Twitter as News Source to Select Audiences in Ilorin, Nigeria.
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Date
2013
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Publisher
African Council for Communication Education (ACCE)
Abstract
With over a million users in the country, making it the third most active African country on Twitter, Twitter is growing in importance in the Nigerian, as its existence in the nation’s media landscape cannot be ignored. Today, most media outlets now have a presence on it with a feed directing audience to their respective sites. More than ever, the digital generations in Nigerian are now using it to learn about what’s happening in the world. It is against this backdrop that this study surveyed select audiences in Ilorin by purposively sampling 300 respondents in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria to assess their uses, awareness, preference and acceptability of Twitter as a news source. The study revealed that 85.3% of audiences are aware of Twitter as a news source and 93.2% of those who are aware of this novel source of news have received such news. Nonetheless, 79.9% of respondent still prefer to get their news via traditional mass media than on Twitter. This could indicate that despite the increasing role played by Twitter in the Nigerian media environment, some audiences are yet to fully embrace this social media as a news source. Hence, ways of encouraging audiences in Ilorin to embrace Twitter as a news source should be devised.
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Keywords
Social Media, Twitter, Audiences, Traditional Mass Media, Uses and Gratification
Citation
Abdulrauf-Salau, A. (2013). Twitter as News Source to Select Audiences in Ilorin, Nigeria. In Communication and the New Media in Nigeria: Social Engagements, Political Developments and Public Discourse. D. Wilson (eds.) 189-211. Published by African Council for Communication Education (ACCE). ISBN: 978-978-934-862-6. http://www.accenigeria.org/acce/.