EFFECT OF TWITTER BAN ON THE ECONOMY OF NIGERIA
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.0 INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research.
2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Social Media
Social media are computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Users typically access social media services via web-based technologies on desktop computers and laptops, or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g.smartphones and tablet computers). When engaging with these services, users can create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-made content posted online. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between businesses, organizations, communities and individuals. Social media changes the way individuals and large organizations communicate (Curran, O'Hara, & O'Brien, 2015). These changes are the focus of the emerging field of technological studies. Social media differs from paper-based media (e.g., magazines and newspapers) or traditional electronic media such as TV broadcasting in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, interactivity, usability, immediacy, and permanence. Social media operate in a dia-logic transmission system (many sources to many receivers). This is in contrast to traditional media which operates under a mono-logic transmission model (one source to many receivers), such as a paper newspaper which is delivered to many subscribers or a radio station which broadcasts the same programs to an entire city. Some of the most popular social media websites are Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, Tumblr, Viber, VK, WeChat, Weibo, WhatsApp, Wikia, and YouTube.
Evolution Of Social Media (Twitter)
The term social media is known by everyone in today’s world. Not only the urban areas but also the remote areas of the world have at least heard about Facebook. Instagram and Twitter and may be using them daily. Although it seems like a new trend at the present, it has been practiced and started a few decades ago. During the 20th century, technology began to change rapidly (Hendricks 2017).
Social media have evolved through Web 2.0, a term coined to describe a new wave of Internet innovation that enables users to publish and exchange content online (Kaplan and Haenlein cited in Eun 2015). Social media encompass a wide range of electronic forums, including blogs, microblogs (e.g., Twitter), social networking sites (e.g., Facebook), creative work-sharing sites (e.g., YouTube), business networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn), collaborative websites (e Among these social media, social networks and microblogs are the most popular, accounting for 22.7% of all time spent online in the United States, A.C Nielsen (cited in Eun 2015). According to Dominick (2019), Web 2.0 is the idea of a second generation Internet that is highly participatory, allowing users to improve it as they use it. Social media content is primarily written and published by their users and not owners or employees of the site.
The first social media site was created in 1997 by Andrew Weinreich. It enables the registered user to upload a profile and make friends with other users. Then, blogging became popular. The invention of blogging and social media exploded in popularity. Sites such as Myspace, LinkedIn came into existence during 2000. (Barker, Barker, Bormann, Roberts & Zahay 2016). After that, Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006 were created and available to users all over the world. These sites are recognized to be the most popular social networks until now on the internet. A tremendous variety of social networking sites can be linked to allow cross posting. It is very difficult to decide the future of social networking might look in the coming years or even decades from now, but it seems that it will have its existence until humans exist on earth (Hendricks 2017).
Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through its website interface or its mobile-device application software ("app"), though the service could also be accessed via SMS before April 2020.The service is provided by Twitter, Inc., a corporation based in San Francisco, California, and has more than 25 offices around the world. Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but the limit was doubled to 280 for non-CJK languages in November 2017.Audio and video tweets remain limited to 140 seconds for most accounts (Alsubagh, H. 2015).
Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 and launched in July of that year. By 2012, more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day, and the service handled an average of 1.6 billion search queries per day. In 2013, it was one of the ten most-visited websites and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet". As of Q1 2019, Twitter had more than 330 million monthly active users.Twitter is a some-to-many microblogging service, given that the vast majority of tweets are written by a small minority of users (Twitter Search Team 2011).
In April 2014, Twitter underwent a redesign that made the site resemble Facebook somewhat. On June 4, 2014, Twitter announced that it would acquire Namo Media, a technology firm specializing in "native advertising" for mobile devices. On June 19, 2014, Twitter announced that it had reached an undisclosed deal to buy Snappy TV, a service that helps edit and share video from television broadcasts.The company is helping broadcasters and rights holders to share video content both organically across social and via Twitter's Amplify program. In July 2014, Twitter announced that it intended to buy a young company called CardSpring for an undisclosed sum. CardSpring enabled retailers to offer online shoppers coupons that they could automatically sync to their credit cards in order to receive discounts when they shopped in physical stores. On July 31, 2014, Twitter announced that it had acquired a small password-security startup called Mitro. On October 29, 2014, Twitter announced a new partnership with IBM. The partnership was intended to help businesses use Twitter data to understand their customers, businesses and other trends.
On February 11, 2015, Twitter announced that it had acquired Niche, an advertising network for social media stars, founded by Rob Fishman and Darren Lachtman. The acquisition price was reportedly $50 million. On March 13, 2015, Twitter announced its acquisition of Periscope, an app that allows live streaming of video. In April 2015, the Twitter.com desktop homepage changed (Wikipedia.org 2021).
