated on the negative social and

political impact that social media (internet) may have. According to Nguyen and Alexander (2010),

the spread of Internet with people encouraging them to increasingly share space, was, is and will

16
continue to have a negative impact on the individual and social consciousness. They asserted that

on the Internet the boundaries and identity formulation all dissolve (Earl and Kimport 99).

According to Cornell University's Steven Strogatz, social media sites can make it more challenging

for an individual to differentiate between the significant and meaning relationships of the real

world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. If some individual

focuses on such non-meaningful relationships the most of the important links, news and

meaningful relationships will be weakened (Small Business - Chron.com, 2014).

2.5 Potential of Social Media in Encouraging Political Participation

Developments in social media adoption and use in Africa have attained tremendous heights,

especially within the past decade, as information and communication have been much emphasized

(UNDP, 2013; Dutta & Lanvin 2013; BBC World Service Trust, 2010). Not only has such

development been keen in agriculture, rural development, economics, education, science and

technology, but also in politics (Ross, 2010; International Crisis Group, 2011). From political

discussions on traditional media, through electoral campaigns, to popular revolutions in North

Africa, social media has consumed political activity on the continent, and there seems not to be an

avenue to evade this phenomenon. As a result, stakeholders of political activities on the continent

are responding by developing themselves to fit this social media revolution.

For about five decades after independence, the media in Africa had been dominated by traditional

mass communication such as radio, television and the print (Karikari, 2007). And therefore

political activities tended to concentrate on these media. This has been identified as a catalyst for

military overthrows (coup d’états) recorded on the continent; as such media could easily be

controlled from a centre (Karikari, 2007). But with development in internet technologies, coupled

with developments in mobile communication devices, such tendencies begun to wane, and the

17
resultant effect was the blend of the old and new media (Patnaik, 2011). In this past decade, social

(new) media, mostly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, have complemented the means of

communication even by traditional news agencies (Giroux et al., 2013; Chui et al., 2012).

Political activities like elections campaigns fundamentally rely on communication. Over the last

decade, changes in the communication environment due to innovations in digital technologies

(Chadwick, 2014; Castells, 2009), which themselves accompanied a process of modernization and

professionalisation of electoral competition (Lees- Marshment, 2001), have forced political elites

to adopt and integrate in their political activities increasingly sophisticated digital communication

practices. Faced with a sharp decline in party membership and a more demanding, assertive and

distrustful public increasingly willing to intervene directly in the political process (Dalton and

Welzel, 2014) (often through the use of digital media-enabled personalised forms of participation),

political parties and candidates embraced new online tools as part of their political activity like

campaign communication (Gibson, 2013) Social networking sites like Facebook, microblogs like

Twitter and video-sharing sites like YouTube have not only given politicians a powerful avenue

for interacting with a more demanding citizenry, but also have allowed them to offer more

personalised images to the public and have given less resourceful parties the opportunity to match

well funded political activities in sophistication, using creative and relatively inexpensive

strategies. Candidates, members of parliament, and local committee members worldwide are now

providing information about their policy positions, invite followers to campaign events or meetings

on Facebook, and interact with their constituencies “on the go” and through short messages on

Twitter rather than long and time-consuming posts on their blogs or websites (Vergeer et al., 2011;

Bode and Dalrymple, 2014).

18
Research has extensively documented the integration of new media tools, and Twitter specifically,

in election campaigns held in numerous European countries (see Strandberg, 2013; Gibson, 2013;

Jungherr, 2014a), yet it has yet to achieve the central role that social media has played in recent

US elections. Developments such as what Gibson has termed “citizen-initiated”-campaigning,

aiming to denote the devolving power over core tasks to the grassroots, is only now slowly

emerging in Europe (Gibson, 2013), though with significant variation across countries and parties

(Hansen and Kosiara-Pederson, 2014; Jungherr, 2014a). Despite lacking in innovation, however,

European candidates do use digital media for other purposes. Facebook and Twitter have allowed

candidates to increase their exposure at very little cost (as well as significant risk (Theocharis et

al., 2015)), a development that enabled lesser known candidates to rise from obscurity (Vergeer et

al., 2011). Social media has also provided a platform for citizens to communicate directly with

political candidates.

2.6 The extents to which political parties used social media for political campaigns and

engaged their followers Ghana.

There has been a growing recognition of and utilization of social media by the current Ghanaian

political and opinion leaders. This is a sharp contrast to what has been obtained in the build up to

the past two general elections (2008) where the traditional media was dominant. Although the

dependence on the traditional media for political campaigns will certainly be noticeable and cannot

be completely discarded, modern trends of the New Media seem to be eroding the gains of the

traditional media. Barack Obama‟s presidential election campaign in the US has changed the rules

of political marketing and since then electoral campaigns have been more about social networking

sites; using the existing and emerging social media platforms than the conventional media

19
approach which emphasized more of one-way communication with its shortcoming to generate

feedbacks.

