This article examines the linguistic construction of textual messages in the use of blogs and Twitter in the Nigerian 2007 electoral cycle comprising the April 2007 general elections and rerun elections in April, May, and August 2009. A qualitative approach of discourse analysis is used to present a variety of discursive acts that blogging and microblogging afford social media users during the electoral cycle. The data are culled from 245 blog posts and 923 tweets. The thesis of the study is that citizens’ access to social media electronically empowers the electorates to be actively involved in democratic governance. Electronic empowerment is a direct result of access to social media (and mobile telephony) by more citizens who constitute the electorates. This encourages more public discussions about politics and makes the democratic process more dynamic than in the pre—social media era. An analysis of the data shows that there is a dialectical relationship between social media discourse and the process of political empowerment.
Achumba, A. ( 2007, April 21). Nigeria votes 2007 Part II: The presidential election [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://according2adaure.blogspot.com/2007/04/nigeria-votes-2007-part-ii-presidential.html
2.
Adamic, L.A., & Glance, N. ( 2005). The Political Blogosphere and the 2004 U.S. Election: Divided They Blog. 2nd Annual Weblogging Workshop , WWW 2005, May 10, Chiba, Japan.
3.
Ajao, D. ( 2007a, April 18). Nigeria: Blogging the historic election (Part 1) [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/04/18/nigeria-blogging-the-historic-election-part-1/
4.
Ajao, D. ( 2007b, May 4). Nigeria: Blogging the historic election (Part 2) [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.davidajao.com/blog/2007/05/04/nigeria-blogging-the-historic-election-part-2/
5.
Akinsanmi, T. ( 2006, June 9). Here they come again: Deciding our future through the 2007 elections [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://pourjamais.blogspot.com/2006/06/here-they-come-again-deciding-our.html
6.
Banks, K. ( 2007). And then came the Nigerian elections: The story of FrontlineSMS . Stanford Journal of African Studies, Spring/ Fall, 2-4.
7.
BBC News. (2007, April 20). Texts monitor Nigerian elections. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6570919.stm
8.
Bolaji Aluko and Co. (2009, September). Twittering Ekiti electoral developments. Retrieved from http://twitter.com/ekitirr
9.
Boyd, D.M., & Ellison, N.B. ( 2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship . Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
10.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. ( 2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7, 585-614.
11.
Castells, M. ( 2007). Communication, power and counter-power in the network society. International Journal of Communication, 1, 238-266.
12.
Cross, R. ( 2005). Blogging for votes: An examination of the interaction between weblogs and the electoral process. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Marriott Hotel, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p34174_index.html
13.
Dahlgren, P. ( 2005). The Internet, public spheres, and political communication: Dispersion and deliberation. Political Communication, 22, 147-162.
14.
de Moor, A., & Efimova, L. ( 2004, June). An argumentation analysis of weblog conversations . Proceedings of the 9th International Working Conference on the Language-Action Perspective on Communication Modelling (LAP 2004). Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick.
15.
de Zúñiga, H.G., Puig-I-Abril, E., & Rojas, H. ( 2009). Weblogs, traditional sources online and political participation: An assessment of how the Internet is changing the political environment. New Media and Society, 11, 553-574.
16.
Drezner, D., & Farrell, H. ( 2004, July). The power and politics of blogs. Paper presented at the American Political Science Association . Retrieved from www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~farrell/blogpaperfinal.pdf
17.
Efimova, L., & Fiedler, S. ( 2004). Learning webs: Learning in weblog networks. Submitted to Web-based communities 2004, Lisbon, Portugal. Retrieved from https://doc.telin.nl/dscgi/ds.py/Get/File-35344
18.
Eigen, T. ( 2007, March 12). Blueprint for a Nigerian Civil Society Election blog [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.saidia.org/2007/03/15/blueprint-for-a-nigerian-civil-society-election-blog/
19.
European Union Election Observation Mission, Federal Republic of Nigeria. (2007, April 23). Presidential, National Assembly, Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly Elections 14/21 April 2007, Statement of preliminary findings and conclusions. Elections fail to meet hopes and expectations of the Nigerian people and fall far short of basic international standards. Retrieved from http://www.nigerianmuse.com/20070427135726zg/sections/important-documents/eu-observation-mission-to-nigeria-s-april-2007-elections-statement-of-preliminary-findings/
20.
Fairclough, N. ( 1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language . Harlow, England: Longman.
21.
Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. ( 1997). Critical discourse analysis. In T. A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction (pp. 258-284). London, England: SAGE.
22.
Feld, L., & Wilcox, N. ( 2008). Netroots rising: How a citizen army of bloggers and online activists is changing American politics. Westport, CT: Praeger.
23.