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a tool that aims to accommodate and advance social media marketing approaches along with different other kinds of ideas which influence the social behaviors of an individual and society for a better valuable social deed (International Social Marketing Association 2016). The universality of social media is a big issue in this digital 21st century for marketing purposes. Before the introduction of Web 2.0, customers had few alternatives approaching about products or services of a specific organization, so that the companies had to spend money to raise the brand profile. The traditional marketing principle suggests that your company needs to stand in a crowd of millions of global sites to accomplish brand awareness and reach their goal for ultimate sales. (Richardson, Gosnay & Carroll 2010 cited in Aderoju 2018). The introduction of social media has eliminated those traditional ways. The most effective way of promotion, marketers agree, is word-of-mouth, which is now replaced by Word-of-Mouse in social networks to approach bigger target communities with low cost marketing paths. (Richardson et al. 2010).
Social media marketing can be further divided into three core categories-paid media, owned media and earned media. Paid media are paid placements that include sales promotions, advertisements, paid reviews and search engine optimization (SEO) marketing. Companies can pay for SEO, Facebook ads to boost their company in public for brand promotion. On the other hand, owned media comprises companies' own websites, blogs, content in social media profiles and other kinds of printed materials of a company. In owned media, networks and content are completely under the control of the company. Lastly, earned media are those contents which are distributed by an organization without any cost, which is the most effective way for brand promotion. This is the achievement made by the company from the efforts in paid and owned media. It refers to conversations made in social communities, reviews and ratings. Word-of-Mouth is the dominant platform in earned media for publicity. (Tuten & Solomon 2015; Smith 2016).
Currently, social media platforms are considered of great importance, both for individuals and for companies, since they help maintain existing social ties and encourage the development of new connections between users. These platforms have become an interactive medium that allows the development of direct and personalized communication between the company and clients as well, without geographical or temporary limitations. In addition, social media networks make possible different types of interactions with customers, such as advertising and information, pre-sales, order configuration, purchases, after-sales services, etc. As the direction of communication between the company and customers is bidirectional, businesses can take advantage of these social media marketing tools to build relationships with their clients in a more direct, effective, and controllable way.
Social Media and Advertising
The advertising landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and nowhere is this more visible than online. The advertising medium is experiencing perhaps, the most dynamic revolution and technological developments made possible by the growth of communication through interactive media. The advertising industry has long sought to go where consumers go. Nowadays companies follow consumers online, even developing new forms of advertising to relate to consumers in their virtual world. In fact, the very philosophy of advertising has changed, not wholly but in large part, as a result of the opportunities created online (Tuten 2018). Consequently, Social media advertising is a recent addition to organization integrated marketing communications plans. Integrated marketing communications coordinates the elements of the promotional mix; advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion.
In the traditional marketing communications model, the content, frequency, timing, and medium of communications by an organization is in collaboration with an external agent, i.e. advertising agencies, marketing research firms, and public relations firms. However, the growth of social media has impacted the way organizations communicate. With the emergence of Web 2.0, the Internet provides a set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online (Corruthers 2010). He notes further that social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it is coming from a trusted source, as opposed to the brand or company itself.
Social media have become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with Internet access, opening doors for organization to increase their brand awareness and facilitate conversations with the customer. Additionally, social media serve as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns. The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) defines advertising as a form of communication through media about products, services or ideas paid for by an identified sponsor. However, advertising, when conceived for an online environment and given contextual differences in its capabilities, functions, and the medium’s nuances, requires a new paradigm. The current definition of advertising states that advertising must be paid communications. Certainly, that is the model by which advertising has operated since its conception. But now some of the most valuable advertising may be unpaid, or indirectly paid as in the case of CGM (consumer-generated media), some aspects of social media advertising, and the viral spread of brand messages. He notes further that advertising has traditionally been viewed as one-way communication, delivered from the advertiser through some media vehicle to a receiver, the target audience. Thinking of advertising as one-way communication limits what is possible, particularly online. In a world with Web 2.0 (Social media), advertising encounters a new phase. Social media enables interactive capabilities in an environment characterized by user control, freedom, and dialogue and brings a new degree of interactivity and consumer involvement to advertising applications. It truly enables twoway (or multi-way) communication between brands and consumers. Online, advertising becomes more about conversations, connections, and shared control and less about passive consumption of packaged content (Tuten, 2018).
Dominick (2019) explains that advertising is not only paid for in this era but word of mouth (viral advertising) is used to harness paid advertising. Advertising through traditional media relied on a model of interrupting and disrupting consumers’ life. “Interruption because the key to each and every ad is to interrupt what the viewers are doing in order to get them to think about something else” (Copp, E. 2016). He notes further that consumers accepted these interruptions, served in the form of advertising, because they accepted that it was a necessary price to pay for what was otherwise free content broadcast on television, radio, and magazines. In that world, established content publishers controlled the distribution of content targeted at consumers. The interruption-disruption model is dying in the world of social media, where consumers control their media content and may even create the content. According to Deloitte and Touche, “The State of the Media Democracy” report, 40% of Internet users create some form of content whether it be editing videos, posting photos, or writing blogs, and 51% acknowledged reading and watching the content of other users online. With younger consumers, the consumption of user-generate content is even higher with 71% reporting watching and/or reading user-generated content online (Tuten, 2018). “While too many advertisers are still focused on the business of shouting one message over and over, today the most important communication is not the marketing monologue, but the dialogue that takes place among customers”. Consumers are becoming insurgent, rising in revolt against slick, overly produced ads in favor of recommendations by fellow consumers and user-generated content such as that found in Facebook or Twitter (Copp, E. 2016). Social media marketing is based on the new marketing concepts insistence that we must be customer oriented and customer driven in all that we do, for example, discussion, planning and execution in order to give maximum satisfaction to his needs and wants.