These media according to Arhewe (2011) connect politicians with voters and sell to them the

transparency associated with their manifestoes. Social media is also utilized to spar opponents and

sway the electorate with an explanation why they should vote for them and not their opponents.

“So much of social media is non-partisan, it can make government better. The key is to make sure

people are making an authentic impact on the process. The new media will be useful not only for

mobilizing voters, but also in integrating all other facets of campaigns, including rally organizing

and delivering campaign messages to potential voters on a consistent basis, at relatively no cost to

them.

The emergence of social media has changed the way in which political activities takes place in

most countries of the world, including Ghana. Political institutions such as politicians, political

parties, foundations, institutions, and political think tanks are using social media, Facebook and

Twitter, as a new way of communicating with voters. Individuals and politicians alike are able to

voice their opinions, engage with their network, and connect with other likeminded individuals

(Kearney, 2013).

However, the active participation of social media users has been documented as an increasingly

important element in political communication, especially during political elections (Eli & Arne,

2015). Users are able to connect directly to politicians and campaigns and engage in political

activities in new ways. By simply pressing the like button on Facebook or by following someone

on Twitter, users have the ability to connect in new ways. Thus, the option for users to share, like,

or retweet political messages instantaneously has opened up a new avenue for politicians to reach

out to voters. Politicians in their bid to use social media for elections were mindful of the

20
developments and the new vista of consciousness in the practice of citizen journalism in Ghana.

In the last decade, the rise of Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Blogs and other social networking

sites has witnessed citizen journalists armed with video camera and beginning to show up

everywhere. Following this, politicians wanted to check the negative publicity that may come from

any of the networks by reaching out to sites and blogs that can affect their prospects (Eledan,

2011).

For instance, social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and the rest were used to facilitate

political engagement and campaigns in the US 2008 presidential elections, they have gained

increased prominence in politics all over the world based on their unprecedented potential for

increased political communication (Sunstein, 2010). Today, news consumers head to social media

for their information. As a result, social media platforms have not only become important channels

for distributing news, but have also remained a central part of how well the news is communicated

(Prat & Stromberg, 2011). Consequently, these platforms are popular news channels because they

do not only carry a strong and influential voice, but they also provide opportunity for direct

interaction and feedback with the target audience.

A 2014 study showed that 62% of web users’ turn to Facebook to find political news. The

increasing use of social media platforms is largely due to its ability to ensure quick dissemination

of political information and encourage political participation.

According to Sunstein (2010), the tactics employed by Barack Obama in the 2008 US elections

has changed the rules of political communication. Since then electoral campaigns have been more

about the use of social media platforms than the conventional approach which emphasized more

of one-way communication with limited chances to generate feedback.

21
In Ghana, social media has undoubtedly exposed majority of Ghanaians to different interactive

platforms with a significant impact on political behaviour, decision and judgement. Today, social

media has become the battle field for what was arguably the most competitive election in Ghana’s

history, as the application of social media tools in political engagement was unprecedented. Social

media opened a new wave of opportunity for citizens, politicians and civil society organizations

to engage in an open, transparent and dialogical discussion that are relevant to the entrenchment

of democratic values and aspirations.

Today, there are more than five million (5,171,993) Internet users in Ghana representing 19.6% of

the population, while Ghana’s Facebook user base is about 1,211,760. Giving that the 2008

elections in Ghana was close to call with a difference of 40,586 votes between then Candidate

Mills of the National Democratic Congress and Nana Akuffo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party,

politicians do not seem to underestimate the power of social media to galvanize, canvass and rake-

in floating voters and keep their loyal supporters up-to-date with information and news.

In the 21st century, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are not just innovations in the internet world,

but are fast becoming influencers and opinion creators. The use of these tools in Ghana’s politics

has seen a phenomenal increase in recent times. Currently, 34% of total numbers of Facebook

users in Ghana are between the ages of 25-35, with 41% between 18-24 years of age.

Even before political campaign in Ghana reached the highest apogee in the 2016 electioneering

period, social media platforms were the main arena for political issues such as the State of the

Nation Address, the internal wrangling of the largest opposition party, the judicial scandal, the

violence that characterized the limited voter registration, the presidential pardon granted the

Montie trio by President Mahama, and many more gained a lot of commentary on social media.

22
Civil society groups such as Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) used social

media to educate the public on the 2016 limited voters’ registration and other related issues. Ghana

Decides, a Blogging Ghana Election Project launched the online #iRegistered campaign to get

eligible Ghanaians to register in 2016 limited registration exercise between April 28 and May 8

2016. The political activities on social media in Ghana clearly show that this space has rapidly

grown in importance and will continue to provide new ways to stimulate citizen’s engagement in

political life.

