Beyond Web 2.0. Social media and urban educated Youths participation in Kenyan politics

Abstract

The purpose of the study, was to contribute to a further understanding of the shifting dynamics in youth political communication enabled by advancements in ICTs and explore the extent to which social media use has impacted on both institutional and extra-institutional political participation. The study sought to critically analyse the relationship between social media use and urban youth political participation by integrating both probability and non-probability sampling techniques to generate data using web based questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions among undergraduate students aged 18-24 years. From the findings it emerged that a majority of educated urban youth prefer to use Facebook to access political information. In addition, the users viewed social media as a free space where they could express their political views without censorship or regulation. As a result, it was established that as the use of social media increases, so does participation in politics, indicating a positive relationship between how youth use social media and their participation in politics.