Corruthers (2010) explains that developing healthy relationships with consumers and other companies is key to reputation building in social media. He notes further that an effective advertisement goes a long way as it encourages people to buy and trust a certain product or service. Once the audience is convinced that the company’s product is worth spending their money on, the company becomes an influence in that field of business. Brogan and Smith (cited in Hanaysha, J. 2016) assert that, “we are suspicious of marketing. We do not trust strangers as willingly. Instead, consumers and business people alike are looking towards trust. We want our friends to tell us it is good. We want someone we know to say we should look into it’’. Consumers no longer trust corporate spokespeople or their messages. In fact, the 9th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer Report, revealed that people now say their most credible source of information about a company and its products is ‘‘a person like me’’ a trust level in peers that, in the United States, has skyrocketed from only 22 percent a few years ago to 60 percent today. More than 80 percent of people surveyed also said that they would refuse to buy goods or services from a company they do not trust. The fact is that consumers are demanding a decision-making voice in shaping the products, services, and media they consume (Hanaysha, J. 2016).
According to Diamond (2010) cited in Praise and Guinan (2018), the paradigm shift is a transfer of power. Not only do customers want to be asked permission by marketers, they want to actively engage in and participate in the product conversation. They want to tell a company what they think, how they view their brand, and how they can improve. Engagement on the Social Web means that customers become participants rather than viewers”. Social media have granted consumers the authority to speak up, and their voices are being heard loud and clear. While companies may want them (consumers) to buy their products, these empowered consumers want those same companies to pay attention and give them a seat at the table. They no longer want to be merely passive consumers of products and services, but active participants helping to co-create them (Praise and Guinan 2018).
For social media advertising to thrive, Praise and Guinan (2018) explain that an organization marketing department should accept giving up some control and instead facilitate customers in driving the organization's value proposition. Constantine (2018) remarks that an organization ought to define standards of conduct for their social marketing to thrive. Guidelines in social media do not only specify rules and permissions but also responsibilities, tasks and time frames. This is because unattended social media lose audience (Barnes & Mattson 2019).
Advantages of social media marketing in Business
The use of social media in today’s twenty-first century has been increasing rapidly. Over the last decades, the number of internet users has drastically increased. Often in the past, use of social media in businesses was considered as a failure, but those pessimists vanished with the increased trend of social media. Over 3 billion internet users exist today, of which more than 2 billion users are active on social media. (Copp 2016). Distinct kinds of businesses, whether they are small sized, medium sized or large-sized businesses, social media and its marketing has been a vital part of promoting their business and increasing brand awareness among their valuable customers. Some of the advantages of using social media as a marketing tool can be highlighted as;
It helps in creating Brand Awareness.
In marketing, brand awareness refers to the strength with which any brand is present in a consumer's mind; it occurs when there is an association between the brand and the type of product, where the potential consumer recognizes or associates the brand as a member of a certain product category. With that, awareness can be simply from brand recognition to brand recall or just a memory of the product; being dominant, if it’s the only brand remembered by the consumer (Hakala, Svensson & Vincze, 2012). Although many do not consider this concept as a source of brand value creation, research revealed that many firms already see this dimension as important. Brand awareness has been studied extensively by many authors who recognize its benefits and repercussions for brands, focusing mainly on their measurement and taxonomy. However, there are different perspectives of this concept, but the ones that stand out the most are: its usefulness as an advertising approach, and its influence on consumer behavior (Ratneshwar & Shocker, 2018). The existence of a specific brand that offers a specific kind of product and the market audience must be aware of it is known as brand awareness.
According to Jin & Villegas (2017), they define that brand and product have a link between them because it makes the consumer get the capacity of recognition or remembering a specific brand, only because of brand awareness that it is differentiated between a brand from others in the market. Furthermore, they talk about the importance of brand awareness in brand equity as it is an important component (Jin & Villegas, 2017). They stated further that purchasing intention and attitude towards a brand is developed only through brand awareness. They further discussed the factors that add awareness values in different ways that include establishing further linkage/partnership, rapport building, dedication and brand to the undertaker. All these factors add value when a brand becomes top-of-mind among the customers (Gautam & Shrestha, 2018).
According to Sasmita & Mohd S. (2015), brand association affects the brand images that are valuable for any business in the market and helps to add value to brand awareness. Moreover, establishing a link to get recognition when a new product is introduced in the market, because there are less chances of being purchased by consumers without having knowledge about the new release as without having any identity. Huang, Rong & Sarigollu (2014) argue that it would be difficult for consumers to become aware of the characteristics of the product; it is only possible to have good recognition in the market by providing or adapting a brand switcher and creating product trials from previous experiences. This will help enhance brand awareness and identification with a new product in order to develop relationships between them.