23
 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction
This section presents the methodology that will be used to design and analyze the data derived

from the study. It includes research design, the target population , sampling and sample size,

and data collection procedure and date analysis.

3.1 Study Area

The study area was conducted within Waija-Gbawe constituency. The choice of this area was

because the constituency was one of the keenly contested constituency in the 2016 general election

and was perceived by many pollster and political observers as being influenced by mode of

engagement and communication as well as accessible to the researcher, and the need to help gather

enough information to help the political parties within the constituency to fully put social media

to effective use as one of the most efficient modern way of political engagement and

communication.

3.2 Research Design

As noted by Ghauri and Gronhaug (2005), a research design is the overall plan for relating the

conceptual research problem to relevant and practicable empirical research. This study is a

descriptive study which involved the collection of reliable data to meet the objectives of the study.

According to Orodho (2002), descriptive survey design is used in studies to allow a researcher to

gather, summarize, present and interpret information for the purpose of clarification. The study is

also a quantitative studies. Data were gathered from a representative sample by use of a

questionnaire and analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software.

24
3.3 Sources of Data

This study employed the use of data obtained from both primary. Primary data obtained from the

respondents were necessary in order to gain first-hand information on the key themes captured in

the study.

3.3.1 Primary Data

Primary data sourced from the social media users with extensive interest in political activities

within the constituency and the political parties within the constituency were mainly used by the

researcher.

3.4 Research Population

Polit and Hungler (1999) define a population as the totality of all subjects that conform to a set of

specifications, comprising the entire group of persons that is of interest to the researcher and to

whom the research results can be generalized. LoBiondo-Wood and Haber (1998) describe a

sample as a portion or a subset of the research population selected to participate in a study,

representing the research population. According to the 2010 census conducted by the Ghana

Statistical Service The total population of the Municipality is 411,377 with a higher proportion of

females (51.1%) than males (48.9%). Persons aged between 0-4 years (13.7%) have the highest

proportion among all the age groups followed by the 5-9 age group (11.6%) and 10-14 age group

(10.8%). According to the data release by the Electoral commission during the 2016 elections, the

constituency has a little over 50,000 voters.

The research population considered all the social media users specifically facebook and tweeter

and political parties who were present at the time the researcher administered the questionnaires

at constituency.

25
3.5 Sample Size
When conducting research, quality sampling may be characterized by the number and selection of

subjects or observations. Obtaining a sample size that is appropriate in both regards is critical for

many reasons. Most importantly, a large sample size is more representative of the population,

limiting the influence of outliers or extreme observations. A sufficiently large sample size is also

necessary to produce results among variables that are significantly different. Sample size is also

important for economic and ethical reasons. As Russell Lenth from the University of Iowa

explains, “An under-sized study can be a waste of resources for not having the capability to

produce useful results, while an over-sized one uses more resources than are necessary.

The sample size for the study is 381. It is determine based on the Krejcie and Morgan's (1970)

sample size calculation which same as using the Krejcie and Morgan's sample size determination

table below.

3.6 Sampling Techniques

Non-probability specifically convenience sampling was used because questionnaires were

distributed to customers present at time the questionnaires were executed. Convenience sampling

method was used because researcher needed readily available information or data for the study.

However, not every social media user had the chance to be involved in the research since it is

limited to only 385 social media users. Consequently, there was no sampling frame from which a

sample could be drawn randomly to ensure that every customer was given an equal chance of being

included in the sample. Hence, the researchers used convenience sampling. De Vos (1998), states

that convenience sampling is the rational choice in cases where it is impossible to identify all the

members of a population or group.

26
3.7 Questionnaire Structure
The questionnaire was developed with brevity as an intended goal. The questionnaire was

structured into separate sections based on the objectives of the study. The questionnaire comprised

closed-ended and Likert type questions. The closed-ended and Likert type questions were used for

their advantages of being quick to answer and requiring no writing by the respondent (Naoum,

1998). The various questions were obtained with the help of a detailed literature review and were

simple, easy, unambiguous and void of technical terms to minimize potential errors from

respondents.

3.8 Ethical Considerations

Participants of the study were fully briefed about the study before they participated. They were

also informed that the purpose of collecting data from them was for an academic exercise. The

respondents within the constituency and the political parties were informed about the significance

of the study before it was conducted within the constituency.

3.9 Data collection method

The study is a quantitative study. In this study, questionnaires were used to obtain data relevant to

the study’s objectives and research questions. The purpose of the study was to find out the

influence of social media on the choice of political candidates and voting, to determine the

potential of social media in encouraging political participation. Also to find out the extents to

which political parties use social media for political campaigns and engage their members as well

as followers in Ghana and finally to ascertain the effect on social media in keeping political parties

on their toes.

