New Media Techologies and Democracy: The influence of Social Networking Sites on Political Attitudes and Behaviour among the Urban Youth in Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the influence of social networking sites on political participation and civic engagement among the Kenyan urban youth. Social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook and twitter have become important avenues for political participation among the youth showing great promise for increasing political interest and participation among the disengaged youth. They have created a n easily accessible, interesting, convenient and rewarding platform for young people to be engaged in political discourse. Different candidates have used social media in political campaigns with mixed results. Different studies have also yielded mixed results on how social network sites influence political and civic participation. This area is clearly in need of theoretical and empirical examination. The study broadly looked at how social media are currently being used in the political arena in Kenya. More specifically, the study focused on the effects of usage and reliance on social networking sites on political engagement and democratic participation among young adults ; the extent to which social networking sites facilitate political discussions among the urban youth in Kenya; whether reliance on social networking sites is related to increased civic and political participation and the extent to which social networking sites influence political attitudes and knowledge among the urban youth . The study was guided by Habermas theory of public sphere examining SNS as an extension of the public sphere facilitating a vibrant discussion of politics online and facilitating political mobilization of the youth. A cross - sectional survey targeting urban youths was conducted in two Universities in Nairobi in which 600 questionnaires were administered to the targeted respondents aged between 18 - 35 through a combination of cluster and stratified random sampling techniques. 512 questionnaires were returned dully filled and used for analysis. Focus group discussions were also conducted with sampled youths from the two universities. Besides a descriptive analysis of the data, a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted in which data was analyzed in several blocks to isolate the relationship between the various variables. The study found that reliance on social networking sites is positively associated with political participation but not civic participation. This influence on political participation is significant but limited, it adds value but does not radically transform political engagement. Young people frequently engage in internet based political activities like blogging, po sting and distributing campaign information and videos which have a bearing on political participation. Reliance on social networking sites has an important though limited role in shaping political opinions and decisions. The study concluded that SNSs are important in the political campaigning process, however, online SNSs campaigns must be utilized together with other campaign activities and media in complementarity and mutual dependency to supplement offline campaigns because mobilization of voters must primarily be done offline