Kumar & Moller (2018) claimed that brand familiarity motivates customers to adopt the brand products when they release something new with a brand name. It is common that customers like to be familiar with the products as people have their experiences and have better knowledge about the product or service because brand knowledge and past experiences of consumers make the brand and product well known (Kumar & Moller, 2018). It is mostly common when consumers are familiar with the product, they make decisions without knowing about other products because of their preferences. However, commitment to a brand adds value to brand equity, which is also linked to brand awareness.
As Tuskej, Golob & Podnar (2016) claimed, there is a relationship between brand commitment and brand values as it has a positive influence on customers to keep themselves loyal to the brand. This happens after having awareness in the customers about the product of the company, as consumers will continue to buy the product even if they do not have better knowledge about it. Because of the better awareness about the brand and its product, consumers become committed and loyal to the brand name of the company. Furthermore, it is natural in consumers’ buying mentality that when it comes to purchasing a product, they consider three or four different brands as they have had different experiences with them in the past. Customer behavior towards selecting a brand is influenced by the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction from past experiences from their point of view.
Popularity and valuable customer’s vision
The more businesses are active on social media, the more chances they acquire to become popular. Above 500 million tweets, 95 million videos and photos uploaded on Instagram and over 4.5 billion likes on Facebook are there daily (Copp 2016). In addition to this, actively promoting the organization with trending ways, for example, hashtags on Facebook and twitter, helps to raise brand awareness and reliability.
Increasing customer experience
Businesses who use social media tools in their marketing are known for increasing customer experience. Customers assume to get responses as quickly as possible whether an organization is on social media or not. Providing rich information with better customer support as quickly as possible through social media handles helps to increase the annual sales as well as financial gain (Copp 2016).
Increment in customer service
Responding to the customer’s comments, whether they are positive or negative, clearing confusion as well as interpreting the doubts deepens the quality of customer service in online marketing. People who chase a brand on social media are loyal to that brand, hence patronize them more than other alternatives (Caruso 2016). Actively using social media can increase the experience of customers.
Increased web traffic
Increasing web traffic has been one of the objectives of food industries who have an online presence. Responsive and well-designed websites featuring outstanding search engines are not enough. Boosting the site, the use of social media is significantly important. Activities like engaging customers by sharing appropriate content in social media, collecting feedback and responding to them wisely, adjusting marketing strategy from feedback on target group increases the web traffic which leads to appearing on top in search engine optimization (SEO) as social sites start looking more like SEO. (Dane 2016). Most businesses feel they are maintaining a competitive edge over others online, especially when they have more followers on their twitter page.
Analyzing competitors
Tracking the activities of competitors and analyzing the result to use in business helps to upgrade business followed by upgrading plans, offering discounts and other offers to attract more customers (Caruso 2016).
Building relationships
Social media is not just for the expansion of business and marketing platforms. It is the pitch to develop relationships with loyal customers by answering customers’ questionnaires appropriately and quickly. Management of the relations that exist before, during and after; provides an opportunity to enrich the future relationship with potential customers. (Cohen 2016).
Buzz to get consumers to buy and increase profitability.
Recently, new research has shown that social media plays a vital role in creating buzz to get consumers to buy. Over the past decade, social media networks have been used to create buzz by marketers around their products. To examine what impacts tweets and other recommendations have on sales and to increase return on investment and the size of the companies, 20,000 European consumers were examined, across 30 product areas and more than 100 brands, in 2013 and 2014. Respondents were asked to what extent social media effects their decision journeys and about instances when they recommend products. The impact of social media on buying decisions is greater than before and it is growing at a multiplying rate. Although the size of social influencers creating the buzz is small (Bughin 2015).
Economy
An economy (from Greek οίκος – "household" and νέμoμαι – "manage") is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services by different agents. In general, it is defined 'as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of resources'.[1] A given economy is the result of a set of processes that involves its culture, values, education, technological evolution, history, social organization, political structure and legal systems, as well as its geography, natural resource endowment, and ecology, as main factors. These factors give context, content, and set the conditions and parameters in which an economy functions. In other words, the economic domain is a social domain of interrelated human practices and transactions that does not stand alone.
Economic agents can be individuals, businesses, organizations, or governments. Economic transactions occur when two groups or parties agree to the value or price of the transacted good or service, commonly expressed in a certain currency. However, monetary transactions only account for a small part of the economic domain.
Economic activity is spurred by production which uses natural resources, labor and capital. It has changed over time due to technology, innovation (new products, services, processes, expanding markets, diversification of markets, niche markets, increases revenue functions) such as, that which produces intellectual property and changes in industrial relations (most notably child labor being replaced in some parts of the world with universal access to education).
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
The Nigerian economic development is induced by poor infrastructures, poor electricity, low incentives and inadequate policies that limits private sector development and poor access to quality education.