’Gbenga Sesan. ( 2009, April 22). Thanks to @alukome, you can follow Saturday’s re-run elections in Ekiti State, Nigeria, on twitter [Twitter post]. Retrieved from http://twitter.com/gbengasesan/statuses/1587763625
24.
Gill, K.E. ( 2004, May 17-22). How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere? . Retrieved from http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www.2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf
25.
Gillmor, D. ( 2003, April 11). Making the news. News, Views and a Silicon Valley Diary. Retrieved from http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/000924.shtml
26.
Herring, S. ( 2004). Computer-mediated discourse analysis: An approach to researching online behaviour. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, & J. Gray (Eds.), Designing for virtual communities in the service of learning (pp. 338-376). New York, NY : Cambridge University Press.
27.
Herring, S., Scheidt, L., Bonus, S., & Wright, E. ( 2004). Bridging the gap: A genre analysis of weblogs. Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-37). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press.
28.
Herring, S., Scheidt, L., Bonus, S., & Wright, E. ( 2005). Weblogs as a bridging genre. Information Technology & People, 18, 142-171.
29.
Honeycutt, C., & Herring, S.C. ( 2009). Beyond microblogging: Conversation and collaboration via Twitter. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Press.
30.
Huberman, B.A., Romero, D.M., & Wu, F. ( 2009, January). Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope. First Monday, 14, Article 1-5. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2317/2063
31.
Ijebuman’s Diary. (2007, April 11). Characteristics of a Naija politician [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://naijaman.cfmxdeveloper.co.uk/diary/2007/04/characteristics-of-naija-politician.html
32.
International Telecommunication Union. (2009 ). Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Africa. Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-RPM.AF-2009-PDF-E.pdf
33.
International Telecommunication Union. (2010 ). ITU World Telecommunication / ICT Indicators Database March, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/Indicators/Indicators.aspx#
34.
Iyanda, F. ( 2007, April 17). Do or die "selections" [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://fiyanda.blogspot.com/2007/04/door-die-selections.html
35.
Iyanda, F. ( 2007, April 23). Power from the people [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://fiyanda.blogspot.com/2007/04/power-from-people.html
36.
Jason, P. ( 2005, April 4). The Foundation Interview Series 3: Chief Ernest Shonekan. The Achebe Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.nigeriavillagesquare1.com/Articles/CAchebe/2005/04/foundation-interview-series-3-chief.html
37.
Java, A., Song, X., Finn, T., & Tseng, B. ( 2006, August). Why we Twitter: Understanding microblogging usage and communities. Joint 9th WEBKDD and 1st SNA-KDD Workshop ’07, San Jose, CA.
38.
Jennings, M.K., & Zeitner, V. ( 2003). Internet use and civic engagement: A longitudinal analysis . Public Opinion Quarterly, 67, 311-334.
39.
Katz, J.E., & Rice, R.E. ( 2002). Social consequences of Internet use: Access, involvement and interaction. Cambridge: MIT Press.
40.
Kelly, J., & Etling, B. ( 2008). Mapping Iran’s online public: Politics and culture in the Persian blogosphere. Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2008-01, The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
41.
Lawson-Borders, G., & Kirk, R. ( 2005). Blogs in campaign communication. American Behavioral Scientist, 49, 548-559.
42.
Lesser, H. ( 2007, April 24). Washington asks Nigerians to resolve election grievances peacefully. Voice of America. Retrieved from http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-04/2007-04-24voa3.cfmCFID=185740380andCFTOKEN=46853859
43.
Macha, N. ( 2007, April 25). Blogs and the Nigerian Elections: Will we stop talking about our cats and shoes for one day? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/04/25/blogs-and-the-nigerian-elections-will-we-stop-talking-about-our-cats-and-shoes-for-one-day/
44.
Mischaud, E. ( 2007). Twitter: Expressions of the whole self. An investigation into user appropriation of a web-based communications platform. London, England: Media@lse. Retrieved from http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/mediaWorkingPapers/MScDissertationSeries/Mischaud_final.pdf
45.
Nardi, B., Schiano, D., & Gumbrecht, M. ( 2004, November). Blogging as social activity, or, would you let 900 million people read your diary?Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, Chicago, IL. pp. 222-231.
46.
Nardi, B., Schiano, D., Gumbrecht, M., & Swartz, L. ( 2004a). "I’m blogging this" A closer look at why people blog. Submitted to Communications of theACM.
47.
Nardi, B., Schiano, D., Gumbrecht, M., & Swartz, L. ( 2004b). Why we blog. Communications of the ACM , 47, 41-46.
48.
Network of Mobile Election Monitors. (2007 ). Election monitoring report on the Nigerian presidential elections held on April 21, 2007. Retrieved from http://www.mobilemonitors.org/NigerianBlogsAggregator. Retrieved from http://nigerianbloggers.com
49.
