Social media penetration, party politics and elections in Tanzania Emerging practices and challenges

Awinia, Christopher Simeon

doi:10.20940/jae/2021/v20i1a8

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…They submit messages, videos, and art clips to canvass for voters. On the other hand, it gave the party the ability to recruit new supporters for their campaign and to add those who had just joined as members (Awinia, 2021).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The implementation of the Cybersecurity Act in February 2015, a few months before the 2015 general election, has restricted campaigning activities, including open discussions on alternative development policy options during elections, restricted. As a result, contesting parties only use social media as a one-way communication tool to promote party manifestos and ideologies and to introduce candidates to voters who have cell phones to share the latest information about the party's activities, photos, and events that have taken place (Awinia, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Media Election Campaign

Ridzuan¹,

Wahab²,

Hassan³

et al. 2023

IJARBSS

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Being confronted with an overflowing pile of information or message delivery is nothing new in the digital age. The rapid development of new social media platforms has altered the way political institutions like politicians, political parties, foundations, institutions, and political think tanks handle their election campaigns. Hence, this study seeks to identify the most discussed issues on social media during the election campaign using a systematic review method, taking into account potential articles published from January 2021 to December 2022 on Google Scholar. Variations in the terms used in this research include campaign, election, political institutions, social media, and systematic review. The author's keyword is to reflect the content of a journal that conforms to the desired essence. After the screening process and based on the title and abstract, nine studies met the criteria as per the objective of this research. Results indicate that the most discussed issues are the biographies of the candidates, followed by party ideologies and manifestos. The topics covered in this research aid in the understanding of existing issues in political campaigns. Future research should improve studies on the benefits of social media during election campaigns for both parties, candidates, and voters.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media Election Campaign

Ridzuan¹,

Wahab²,

Hassan³

et al. 2023

IJARBSS

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“…This observation notwithstanding, there have been positive developments regarding the use of social media in Tanzania. As Awinia (2021) and Kwayu (2019) have observed, political parties have been using social media to perform some routine and strategic functions.…”

Section: A Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, political parties have sometimes used social media for political mobilization and fundraising (The Citizen, 2020;Awinia, 2021). Social media usage has nonetheless varied across political parties in Tanzania.…”

Section: A Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This institutionalization gap makes the adoption of social media as an alternative communication channel inevitable especially to opposition parties. For this reason, as recent studies indicate, some political parties in Tanzania have started to actively use social media to engage with the electorate (Kwayu, 2022, Awinia, 2021. While these studies shed light on political parties' use of social media, little is known regarding the extent to which these parties have established themselves on social media platforms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Digital Revolution and the Prospects for Online Political Communication

Babeiya,

Magoti

2023

udslj

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A revolution in information and communication technology has introduced social media as alternative platforms through which political parties can interact with the public. Political parties’ success in using these avenues depends on the online strategies applied. Tanzania has not been an exception in the use of social media as political parties have been using them for political activities. However, little is known regarding the way political parties have established themselves on social media platforms. Using the equalization, normalization, and hybrid perspectives as an analytical framework, this paper examines the status of Tanzania’s political parties in social media. The data obtained through the review of social media pages, key informant interviews and documentary analysis reveal that although political parties have been using social media for political activities, the profile of their social media status is low. The findings further show that social media have not altered the balance of power among political parties in Tanzania as the social media profile of opposition political parties does not significantly differ from that of the ruling party CCM as revealed by the number of their social media pages, followers and posts as well testimonies through interviews regarding social media usage. Several factors including political parties’ limited awareness of the potential of social media, the unpredictability of the political system as well as resource constraints are attributed to this status. To overcome these challenges, a call is made for policy and capacity building interventions to empower political parties and the citizenry for effective online engagement.

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