ACMJ Article

Abstract

The study examined voters’ exposure level to social media campaigns of candidates during the 2023 gubernatorial election, social media platforms on which voters were mostly exposed to gubernatorial candidates during the 2023 election, and the influence of exposure to social media campaign messages on voters’ choice during the 2023 gubernatorial election. The study was conducted in the Mushin Local Government Area, with a population of about 2,000,000. However, a sample size of 399 was determined using Taro Yamane's formula. The study was designed as a quantitative study, and data were collected via a survey instrument. Of the 399 self-administered questionnaire copies, 386 were properly completed and suitable for analysis. The study found that, six decades after Marshall McLuhan proposed the technological determinism theory, both its ontological and axiological assumptions remain true, as social media has changed voter engagement. The respondents were highly exposed to the campaign messages of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor) of the PDP, and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, indicating widespread social media use by political candidates and voters. It was further found that the respondents were mostly exposed to gubernatorial candidates' political campaign messages through Facebook (83.2%), Twitter (55.4%), Instagram (45.0%), and TikTok (34.0%). These social media interactions have been found to relate to voters' preferences during the election to a large extent (Sanwo-Olu: 62.5%; Adediran: 13.0%; Rhodes-Vivour: 24.5%). These findings support the assumptions of technological determinism, which hold that technology has a significant impact on how people think, feel, and act, as well as on how societies organise and function. This leads to the conclusion that advancements in digital communication technology will continue to influence how politicians and voters think, feel, and act during elections. As a result, it is recommended that political parties and politicians explore using digital channels, such as social media, as an effective election strategy.

TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM, SOCIAL MEDIA AND VOTER ENGAGEMENT IN THE 2023 GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN LAGOS STATE, 2025, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 38-47. PDF