Nigerian Communications Commission. (2009a). Quarterly summary of telephone subscribers in Nigeria (January 2009-September 2009). Retrieved from http://www.ncc.gov.ng/industrystatistics/subscriberdata_files/Subscriber_Data_Quarterly_Summary_200903-200909.pdf
50.
Nigerian Communications Commission. (2009b). Telecoms subscriber report (Annualised) for Years 2001-2008. Retrieved from http://www.ncc.gov.ng/industrystatistics/subscriberdata_files/Telecoms_Subscriber_Info_2001-2008.pdf
51.
Obadare, E. ( 2006). Playing politics with the mobile phone in Nigeria: Civil Society, Big Business & the State. Review of African Political Economy, 107, 93-111.
52.
Obama, B. ( 2008, August 10). Announcing the VP candidate sometime between now & the Convention by txt msg & email [Twitter post]. Retrieved from http://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/883563719
53.
Odukoya, T. ( 2007, April 21). Nigerian presidential elections: My voting experience [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.tayoodukoya.com/2007/04/nigerian-presidental-elections-my.html
54.
Ojikutu, A. ( 2007, April 14). Election 2007: Nigeria’s appointment with destiny [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://peoplesarena.blogspot.com/2007/04/election-2007-nigeriasappointment-with.html
55.
Omodudu. (2007, April 12). Calling Nigerian bloggers . . . [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.omodudu.com/2007/04/calling-nigerian-bloggers.html
56.
OpenNet Initiative. (2007, November 15). Internet watch report: The 2007 presidential election in Nigeria . Retrieved from http://opennet.net/research/bulletins/014
57.
Ore’s Notes. (2007, April 14). Voting in progress . . . [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://orenotes.blogspot.com/2007/04/voting-in-progress.html
58.
Polat, K.P. ( 2005). The Internet and political participation: Exploring the explanatory links. European Journal of Communication, 20, 435-459.
59.
Purpose Driven Blog. (2007, April 17). My voting experience [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://ife234.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-voting-experience.html
60.
Quan-Haase, A., Wellman, B., Witte, J., & Hampton, K. ( 2002). Capitalizing on the Net: Social contact, civic engagement, and sense of community. In B. Wellman & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet in everyday life (pp. 291-324). Malden, MA: Blackwell .
61.
Schmidt, J. ( 2007). Blogging practices: An analytical framework. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 13. Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/schmidt.html
62.
Searle, J.P. ( 2003). Social ontology and political power. In F. F. Schmitt (Ed.), Socializing metaphysics: The nature of social reality (pp. 195-210). Oxford, England: Rowman & Littlefield.
63.
Soyinka, W. ( 2007, June 7). Nigeria at a crossroads: Elections, legitimacy and a way forward. Testimony before the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee. Retrieved from http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/soy060707.htm
64.
Sroka, T. ( 2006). Understanding the political influence of blogs: A study of the growing importance of the blogosphere in the U.S. Congress. Washington, DC: Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, The George Washington University.
65.
Trammell, K.D. ( 2007). Candidate campaign blogs: Directly reaching out to the youth vote. American Behavioral Scientist, 50, 1255-1263.
66.
Tremayne, M. (Ed.). (2006). Blogging, citizenship, and the future of media. New York, NY: Routledge.
67.
Twitter.com. (2008, September 25). Twitter Election 2008. Retrieved from http://election.twitter.com
68.
van Dijk, T. ( 1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse and Society4, 249-283.
69.
Vandu, C. ( 2005, January 8). Military democracy [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://chippla.blogspot.com/2005/01/military-democracy.html
70.
Walker, J. ( 2003). "Weblog." Final version of weblog definition for the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory. Retrieved from http://jilltxt.net/archives/blog_theorising/final_version_of_weblog_definition.html
71.
WebContent.gov. (n.d.). Social media and Web 2.0 in government. Retrieved from http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/technology/other_tech.shtml
72.
Wellman, B., Quan-Haase, A., Boase, J., & Chen, W. ( 2003). The social affordances of the Internet for networked individualism. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication , 8(3). Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue3/wellman.html
73.
Wellman, B., Quan-Haase, A., Witte, J., & Hampton, K. ( 2001). Does the Internet increase, decrease or supplement social capital? American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 436-455.
74.
Wijnia, E. ( 2004). Understanding weblogs: a communicative perspective. In T. Burg (Ed.), BlogTalks 2.0: The European conference on weblogs (pp. 38-82). Retrieved from http://elmine.wijnia.com/weblog/archives/wijnia_understandingweblogs.pdf
75.
Williams, C.B., & Gulati, G.J. ( 2008). The political impact of Facebook. [Politics and Technology Review]. Washington, DC: George Washington University.
76.
Yomi Says. ( 2007, April 14). Monitoring the gubernatorial elections [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.yomisays.com/?p=285
