EXAMINING THE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VOTERS PREFERENCE ACROSS AGE GROUPS IN NIGERIA’S PESIDENTIAL 2023 ELCTIONS.

Abstract

The adoption of social media has facilitated the dissemination of information and opportunities to the public. Social media platform has shaped the decision of age-groups voters in selecting their preferred candidate. It has also enabled the development of strategies that bring candidates closer to their audiences, a feat that was not achievable in the past two decades. There are concerns that although many politically engaged and educated voters are active on social media, only a few of them convert their activism into actual participation or voting. The objectives of this research were: The study investigates the impact of social media on Nigeria's 2023 election preferences, identifying age-group preferences, and its influence on Nigeria's democratic practice. Therefore the theory employed in this work is public sphere theory. The public sphere is an idea where individuals gather to talk about and identify societal issues, and through these discussions, shape political actions. In this study a survey method was used to analyze the data derived from respondents through administered of questionnaires online. A total of 385 questionnaires was administered online to people that have knowledge about social media and 385 was retrieved. The sample size (with finite population correction) is equal to 385. This study finds that social media users were more likely to say that they planned to vote than those who did not use social media implying that respondents intention to vote may be due to their social media the work conclude that social media is pivotal in 2023 presidential election and different age-groups made their choices based on the way social media content influenced their decisions.