The research instrument used for the collection of the data was self-administering questionnaires.

The questionnaires were simple, unambiguous also comprise of opened and closed ended question

and was easy to understand. The questionnaires were piloted to identify errors; the necessary

27
corrections were made on them. Data was largely gathered from primary sources, thus by the

researcher from the field directly.

3.10 Data Analysis and Presentation

The data collected were analyzed with the use of frequencies, percentages and means in analyzing

and processing most of the data that were obtained through the surveys. This was done with the

Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The results were then analyzed on the

possible relations within the different variables to arrive at the findings using Chi square tests. The

data analysis was in the form of comprehensive statements and analytical descriptions based on

the primary data as well as the secondary information. Microsoft Excel was used to create visual

presentations such as charts and tables to describe the variables.

28
 CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

4.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the results of the analysis of the survey data collected. The results of this

study have been discussed under thematic sub-sections in line with the research objectives. The

themes include; general profile of respondents; as well as the main research objectives. The data

were obtained from 357 respondents.

4.2 Respondents Demographics

Table 4.1 Frequency Distribution of Gender

Gender Frequent Percentage %

Male 137 36.96

Female 244 63.04

TOTAL 381 100

Source: Field Survey 2018

It is noticeable in the gender distribution table that 244 respondents, representing 63.04% are

females while 137 respondents representing 36.96% are females. This gives a good representation

of both genders in the study. In as much as gender has little or nothing to do with the study, it was

believed that there was a need for a fair representation of both genders. In other words, the result

from the data shows that the females are greater in number.

Table 4.2 Frequency Distribution of Age of Respondents

Age Frequent Percentage %

29
 18-25 72 18.90

26-35 145 38.05

36-45 79 20.73

46-55 43 11.29

56-65 29 7.61

Above 65 14 3.67

TOTAL 381 100

Source: Field Survey 2018

On age distribution of the respondents the study shows that the respondents cut across the entire

age bracket stated by the researcher. The table shows that the age bracket of 26-30 years had the

highest respondents with a total of 145 (38.05%) of the respondents, this was followed by the ages

from 31 to 35 years with 4 respondents representing 20.73% of the total respondents. The age

bracket of 31 to 35 was closely followed by the ages of 18-25 and 36-40 with respondents of 72

(18.90%) and 43 (11.29%) respectively. There was also the age bracket for those from 41 to 45

and 45 and above with a total of 29 representing 7.61% of the respondents. The study found

respondents to be very youth within the Weija-Gbawe constituency and have more working years

ahead of them.

Table 4.3 Frequency Distribution of Educational Background of Respondents

Educational level Frequent Percentage %

Secondary 53 13.91

Graduate 243 63.78

30
 Post graduate 85 22.03

TOTAL 381 100

Source: Field Survey 2018

It could be said also in the data that almost all the respondents have had a tertiary education as

majority of the respondents are graduates and with postgraduate degrees. The data shows 243

(63.78%) of the respondents are graduates from various universities and polytechnics. This was

followed by the respondents with their postgraduate’s degrees with a total of 85 respondents

representing 22.0% of the total respondents in the survey. The remaining 53 (13.91%) of the

respondent was a secondary school graduate.

Main analysis

freq

no
6%

yes
94%

yes no

Figure 4.1 Respondents presents on social media

31
The figure above also gives a data representation of respondent’s usage of social media. The figure

show a total of 358 (93.96%) of the respondents uses the various media platforms. Also, the data

shows that 23 (6.04%) of the respondents does not use any of the social media platforms.

Online banner advertisement and voting behavior

Two way Anova

A two-way Anova was conducted to determine whether there is any significant relationship

between dependable variable “Online banner advertisements and other form of advertising

influence my voting behavior” with respect to independent variable “Likelihood to vote in an

election” and “Age”.

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Table 4.4 Dependent Variable: Online banners adds

Source Type III Sum df Mean Square F Sig.

of Squares
Corrected Model 16.179a 5 3.236 2.909 .016
Intercept 117.043 1 117.043 105.217 .000
Age 1.896 1 1.896 1.705 .194
Likelihood to vote 5.657 3 1.886 1.695 .353
Age * 7.584 1 7.584 6.818 .010
Likelihood to vote
Error 126.812 375 1.112
Total 991.000 381
Corrected Total 142.992 380

a. R Squared = .113 (Adjusted R Squared = .074)

In the table we find the significant values of “age” and “likelihood to vote” are (0.375) and (0.172),

this is greater than (0.05), which show that individual independent variable does not have any

32
relationship with the dependable variable, but combined value independent variable (0.010) which

is less than (0.05), which show that there is relationship with dependable variable.