This is so because the people and citizens of Nigeria are faced with poverty, unemployment, insecurity and other issues which has hindered the development of the country. Since our independence, successive governments have pursued the goal of structural changes in the economy yet their efforts results into low success or futility.
For Nigeria to become developed like other first world nations, we have to imbibe the engine of economic development to manufacturing and agriculture rather than solely depending on oil, we have to create employment, promote technological development and reduce poverty alleviation.
GROWTH OF SMEs IN NIGERIA THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
There is a rise of SMEs in Nigeria as they are important in the diversification and growth of the economy. SMEs is one of the solution to unemployment in Nigeria. SMEs in Nigeria lack insufficient funds, therefore, there is a need for investment and employability of low cost usage and this where the place of social media comes in.
For SMEs to experience growth, expansion and revenue, they need to engage in communication ads to gain existing and new customers. That is, they need brand awareness and development to reach potential customers and one way to achieve this is through the use of social media platforms. How is this so?, social media requires low cost to reach out to the audience, therefore, the best way to gain customers in order for growth and profit is for SMEs to engage in the use of social media tools. Some of the social media platforms SMEs can engage with are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
GROWTH OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NIGERIA THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is very important to business owners (entrepreneurs) as it gives these firms access to markets, ideas, information, opportunities and resources. Entrepreneurs depend on information, markets and resources to make their enterprise continuously develop and acceptable to the society. Therefore there is a need for entrepreneurs to dive into social media usage. Some of the social media platforms entrepreneurs can engage with are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WordPress, YouTube, Myspace, etc. Some entrepreneurs that make use of social media platforms are Iroko TV, Infoprive, GIGM (God Is Good Motors), Slot, Wilson’s Juice, etc.
GROWTH OF LARGE FIRMS IN NIGERIA THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Although one may say large firms are already a giant and known locally, regionally and globally. But for these large firms to be kept in the minds of the people there is a need for them to engage in social networking platforms. The need for large firms to ride on social media strategies is for them to retain existing customers and gain new and potential customers. Another business that has made tremendous growth and development in Nigeria’s economy is e-commerce firms in Nigeria such as the likes of Jumia, Dealdey, Yudala, Kaymu, Connect, Wakanow, Konga, etc.
The importance of e-commerce industries are: it will serve as a means of driving the sustenance of the economy which will stimulate growth in the non-oil sector; it will create wealth and distribution as well as job opportunities; and it will create revenue for the government by increasing the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA THAT INFLUENCES THE ECONOMIC
The following elements characterize social media as an economic force in a nation:
Job Creation: Social media creates job opportunities ranging from advertising, trading, designing, management, etc. Through this, wealth creation, distribution and productivity can be enhanced in the country.
Marketing/Business Collaboration: Through social media, marketing and collaboration are achieved among entrepreneurs in various ways. For instance, through a platform like LinkedIn, individuals connect to professionals and organizations towards enabling these individuals build and maintain contacts (professionals, organizations) for career growth.
Skill Acquisition: In 2008, the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies established that users on social media platforms can learn new skills as well as improve their existing skills by working together with others, particularly colleagues in a given field. One of such social media platform is LinkedIn.
iv. Boost to Small Capital Investments:Social media offers a cheap medium for reaching out to clients and customers which helps in boosting small capital investments. The major social media platforms embraced by SMEs, entrepreneurs, large firms and e-commerce industries is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Effect of Twitter Ban on Nigeria Economy
More than 39 million Nigerians use twitter as a political platform to stay informed and updated and to voice their opinions including government discontent.On 5 June 2021, the Nigerian government officially put an indefinite ban on Twitter (BBC 2021) restricting it from operating in Nigeria after the social media platform deleted tweets made by the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warning the south eastern people of Nigeria, predominantly Igbo people, of a potential repeat of the 1967 Biafran Civil War due the ongoing insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria. The Nigerian government claimed that the deletion of the President's tweets factored into their decision but it was ultimately based on "a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real world violent consequences".
The proliferation of social media has transformed the strategies firms use to interact and engage with existing and potential customers. Firms are increasingly using social media, especially by operating pages on social networking sites, to interact, share information, develop long lasting relationships with devoted customers, attract new customers who would otherwise be out of reach and build brand (De Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2017; Swani, Milne, Brown, Assaf, & Donthu, 2017; Yoshida, Gordon, Nakazawa, Shibuya, & Fujiwara, 2018). This therefore means thiat the twitter ban will impede businesses with online presence from reaching their supposed built niche and strain them from effectively engaging their customers. Thus leading to loss of customers which on the long run cause low patronage of which is no a good one for a business like businesses to encounter.
Social media have become a new strategic marketing tool as discussed earlier which enables firms to promote better their brands and through which customers can acquire and share information, and interact with their favorite brands. Social media have allowed firms to establish their own brand communities, a virtual environment where firms and users can stay in touch, easily share information about products and services, provide customers with real-time support, and boost brand performances. However when a businesses and brands who has an online presence on twitter is no longer able to post their product and services due to the ban, the implication is that the brand start loosing brand awareness thus their customers might switch to the most available brand on other social network site or go for what is within their reach. It is a known fact that when potential customers are no aware of a product, there are possibilities that such product will continue to exist without purchase which affect the profitability of brand owners.
