Temitayo Famutimi writes on the management and effectiveness of Twitter and Facebook accounts of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Action Congress of Nigeria
The Peoples Democratic Party and the Action Congress of Nigeria, which many will describe as the two leading political parties in Nigeria, are not left out in the new media revolution.
Both parties seem to have shared the ‘sentiments’ that opportunities abound in the digital media landscape. They have used the social media as a means of communicating and engaging with their members and most especially with the electorates.
However, the PDP may not be considered as the biggest political party on the continent of Africa, at least on the social media networks, if it is placed side by side with the ACN — needless to talk of South Africa’s ruling Africa National Congress.
A look at the Twitter and Facebook accounts of the self-acclaimed biggest political party in Africa, indicates that they are active. However, its followership base is far lower than that of the ACN whose accounts have long been out of use.
The Twitter handle, @PdpNigeria, created on April 2, 2012, has a followership base of 1079 people as at 3.40pm on Monday. The handle has the bio, “The Official PDP Nigeria Twitter profile. Stay updated and dialogue with the Peoples Democratic Party…Power to the People.”
The irony, however, is that since it came on stream, it had only tweeted 127 times. Besides, the PDP’s Facebook account, though active, only has 5,456 followers, compared to ACN’s 18,503 followers.
The ANC’s @MyANC_ has 43,813 followers and its tweets count stood at 3,503 as at the time of filing this report. ANC’s Facebook fan page, with the profile name MyANC, has 15,625 followers.
A visit to the official Facebook and Twitter accounts of the ACN lends credence to the fact that they are only actively used during electioneering.
The Twitter handle @ACNigeria was opened on November 28, 2010, during the build up to the 2011 general elections. The account, as at Monday, has 5,918 followers with 557 tweets and follows 14 Twitter accounts. However the last time the account tweeted was on September 19 2012.
The tweet stated, “ACN Youth Forum: Ondo Youth Vote For Change – 2000 youths to discuss with Barrister Akeredolu at the BOT Hall in Akure.”
Before this last tweet, the account was actively used in April 2011 to canvass for votes and announce winners of elections in various state constituencies and governorship seats.
On ACN’s Facebook page, with the profile name ‘Action Congress of Nigeria’, which has 18,503 fans, one wonders if the purpose of the account is only for electioneering.
The account was last updated on October 20, 2012, with a shared link to photo-news and observed lapses during the Ondo State governorship election.
Perhaps, the management and effectiveness of the social media accounts of the United States’ Democratic Party should serve as a motivating factor to the managers of social media accounts of Nigerian political parties.
The Twitter account, with the handle @TheDemocrats which has President Barack Obama as its avater, is not just active but also boasts 216,603 followership base. The Democratic Party’s Facebook page also has 582,827 fans.
When our correspondent called the National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on the telephone to speak on the management of the party’s social media accounts, he said he was not the one in charge of it.
“It is the secretariat of the party that manages the social media accounts of the party. Try and reach the national secretary of the party,” Mohammed said.
Calls placed to the telephone of the party’s national secretary, Senator Lawal Mohammed, rang out. A text message sent to his phone was also not replied.
Also, the telephone of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, did not connect when contacted.