To determine whether there is any significant relationship between dependable variable “Online

banner ads and other form of advertising influence my voting behavior” with respect to independent

variable “Member of fan page on any political party” and “Age” again a one-way Anova was

conducted.

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Table 4.5 Dependent Variable: Online banners ads

Source Type III Sum df Mean Square F Sig.

of Squares
Corrected Model 11.715a 3 3.905 3.451 .019
Intercept 761.069 1 761.069 672.504 .000
Age .033 1 .033 .029 .865
Fan page 2.484 1 2.484 2.195 .141
Age * Fan page 5.248 1 5.248 4.638 .033
Error 131.277 377 1.132
Total 991.000 381
Corrected Total 142.992 380

a. R Squared = .082 (Adjusted R Squared = .058)

In the table we find the significant values of “age” and “Member of fan page of any political party”

are (0.865) and (0.141), this is greater than (0.05), which show that individual independent variable

does not have any relationship with the dependable variable, but combined value independent

variable (0.033) which is less than (0.05), which show that there is relationship with dependable

variable.

33
To determine whether there is any significant relationship between dependable variable “Online

polls influence my decision to vote” with respect to independent variable “Member of fan page

on any political party” and “Age” again Anova was conducted.

Online pulls voting influence

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Table 4.6 Dependent Variable: Online banners ads

Source Type III Sum df Mean Square F Sig.

of Squares
Corrected Model 12.140a 3 4.047 4.040 .009
Intercept 918.151 1 918.151 916.689 .000
Age .027 1 .027 .027 .869
Fan page 1.265 1 1.265 1.263 .263
Age * Fan page 7.305 1 7.305 7.293 .008
Error 116.185 375 1.002
Total 1155.000 381
Corrected Total 128.325 380

a. R Squared = .095 (Adjusted R Squared = .071)

In this table we find the significant values of “age” and “Member of fan page of any political

party” are (0.869) and (0.263), this is greater than (0.05), which show that individual independent

variable does not have any relationship with the dependable variable, but combined value

independent variable (0.008) which is less than (0.05), which show that there is relationship with

dependable variable

To determine whether there is any significant relationship between dependable variable “I might

be influence to vote for a particular politician based on content I read about him on twitter or

facebook” with respect to independent variable “I follow political candidate on twitter and

34
facebook” and “I actively engage in political discussion by expressing my opinion on facebook

and twitter”.

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Table 4.7 Dependent Variable: Be influence for a particular

Source Type III df Mean F Sig.

Sum of Square
Squares
Corrected Model 49.268a 19 2.593 2.737 .001
413.817
Intercept 391.982 1 391.982 .000

Engage in political 9.723 4 2.431 2.566 .043

discussion
Follow political candidate 16.937 4 4.234 4.470 .002

Engage in political
discussion * Follow 4.925 11 .448 .473 .916
political candidate
Error 94.724 316 .947

Total 889.000 381

Corrected Total 143.992 380

a. R Squared = .342 (Adjusted R Squared = .217)

In this table we find the significant values of “I follow political candidate on twitter and Facebook”

and “I actively engage in political discussion by expressing my opinion on Facebook and twitter”

are (0.043) and (0.002), this is smaller than (0.05), which show that individual independent

variable has relationship with the dependable variable, but combined value independent variables

(0.916) which is greater than (0.05), which show that there is no relationship with dependable

variable

35
Normality Test

To test whether dependable variable “The conversation on forum influence my decision to vote”

and independent variable (gender) follow normal distribution Tests of Normality

Table 4.8 Normality Test

Gender Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

Male .213 164 .000 .884 164 .000
Conversation forum .315 217 .000 .844 217 .000
Female

From the Shapiro-Wilk test, we find that the significant values for each of the variables are 0.000

< 0.05. Thus, H0 is rejected, i.e., they do not follow normal distribution

Man Whitney Test

To determine whether there is a significant impact of conversation on forum influence my decision

to vote on ‘Gender’.

Table 4.9 Man Whitney Test

Gender N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks
Male 164 53.99 4157.50
Conversation forum Female 217 72.15 3102.50
Total 381

The mean rank for female (72.15) is more than male(53.99).so female are more likely to influence

than male.

Table 4.10 Test Statisticsa

Conversation forum

36
 Mann-Whitney U 1154.500
Wilcoxon W 4157.500
Z -2.894
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .004

a. Grouping Variable: Gender

The Mann-Whitney ‘U’ value is 1154.500 The 2-tailed sig values is 0.004 < 0.05. So, H0 is

rejected and there is significant impact of conversation on forum influence my decision to vote on

gender

Normality Test

To test whether media platform data set follow normal distribution or not.

