Text Messages as Sources of Political News among Students in Zaria and Ilorin
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Date
2013-02
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Publisher
Department of Mass Communication, Ahamdu Bello University, Zaria.
Abstract
The popularity of mobile phones in Nigeria makes it an important medium for delivering information. More than 99 million people use the mobile phone, which is more than half the population of the country. Most of these people will increasingly receive information, news and other media content in form of text messages through their mobile phones. A significant number of these populations are youths majority whom are students. Unfortunately, most use this service for interpersonal communication alone rather than receive political news. Thus, against the backdrop of previous research findings that the application of text messages is increasing as a means of communication in Nigeria, this research assessed the use and acceptability of text messages as a channel of political news dissemination to students in Zaria and Ilorin. Thus, selected students were surveyed and a questionnaire was used to elicit responses from a sample of 291 from the two towns. Using the simple percentage for analysis, findings revealed that text messages as a means of disseminating political news to students was acceptable and will succeed if adopted by traditional mass media houses.
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Keywords
Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM), Political News, Youth, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Technology Acceptance Model (Text Messages)
Citation
8. Abdulrauf-Salau, A. (2012). Text Messages as Sources of Political News among Students in Zaria and Ilorin. Zaria Journal of Communication (ZAJCOM). 2 (1); 59-81, Published by Department of Mass Communication, Ahamdu Bello University, Zaria