SOCIAL MEDIA AND VOTING BEHAVIOR: A STUDY OF 2023 NIGERIA GENERAL ELECTIONS

ABSTRACT This work studied the impact of social media on voting behavior in 2023 general elections in Nigeria. It specifically appraised how social media was employed in the election, while it ascertained the nature of impacts taken up by social media on voting behavior during the processes of the election, as well as the impacts it had after the election. The agenda-setting theory as postulated by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw (1972) was employed to explain how social media as a form of mass media influences certain issues to assume the position of public agenda, which by so doing, demonstrates the powerful influence of the media. The study draws support from an explanatory research design to review the content of secondary data available for its analysis. It was established that social media has profound influence in ensuring the spread of political information throughout the phases of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. In the same vein, the resolutionalization of digital technologies was found to have transformed the speed at which information travels, cutting across space and time dimensions to reach a vast audience with the needed political information and contents the engenders a more active participation in the electoral processes. The study suggests that promoting digital literacy, combating misinformation and ensuring transparency are essential in ensuring a healthier environment that empowers voters to make informed political decisions.