Table 4.11 Tests of Normality

Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk
Statistic Df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
Print .282 381 .000 .852 381 .000
Newspaper
Print Magazines .224 381 .000 .894 381 .000
Talk radio .218 381 .000 .901 381 .000
Broad cast new .262 381 .000 .810 381 .000
Social media .225 381 .000 .831 381 .000

From the Shapiro-Wilk test, we find that the significant values for each of the influencing factors

are 0.000 < 0.05. Thus, H0 is rejected, i.e., the media platform factors do not follow normal

distribution

Fried Man Test

To find the mean rank of the media platform in descending order.

37
Table 4.12 Ranks

Mean Rank
Print Newspaper 3.56
Print Magazines 1.86
Talk radio 2.21
Broadcast new 3.91
Social media 3.46

Television news are preferred most by people and it is rank high, after newspaper are preferred most

and at third position social media is used to keep track of political development

Table 4.13 Test Statistics

N 381
Chi-Square 175.856
df 4
Asymp. Sig. .000

a. Friedman Test

By using this test, we have tried to find out whether the questions are equally important for the

people or not. As seen our test results show that there is statistically significant difference between

the responses of the questions, ie there is a difference in the means

One Way Anova

To determine whether there is any significant relationship between variable “party which is

digitally interactive on social media” and likelihood to vote for that party.

ANOVA

38
4.14 Digitally interactive

Sum of df Mean Square F Sig.

Squares
Between Groups 41.387 4 10.347 6.688 .000
Within Groups 177.913 376 1.547
Total 219.300 380

In this table the result states that the significant values is .000 which less than 0.05, so H0 is

rejected and null hypothesis is accepted. Hence there is significant relationship between “party

which is digitally interactive on social media” and “likelihood to vote for that party

Crosstab

Likelihood to vote for that * Digitally interactive Cross tabulation

Table 4.15 Count

Digitally interactive Total

BJP Congress Aam others B+C B+A B+C+A

adami
party
Very 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 6
Unlikely
0 0 3 1 1 0 1 6
8 3 11 1 1 1 0
5
unlikely
28 6 17 3 0 2 0
6
Neutral
Likelihood to vote for that 19 2 5 1 0 0 0
Likely

Very
likely 7
Total 12 39 6 2 3 1
7 20

39
Table 4.16 Chi-Square Tests

Value df Asymp. Sig.

(2sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 45.388a 24 .005
Likelihood Ratio 32.195 24 .122
Linear-by-Linear Association 11.342 1 .001
N of Valid Cases 381
Source: Field Survey 2018
a. 28 cells (80.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .05.

The chi-square significance levels are .005 which is less than 0.05. This means that there is

significant relationship between “party which is digitally interactive on social media” and

“likelihood to vote for that party

Reliability test

Table 4.17 Case Processing Summary

N %

Valid 381 100.0

Cases Excludeda 0 .0
Total 381 100.0

a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Table 4.18 Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

.812 9

In this table Cronbach alpha value is .812 which is good and it signifies that data is reliable and it

show consistency so we can go for factor analysis .

40
Regression

To determine the relationship between the dependent variable – ‘Youtube are the important source

of information to me and affect my decision to vote’ and the independent variables – ‘Gender’

and ‘Member of fan page on any social networking site’

Table 4.19 Regression

Model R R Square Adjusted R Std. Error of the Durbin-Watson
Square Estimate
1 .282a .079 .064 1.02629 2.083

R = 0.282 explains the correlation between the dependent and independent variables. R is the

square root of R-Squared and is the correlation between the observed and predicted values of

dependent variable

R^2 = 0.079 indicates that 7% of the dependent variable can be explained by the independent

variables R-Square is the proportion of variance in the dependent variable which can be predicted

from the independent variable.

Adjusted R^2 = 0.64 < R^2 = 0.79 as adjusted R^2 considers the degrees

of freedom (df = 2).

Table 4.20 ANOVAa

Model Sum of df Mean Square F Sig.

Squares
Regression 10.635 2 5.317 5.049 .008b
Residual 123.232 379 1.053
Total 133.867 380

41
The significant value = 0.008 < 0.05, thus, regression model can be fit as there is a significant

difference in between the independent variables. These values are used to answer the question

"Do the independent variables reliably predict the dependent variable if smaller, so we can

conclude "Yes, the independent variables reliably predict the dependent variable.

Table 4.21 Coefficientsa

Model Unstandardized Standardized t Sig.

Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 3.136 .418 7.499 .000
Fanpage -.448 .189 -.210 -2.366 .020
Gender .392 .196 .178 2.005 .047

Here the results found that the significant value is less than 0.05, so relationship exist between

dependable and independent variable, and the relationship can be explained

42
 CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Introduction
This chapter contains a summary of the main findings of the study from the previous chapter. It

also concludes the study and suggests some recommendations based on the findings.

