Engaging citizens through social media

Abstract

There is a growing move by government leaders in Nigeria to showcase their social media presence in personal communications or official government websites. However, the motive for using social media is not clear. Is it to take advantage of the power of social media to foster citizen engagement or is it just a case of joining the bandwagon? Are those with high social media activity, the Governor's perceived as high performers? Nigeria operates a federal system of government with 36 states. each managed by an elected Governor. This study attempts to answer the question posed with respect to the State Governors in Nigeria and their use of social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter. The social media activity of each Governor was scanned for evidence of engagement between them and citizens. The conclusion is reached that while many Governors have social media accounts, citizen engagement is quite low although there seems to be a relationship between a Governor's social media activity and governance performance.