Building and enhancing brands’ presence in social media provide firms with greater access to customers’ information, needs and opinions. Thus, firms are increasingly interested in using social media in a complementary mode to generate, disseminate, integrate, and respond to information obtained from social media interactions (Agnihotri, Dingus, Hu, & Krush, 2016) in order to develop effective brand building activities. Hence, social media complete traditional communication tools to engage customers with the brand. In this context, joining social media platforms such as Twitter provides a unique opportunity for firms to strengthen their brands, helping in increasing business value such as creating brand awareness, brand reputation and brand loyalty (Alberghini et al., 2014). Therefore in the the cases where business cannot assess their twitter handle due to the current twitter, such brand will definitely loose they already acquired loyalty of its customers and on the long run their online reputation depreciates giving room for other competitive brands to take over their market niche.
Businesses whose operation were basically online via e-commerce found it difficult to connect with their online customers due to the ban, The ban reduced the data usage of internet users hence the profit margin of telecommunications companies were affected, SMEs who do use twitter to run adverts on their brand were restrained by the ban hence might encounter loss of brand recognition. The ban affected the civic societies by shrinking the civic space and shutting the ordinary people from airing their grievances and bringing to public attention, crisis and injustice that has been done to them as well as to seek both institutional and public support, For Digital Marketting and Lancers who run social adverts for other businesses, the ban has retrained them from providing such services on twitter.
Aside the discussed impact of twitter ban on businesses such as businesses, there are other effect to be reckoned within the auspices of humanitarian services and social support such as justice, emergency support systems and the civic space. Twitter has also become the foremost social media resource centre where disease control agencies of different countries, including Nigeria, share local and international updates with their citizens.
During the #EndSARS protests against police brutality in October 2020 when peaceful protesters were detained by state forces, the Nigerian youth, through Twitter, created hotlines affected persons could reach in order to secure their release or that of their colleagues (premium times 2021).The bird application also drew the attention of the international communities to the plight of young Nigerians who had suffered at the hands of law enforcement. Thus the ban will distort access to an avenue of online community where people air their grievances.
A lawyer and human rights crusader, Inibehe Effiong (premium times 2021), describes Twitter and other social media platforms as “veritable tools for civic engagement”. “It gives the ordinary people a voice to air their grievances and bring to public attention, crisis and injustice that has been done to them and seek both institutional and public support,” the activist says, noting that so many citizens have got redress for injustice done to them “on account of the polarization of such cases on Twitter.” Mr Effiong, who has sued the federal government over the ban, says the ban on micro-blogging site limits “access to (justice)” and in a way, “shrinks the civic space.” “People can no longer organize effectively as they are supposed to,” he said (premium times 2021).
The Executive Director TechHer Nigeria, Chioma Agwuegbo, says Twitter has been instrumental in helping to serve justice to survivors of domestic crisis, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). “Twitter was instrumental in sensitizing the public on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) issues, calling the civic societies, NGOs, government and relevant stakeholders to action, seeking justice and social support for survivors, and holding perpetrators accountable.“Indeed, it was a powerful tool for online activism and advocacy for issues of sexual and gender-based violence,” she says (premium times 2021).
In the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown, governors of Nigeria’s 36 states unanimously declared a state of emergency on SGBV after a series of violence perpetrated against women sparked nationwide protests by activists online and at rallies. Reports of rape, abuse, and killing of women and girls flooded the social media space. Notable among the cases were the rape and murder of Vera Uwa Omozuwa and Barakat Bello and the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Jigawa State. These public outcries using hashtags such as #JusticeForUwa, and #JusticeForBarakat helped to sustain the call for justice which led to the declaration of the state of emergency. Several other female survivors of SGBV were encouraged and told their own stories. Ms Agwuegbo said with the ban on Twitter in Nigeria, the progress achieved in using the Twitter platform to get social support and justice may suffer a setback (premium times 2021). She adds that the ban on Twitter will not only affect access to justice but also other interventions ranging from emotional, financial, and others, people get from the platform. One of such interventions was seen in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic when the world and especially developing economies were in short supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The Nigerian government, through Twitter, solicited support from the international communities, which they got (premium times 2021).
A gender inclusion expert, Busola A.(2021), fears that the ban of Twitter may have a negative effect on access to justice. Responses companies and people generate on Twitter, compared to other social media platforms, are instant and prompt. You could see that a lot of professionals, civil society, manufacturing companies, retailers, and consumers all have a presence on Twitter to enable them reach out to their customers far and near,” she said. With this ban, manufacturing companies can no longer post adverts on the platform and the citizens also has no access to the platform. This has gone a long way of reducing the volume of sales these companies make as well as reduce their profit margin.