5.2 Summary of Findings

There is no denying the fact that the advent of social media has resulted in the most substantial

and pervasive change to communication in modern times. Social media remains the greatest

impetus for information dissemination in the 21st Century with its opportunities, particularly,

evidenced in the spontaneity of political events more than ever. The advent of social media has

therefore been touted as revolutionary in all spheres of human endeavour, including engagement

on public policy issues. Furthermore, social networking sites have been used to mobilize

individuals to protest all over the world. Some examples are the London youth demonstrations of

2011, due to the high level of unemployment among young adults, the demonstration by let my

vote count alliance and AFAG led by Richard Asante on a possible renewing of the country’s voter

register, the protest organize by popular actress Yvonne Nelson to protest against deteriorating

power crisis known as (Dumsor Dumsor) in the country, the 2009 Iranian protests against the re-

election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Carlisle and Patton, 2013: 883), or the Egyptian social

movements augmented by Twitter and Facebook, when President Mubarak shut down the Internet

for five days (Yang, 2013: 709). The data shows that majority of the social media provide

accessibility of various candidate to the electorate as a result of social media. A total of 96% of

the respondents also stated that social media helps to share and digest the messages of political

parties. According to Tolbert and McNeil (2009), suggested that the internet become more widely

43
used information tool for gathering political candidate information, therefore voters are more likely

to be properly informed and later participate in the political process. The study also found out that

social media helps to share and digest the political messages. This comes back to the arguments

made by Brun and Highfield (2013) and Christensen (2013) that social media would be especially

significant for smaller parties as it gives them a platform to introduce their policies, one they may

not have through mainstream media. On the issue of social media and its impact on political

communication. The study found out that 76% of the respondents agreed that social media helps

political parties to interact and engage with their support and other electorate. Graham et al. (2013)

focused on the use of Twitter for broadcasting messages or for interaction with voters. Showing

an understanding of how people use these social media technologies in their daily lives (McGee,

2016). It was also found out that the use of social media helps the political party to rebut on

allegations from their political opponents. Also a total of 86% of the respondents stated that social

media helps in getting feedbacks, suggestion and new ideas from political peers. This comes back

to the arguments made by Brun and Highfield (2013) and Christensen (2013) that social media

would be especially significant for smaller parties as it gives them a platform to introduce their

policies, one they may not have through mainstream media. The use of social media also helps to

expand political talk and discussion among citizens. This helps broadens the political scope and

horizons to afford the electorates.

5.3 Conclusion

From the analysis and interpretation it is clear that social media play a significant impact on voting

behavior of young voters. Political parties will be successful in influencing the people of Weija

Gbawe constituency. Social media is replacing the traditional media but in remote areas traditional

media still has significant impact in creating awareness among people. Social media provides

44
platform to the people to get connected to parties they favor. It became an important marketing

tool to reach to target audience in minimum time and within less cost. Online banners adds and

other form of advertising has a significant impact on young voter specially students which not

only influence them but also help in shaping their behavior. There is significant relationship with

aged of people. People use social media platform to keep track of political development,

technology play a vital role in giving first-hand information that to in less time.

It has been found that the conversation on forum influence the female more than the male which

indirectly affect their decision to vote. People follow the political candidate on twitter and

Facebook and also actively engage in political discussion by expressing their views and opinion.

It is found that, the party which is most digitally interactive on social media people are more likely

to favor that party and vote for that party. It is also found that those people who are highly active

on social media their decision of voting will be affected because of the content they read about

the particular politician. Social media not only pull the people by creating awareness among the

people but it also play a supportive role of pushing the people to vote, it is not possible for social

media alone to push the people but with help of news media and print media this task can be

achieved. It is found that Youtube videos are also the important source of information for people

and influence their decision to vote and there is relationship with gender. Online polls are some

of the pushing strategies, it is found that there is combined effect of “aged” and “member of

political party “on polls which influence their decision to vote.

Social media has become a pervasive part of our everyday lives. This research project aimed to

look at the role of social media in the political landscape of Ghana. Literature highlighted the

importance of political participation in a democratic society and provided a theoretical basis for

increasing political participation among citizens, this project suggests social media may provide

45
another means of political participation and the literature around that topic supported that view,

particularly studies on young people on social media.

Social media has become a pervasive part of our everyday lives. This research project aimed to

look at the role of social media in the political landscape of Ghana. Literature highlighted the

importance of political participation in a democratic society and provided a theoretical basis for

increasing political participation among citizens, this project suggests social media may provide

another means of political participation and the literature around that topic supported that view,

particularly studies on young people on social media.

