Abstract
With the ubiquitous influence of web 2.0 platforms which facilitate a wider audience outreach, young Nigerian netizens are capitalizing on the affordances of social media such as pervasiveness, remoteness, blue badge verifications, and live sessions to performatively assert themselves as leaders. These frontline activists with their large followings comprising men and women advance the rights and stances of netizens. Despite their successes in foregrounding sources of exploitation and emboldening rising voices through the emergent call-out culture, their performative enactment of selves as leaders has not received adequate scholarly attention. This study examines ways in which selected digital activists enlist social networks to perform leadership and activate collective agenda on social media. Deploying Goffman’s Presentation of Self and analyzing the online activities of these leaders and their followers, the study argues that social networks-enabled activism in Nigeria is hinged on performativity – young Nigerians exploit the remoteness of social networks to enact leadership roles, influencing opinions, shaping public policies and formulating directions while their followers ‘become’ audiences. The leaders’ choice of exotic diction, dresses, makeup, sceneries and corresponding behavior during live sessions constitute strategies for constructing and sustaining their mediatized selves and satisfying the expectations of their audiences. These performance elements elevate them to similar pedestals as mainstream leaders, empowering the former to negotiate power with elected officials – feats that would be unfeasible sans their constructed online selves. The study concludes that the mobilization of social media platforms to create a befitting self-identity has become a prerequisite for digital activism.
Presenters
Rowland AmaefulaLecturer, Department of Theatre Arts, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike , Nigeria
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Leadership, Social, Media, Activism, Performance, Identity