2.2 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical framework guiding the study is Social Action theory by Max Weber.
Social Action Theory
The Social Action Theory was developed by the German sociologist Max Weber, who with this theory pursued to highlight the importance of human behaviour as it relates to cause and effect in the social sphere. According to Max Weber, human beings adapt their actions according to social contexts and how these actions affect the behaviour of others.
For Max Weber, social action explains the behaviours, effects and consequences of human behaviour and how this behaviour can influence the behaviour of other people and become a social movement, where it is no longer an isolated behaviour, but part of a whole (society). Weber relied on existing research to argue that sociology is fundamental to scientific research. According to Max Weber, social action can trigger means and ends for social actors who want to achieve something specific. For example, a company organizes activities for each individual and assigns a different role to each employee, but each action performed by employees is connected to each other in order to keep the organization going.
The relevance of this theory to this study depicts that the rules that the government spells out, determine the social action to be organized. This can affect how the public react and relate in communication, their businesses and in organization. Social media such as twitter enables individuals to interact with each other, share information, even aid businesses to enlighten the public about products and services they offer in order to acquire customers in the competitive market, gain more patronage, increase profitability and achieve their long term goal.
2.3 EMPIRICAL STUDIES
A study jointly conducted and released by Nielsen (2016) where he took a good look at Facebook and the value of advertising campaigns. The study, titled, "Advertising Effectiveness: Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression," Analyzed data from over 800,000 Facebook users and more than 125 Facebook and Twitter ad campaigns across 70 different brands. This study used 3 criteria to determine the value of ad campaigns on Facebook; Brand Awareness, Purchase Intent and Ad Recall and also determined how paid media, "earned" and peer-to-peer advocacy contribute to ad campaigns. Nielsen defined "Earned Media" as advertising that is shared among friends and beyond. Nielsen looked at 14 Facebook ad campaigns that used "Become a Fan" as the engagement point, or call to action, and then determined the effectiveness in 3 ways: Lift from a standard Homepage Ad, Lift from Homepage Ads with Social Context and Lift from Organic Ads. The study showed some great insights regarding how peer-to-peer advocacy and recommendations affect social media ad campaigns. The findings revealed that people who viewed ads with social contexts had higher response rates than people who viewed the same ads without social context. Ad recall grew from 10% to 16%, awareness doubled from 4% to 8%, purchase intent jumped from 2% to 8%. The result proved that social media users have a direct impact on other users when it comes to ads, and that social media is a fast and effective way to advertise products or services. In another study, "The State of Small Business Report," sponsored by Network Solutions, LLC and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, the study results showed that social media usage by small business owners increased from 12% to 24% in just the last year, and almost 1 out of 5 Here is a breakdown of what small businesses reported as the main uses of social media marketing. 75% have a company page on a social networking site. 69% post status updates or articles of interest on social media sites, 57% build a network through a site such as LinkedIn, 54% monitor feedback about business, 39% maintain a blog, 26% tweet about areas of expertise and 16% use Twitter as a service channel. According to the study, different industries are adopting social media marketing at different rates, and while many industries have started using social media marketing in their efforts to reach more customers, many still have not positioned it as their top priority. The work also measured small businesses' expectations of social media. While 58% feel that social media "met expectations," 12% feel it has "exceeded expectations," while 25% feel social media has "fallen short of expectations". Some of the reasons given by respondents for social media’s shortfalls were that 50% of the respondents feel that social media has used up more time than expected. 19% believe social media has lost them money while 17% feel that social media has allowed people to criticize their business (Porterfield 2010: 15). Another study by Invoke Solutions reveals that active social networkers find benefits of social media use beyond just staying connected with friends and family. Active social networkers say an important driver of social media use is sharing and gathering information and learning about new products. 63% of the respondents said that sharing information with a network is very or somewhat important. 59% explained that gathering information from networks is very or somewhat important, while 58% said that learning about new products is very or somewhat important. Given that active social media users are looking for information about products and brands online, how well do they think companies are leveraging social media to these ends? The study revealed a room for improvement, with 46% saying that companies are not doing well using social media to listen to customers.46% said companies are not doing well using social media to deliver better customer service.50% said companies are not doing well using social media to learn about unmet customer needs.
For instance, according to a Marketing Sherpa Case Study, when the baking accessory company, Wilton, surveyed its email and social media audiences, it discovered that about half of its Facebook fans and Twitter followers were also subscribers to the company’s email Newsletter. Wilton followed up its audience surveys with a campaign to convert Facebook fans who had not yet opted-in to the company’s email newsletter. The marketing team created a Facebook wall post that encouraged fans to join the email list, and as a result, saw a 225% increase in newsletter subscriptions (The Definitive Guide to Integrating Social Media and Email Marketing).