5.4 Recommendations

The fact remains that large numbers of people took to social media to discuss the political issues

and all political parties employed some social media strategy. While most analysts suggested that

parties have yet to figure out the best ways to use social media, parties themselves are starting to

catch on. This research found that, in general, parties and candidates in Ghana used social media

as a means of broadcast and consumption. However, research also showed that parties were

beginning to use it in other ways, and this use leans towards social media as a means of

involvement and influence. This suggests that further research could be carried out to determine

whether or not parties are beginning to use social media more for interaction with the electorate

and if this could have any influence over how people vote. Social media is still a fairly new

phenomenon, particularly in comparison with television and radio. As we all still get to grips with

the best ways to incorporate this tool into everyday life, political parties too have to find the most

effective ways to use social media for their campaigns. The way it was used in this election may

not be the way it will be used in the next, and so work should continue to be carried out on this

topic.

46
In order for candidates to get more voters to their side, they need to integrate social media in their

campaigns since majority of the masses are on social media and it can reach as many at once.

Since integration alone is not enough, candidates exploit the potential that social media has in

reaching the youth electorate by ensuring that they exhaustively utilize all its capabilities of

reaching and raising resources for the campaign

As they confront the opportunities and demands of social media, political parties must take account

of the shifting makeup of audiences involved in particular social media for instance the use of

Facebook by mothers for day to day communication where they might have expected instead to

reach young teenagers and this adds a fascinating complexity to this whole area of interest, not

only for politicians but also for the political researcher.

47
REFERENCES
Aalberg, T., Blekesaune, A., & Elvestad, E. (2013). Media choice and informed democracy:

Toward increasing news consumption gaps in Europe? International Journal of Press/Politics,18,

281–303. doi:10.1177/1940161213485990

Aharony, N. (2012). Twitter Use By Three Political Leaders: An Exploratory Analysis. Emerald

Online Information Review, 36 (4), 587-603.

Budak, A. (2010). Facebook, Twitter, and Barack Obama: New Media and the 2008 Presidential

Elections. Retrieved September 16, 2017, from ProQuest Dissertations And Theses. (UMI No.

1474900

Boyd, d. (2007). The significance of social software. In T. N. Burg & J. Schmidt (Eds.), Blog talks

reloaded: Social software research & cases (pp. 15–30). Norderstedt, Germany: Books on Demand.

Boyd, d., & Ellison, N. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship.

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,13, 210–230.

Ghauri, P. & Ggonhaug (2010). Research studies in business education (4th ed.). Essex, England:

Pearson Education Limited.

International: Sweet to Tweet; Politics and Twitter (2010). The Economist, 395 (8681), 61.

Retrieved September 13, 2018, from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/223973038?accountid=10730

Smith, A., and Brenner, J. (2012). Twitter Use 2012. PEW Research Center. Retrieved September

16, 2012, from

http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Twitter_Use_2012.pdf

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Smith, A., and Rainie, L. (2012a). Social Networking Sites And Politics. PEW Research Center.

Retrieved September 16, 2018, from

http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_SNS_and_politics.pdf

O’Reilly, T. (2005, September 30).

What is web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for thenext generation of software.

Retrieved from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-

20.html?page=1

Sunstein, C. R. (2001).Republic.com. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

49
Appendix A
RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE

JAYEE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

RESEARCH TOPIC

“THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE IN GHANA”

Dear Respondent, this questionnaire is meant to seek information on the above topic. The
researchers are undergraduate students in the above department and this research work constitutes
the long essay component of the entire study. Please be assured that this research is purely an
academic exercise and as such your response will be kept strictly confidential. Please be at ease in
providing clear, accurate and objective responses to the questions. Thank you.

SECTION A: BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS

1. Sex of respondent a) Male….. b) Female…..

2. Age of respondent a) 18-25….. b) 26-35….. c) 36-40…..

d) 41-45….. f) Above 45…..

4. Highest educational level of respondent

a) Graduate ….. b) Tertiary …..

c) Post graduate …………

SECTION B

1. Are you on social media?

a) Yes b) no c) not sure

50
1. I follow political candidate on twitter and facebook

a)Yes b) No
2. I actively engage in political discussion by expressing my opinion on facebook and twitter
a)Yes b) No c) to some extent

3. Does social media provides you platform to get connected to political party which you favor?
a)Yes b) no

4. I might be influence to vote for a particular politician based on content I read about him on twitter
or facebook

a) Agreed b uncertain c. disagreed

5. Online polls influence my decision to vote

a) Yes b) no

6. Online banner ads and other forms of advertising influence my voting behavior
a) Agreed b) uncertain c) disagreed

b) Youtube videos are an important source of information to me and affect my decision to vote

b) Yes to some extent no

c) The conversion on forum influence my decision to vote

a)Yes b) no

51
Appendix B

Table: Table for Determining Sample Size from A Given Population

POPULATION SAMPLE

2200 327

2400 331

2600 335

2800 338

3000 341

3500 346

4000 351

4500 354

5000 357

6000 361

7000 364

8000 367

9000 368

10000 370

20000 377

40000 380

50000 381

52