Happy New Year!
This year starts on a very interesting note as campaigns are
underway in Uganda – as we see political leaders campaigning to stay or get
into office.
Very crucial to this year’s elections is the use
of Social Media platforms for mobilization of voters and hopefully votes.
I have been asked so many times – will this be
Uganda’s first social media election? And I always want to ask – ‘What is a
Social Media Election’? In 2011, there were a handful of young people on
Twitter and Facebook that talked about the elections. I remember the hashtag
for Election day and period was #UgandaVotes. This
election period #UgandaDecides is
the go to- hashtag. On a good day, there will be about 1000 tweets sent
out with the hashtag.
The various Presidential Aspirants have got
their own for their campaign activities: Amama Mbabazi is using#AmamaTrail and #GoForward2016.
Dr Colnel Kizza Besigye’s team is using #WesigeBesigye.
The incumbent President Yoweri Museveni is using #VoteSevo and #SteadyProgress. The
other presidential aspirants are not that visible online.
That said: Has Social Media had an Impact on Political
Communication & Civic Engagement in Uganda? Yes it has. We have seen quite
a lot of it in this election period. Will Social Media be able to ‘deliver
victory’ in the coming elections – I am not so sure about that, it depends on
who you are talking to and how one is able to measure the impact . However the
truth is – ALOT has changed since 2011. There is a lot more use of Social Media
Platforms by both the citizenry and the politicians.
A couple of great authors brought together by
Konrad Adeneaur Stiftung have put together a timely publication titled
: Assessing the Impact Of Social Media on Political Communication and
Civic Engagement in Uganda – this I believe is just the beginning of the
conversation of the good that Social Media is able to bring to our community. You
can download a copy of it here : [I feature in there somewhere] and let us get
this conversation started. Assessing the Impact of
Social Media
FROM: http://ruthaine.com/2016/01/assessing-the-imapct-of-social-media-on-political-communication-civil-engagement-in-uganda.html
Congrats to friend of mine Ruth Aine!
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