According to the Exact Target survey, the key to making social sharing buttons work is providing "sharable" content. But people have different reasons for following brands on each social network, which affects the type of content they will deem most sharable. Here is a breakdown of the major reasons people cite for subscribing to and following brands through different channels and what that means for an advertiser’s content strategy. Facebook users said that they become fans of a brand to receive discounts and promotions and also to show support for the company, to stay informed about the company’s activities to get updates on future products for fun or entertainment. Active Twitter users say the reasons why they follow brands include:-To obtain new, authentic perspectives on companies and to find out what they really stand for -To receive insider information about upcoming products and services. -To get to know the personalities behind a company. -To see how a company responds when its brand is publicly criticized. Although 43.5% said that special offers and deals are the top reason why they follow a brand in a recent Get Satisfaction/Column Five study. Facebook updates, tweets, and other social media posts can be used to build awareness for an upcoming event, special promotion or product launch. For example, Wilton used email and social media to promote the launch of its annual "yearbook" of cake decorating ideas. The team posted weekly Facebook updates about the upcoming book release and responded to customer questions about the product on their Facebook page. At the same time, they used Twitter to tease the book’s content, including a "guess the cover image" contest. Finally, they launched the product with an email campaign. The results: a 65% increase in year-over-year book sales. (The Definitive Guide to Integrating Social Media and Email Marketing: 16).
In another study, Triumvirate, an environmental services company, attributes $1.2 million in revenue to search engine optimization, blogs, and social media. Triumvirate had been doing Google Ad words but was spending too much money, not knowing how to optimize their complex campaigns. They launched a network of internal blogs to match their diverse service offerings and attract relevant search traffic to each business unit. They added calls to action on their blog pages, including a phone number and free resource download behind a lead form. Used Twitter and Facebook to share industry news and drive more visitors back to their content, leveraged interns and employees outside of marketing to participate in social media. The company has seen some great results from integrating content creation and social media into their marketing mix. According to Mark Campanale, marketing manager and new media trainer at Triumvirate, consistency is key-dedicate the time to social media and the rewards will make the investment worth it (The Definitive Guide to Integrating Social Media and Email Marketing: 17).
In a study by Usman (2015), Social Media was highlighted as having both power and challenge. major contribution to social media marketing was given emphasis based on its accessibility and diversified format. Creation, sharing, and exchanging of product and service information about a brand are provided by this new media. Hence, users who later turn customers become interactive with the brand and are given equal participation, leading to high customer engagement. The study also acknowledged the role of social media in civic engagement and political mobilization. Hence, as people are given their freedom to access information and express their opinions and concerns, they become an active part of society in dealing with public affairs, which were perceived to be limited in traditional forms of media. Bitner (as cited by Usman, 2015) further affirmed the pervasive power of media marketing and in general, thus the audience have trust and confidence in it. The shift in the communication landscape also paved the way for challenges to privacy and credibility of information. The study regarded these new platforms brought by communication technologies as more complex and participatory. Hence, authenticity of content is a major concern. Implications for the diversity of people’s opinions are then considered inevitable. Convincingly, Usman (2015) raised accessibility to the internet in remote areas as a concern to significantly regard social media as a tool in disseminating business information. Moreover, reorientation on the usage of the medium as well as efficient regulation of the content are deemed crucial in order to effectively utilize social media and maximize its provisions.
The assumptions drawn from the study of Usman (2015) are congruent with the study conducted by Baruah (2012) through which the effectiveness of social media as a communication tool was given focus. Online sharing of brand content and information is one of the most considered advantages brought by this communication platform. The venue provides an opportunity for everyone, including business owners, to participate in the process of gathering and generating content. Results of the study show that social media is generally preferred by respondents and perceive it as an effective tool for product marketing. The majority of the respondents also confirmed usage of it for educational purposes, business, entertainment and more. In terms of its usefulness, availability of information and sharing of ideas were noted alongside with other advantages such as interactivity, bridging of communication gaps and as a tool in customer and marketing as well as in crisis communication. The study further implies the potential of social media in igniting collective action knowing the fact that this domain allows collaboration through simple ways of organizing members, gauging opinions as well as spreading information among users.
In another study conducted by Bakshy, Rosenn, Marlow & Adamic (2012), social networks were rationalized as interpersonal ties and their correlation with diffusion of information specifically on Facebook and Twitter was thoroughly examined. The exploration of this relationship centred on the importance of social ties in information spread, despite considering the wide array of data available online. Access to diverse information was argued to be positively associated with users having weak ties considering fewer mutual contacts. Individuals who are not strongly influenced by peers are also regarded as key players in facilitating the flow of information as they are not bounded by commonality in terms of exposure to information. On the other hand, strong ties or interpersonal connections depict singularity in terms of accessed and shared information. In the context of information diffusion, strongly tied individuals tend to disseminate similar information, as they are exposed to similar sources. Furthermore, the study emphasized the role of interpersonal and brand influence on the usage of the medium and business information dissemination. It implies that sources accessed by individuals with weaker social networks are more influential since they are new and ‘fresh’, compared to the commonly seen feeds and tweets by strongly attached users. Diversity of information is then perceived to be very essential among Twitter users, in the same manner that corporate-mediation is highlighted to be a determining factor in the exposure of brand product/services and diffusion of such business information online.